An exhibition opening at Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» of Queensland Art Museum next week aims to scratch below the surface of our economic systems to reveal money’s enigmatic side.
Creative Accounting features the work of Australian and international artists, archival objects from the Westpac Group Archives and the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, as well as artefacts and cultural material from regional and private collections across Australia.
Visitors will see a collection of adding machines in widespread use from 1885, objects such as convict love tokens made from defaced copper coins, as well as ancient coins from Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»’s RD Milns Antiquities Museum.
Curator Holly Williams said money played a central role in our lives yet was often overlooked as an object of contemplation.
“Money is many things at once: an intangible rendering of value, an agent of propaganda, and a decorative device,” Ms Williams said.
“Drawing from contemporary art, pop culture, alternative currencies, and banking archives, Creative Accounting will connect audiences with ideas around currency, economic systems and historical quirks at a time when money is becoming increasingly abstract in this digital age.”
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» Art Museum Director Dr Campbell Gray said the scope of artworks and objects in Creative Accounting would generate thought-provoking conversations on a range of related topics.
“I’m grateful to Museums and Galleries of NSW for the opportunity to welcome this touring exhibition to Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» Art Museum and to share its fascinating content with our local audiences,” Dr Gray said.
He said there would be a free discussion with curator Holly Williams, Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» Professor of Economics Flavio Menezes, artists Andrew Hurle and Joachim Froese, and the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³» Art Museum’s Holly Arden at 5pm on Friday 11 November, immediately before the exhibition opening.
Artists involved in the exhibition include Ian Burns, Penelope Cain, Joachim Froese, Melanie Gilligan, Fiona Hall, Andrew Hurle, Daniel McKewen, Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, Kenzee Patterson, Ryan Presley, David Shapiro and Abdullah M.I. Syed.
Creative Accounting, on show from 12 November to 26 February 2017.
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Funding acknowledgements .
Media: Sonia Uranishi, sonia@soniauranishicommunication.com, +61 409 387 623; Sebastian Moody, s.moody@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 8761.
