Squid Currency
2020 - Sculpture (Sculpture)
13 elements, each approximately: 8 x 4 x 1 cm
Natsuko Uchino
Squid Currency is a series of 13 non-calibrated double-sided tin coins made using a casting technique dating back to Neolithic times where cuttlebones (squid bones) were carved by hand and then used as a mold. Natsuko Uchino draws on research into tin mining across the world, which takes place largely in China and Bangladesh as well as in Potosi, Bolivia where silver has been depleted due to the production of coins and other ornate riches during the 16th century Spanish Empire. Tin has a low melting point and is easily up-cycled from vessels such as measuring cups and kitchen utensils found at yard sales. Money is a surrogate for value and it serves as a unit to measure exchange within a community that accepts transactions by sharing it. The common usage of money does not always mean that everything in the world is commensurate, nor does currency need to be based on accumulation, competition or capitalism. A bank is only formed when a community creates it and economy is the dynamics of relations in a community that shares resources, manufacturing, services and bonds. The blatant inequality pervasive in our present economy is a reflection of the history of domination, violence and usurpation, but the essence of exchange and the mesh of social fabric give way to a number of other intricate structures and infrastructures. (show many other intricate structures). There are alternative and complementary currencies that attempt to manifest such diversity that may or may not be pegged to central monies; the squid currency is sold as an artwork traded at a price contingent to its production context. Its circulation value is indeterminate and should be prescribed by its usage.
Natsuko Uchino is an artist whose practice is defined by its interaction with agriculture and craft; she relocated to a rural area of France in order to have an open air studio where she could produce ceramics and work with natural elements such as mushrooms and fermentation techniques and where she collaborates with farms. Linking these disciplines to contemporary practice, she reevaluates production techniques through collaboration, conviviality and exchange, reflecting on the circulation of knowledge and goods.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » KADIST
Adriana Martínez
2015Her work Al final del arcoiris (At the end of the rainbow, 2015) is a bundle of bills from Chile, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, arranged by color to form a tight spiraling rainbow held close with a rubber band...
© » KADIST
Asli Çavusoglu is in residence at KADIST Paris from February to May 2020 to develop a project based on previous research she conducted on colors, extending her interest for their political histories towards the production of fabrics colored by naturally cultivated and fairly distributed vegetables, fruits and other edible plants...
© » KADIST
Gan Chin Lee
2019In Studies of Chinese New Villages II Gan Chin Lee’s realism appears in the format of a fieldwork notebook; capturing present-day surroundings while unpacking their historical memory...
© » KADIST
Pratchaya Phinthong
Phinthong made four photographs depicting fragments of meteorites of which the faces have been polished to reflect the sky...
© » LENS CULTURE
Living in the Transition - Photographs by Shunta Kimura | Text by Magali Duzant | LensCulture Award winner Living in the Transition Traveling through Gabura Union in Bangladesh, Shunta Kimura documents impact, adaptation, and resilience in his quiet photographs of everyday life on the frontlines of rapid climate change...
© » ART PIL
A Pick Gallery | ARTPIL MAIN ARTICLES PROFILES ANNOUNCEMENTS EXHIBITIONS WORKS COLLECTIONS ABOUT MAIN ARTICLES PROFILES ANNOUNCEMENTS EXHIBITIONS WORKS COLLECTIONS ABOUT ARTICLES art photography film + video culture + lifestyle exhibits + events features prescriptions PROFILES artists photographers filmmakers designers/architects fashion organizations/mags museums/galleries Search for: Search Button newsletter | facebook fb | instagram insta • Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos A Pick Gallery Turin Founded in June 2019, A PICK GALLERY is a contemporary art gallery that, as its name suggests, focuses on the research and selection of artists, emerging and established, on the international scene...
© » GAS
Lena Goodison paintings now available – Gina Cross - Curator + Mentor Close Thin Icon Close Thin Icon Your cart Close Alternative Icon Now partnered with Art Money for interest free art collecting Now partnered with Art Money for interest free art collecting News Written by Gina Cross Previous / Next Lena Goodison is a Swedish artist currently based in Nottingham...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Orang Phebien: Telling the story of the Baweanese | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Illustration: Hadi Osni August 5, 2020 Lesser known narratives involving migration in Singapore are in the spotlight with The Arts House’ latest edition of LumiNation ...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Tender reading: A review of Loss Adjustment by Linda Collins | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles January 28, 2021 By Grace Foo (650 words, 3-minute read) Not many people can endure the traumatic experience of losing a child to suicide, let alone be of sound mind to write about it in a painfully self-aware manner...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Transgression, triggers, and the thousand cuts of “Blunt Knife” | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Photo courtesy of the artist June 25, 2019 By Corrie Tan (2,700 words, 13 -minute read) Content Warning: Mentions of a sexual relationship involving a teenager This response contains major spoilers for Blunt Knife by Eng Kai Er and A Doll’s House by Theatre of Europe...
© » KADIST
Margo Wolowiec
2015Wolowiec’s textile work Not This Time (2015) translates pixelated images into sensuous fabric and ink based forms that are at once beautiful in their abstraction and anxiety-ridden in their visualization of a malfunctioning digital world...
© » ART21
Press Release: Art21 to Release New Film: “Sarah Sze: Emotional Time” | Art21 Our Series Art in the Twenty-First Century Extended Play New York Close Up Artist to Artist William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible Specials Art21.live An always-on video channel featuring programming hand selected by Art21 Playlists Curated by Art21 staff, with guest contributions from artists, educators, and more Art21 Library Explore over 700 videos from Art21's television and digital series Latest Video 16:41 Add to watchlist Guerrilla Girls in "Bodies of Knowledge" Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 11 June 23, 2023 Search Searching Art21… Welcome to your watchlist Look for the plus icon next to videos throughout the site to add them here...
© » KADIST
Jason Dodge
2007In Algeria, Djidjiga Meffre has woven a fabric with a string, a length equal to the distance from the earth to troposphere...