Squid Currency

2020 - Sculpture (Sculpture)
13 elements, each approximately: 8 x 4 x 1 cm

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.

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