Notes on Taksonomia/ Taxonomy

13/06/1999
The signature references the ‘hand of the artist’, the idea of authorship and the notion of ‘value’ conferred by the identification of the artist, and of the copyright s/he holds.

The grey is a negation of individuality, an attempt at levelling the area (gallery space/ installation space). The idea of neutrality, of office-like oppressive and unimaginative modes of behaviour. At the same time it is not a totally neutral grey. It is comprised of yellows, reds and browns, and so has elements of warmth, and is very dependent of the light.

The frames with reference numbers reproduce ‘officialdom’, bureaucracy and the urge to list. Each note marked by the artist with the ultraviolet highlighter pen is already different (serial number) and yet is the same as every other note.

The chairs also reproduce the feel of an office or waiting room, and placed facing the frames suggest an expected mode of behaviour from the viewer.

Each note marked with the UV pen is re-introduced into the monetary system. Each person who holds a marked note thus also holds an original ‘Stuven’ artwork, dated and signed and copyrighted. The artist has changed the nature of the money, conferred ‘artistic’ value on money directly. The money is the artwork, the artwork is money, and the value has somehow been amplified and lost simultaneously. Is a ‘Stuven’ note worth 20 zlotys worth 20 zlotys or more?

The individual who (temporarily) possesses the note (democratic action: passing artwork from one person to another) will not be likely to discover s/he has an artwork unless they are stopped by a shop or bank security system that has detected the note. So an element of interfering with the system, of disrupting the system may or may not be ‘activated’.

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