This lecture will cast a retrospective glimpse at a few precedents before focusing in particular on representations of currency as a sculptural form and its distribution in contemporary practice. I will show a number of different works to explore these various strategic approaches to sculpture. These will include British artist Richard Deacon’s Blue Forms 1993, PVC vests that were made for a dance collaboration with Hervé Robbe, given to each member of the audience to wear whilst occupying the same space as the dancers; and a multiple by Italian artist, Elisabetta Benassi, Per una lira vendo tutti i sogni miei 2008 (‘for one lira I will sell all my dreams’), a cast of a coin defaced to include a cut out image of Italy that had never been represented on Italian coins.
This lecture first premiered on the Henry Moore Institute YouTube channel on Wednesday 18 August 2021 and is available here to watch again. Plus watch the follow up discussion between Jo Melvin and Dr Clare O’Dowd (Research Curator, the Henry Moore Institute) here.