These artists are making art out of hard cash

A visitor walks past Justin Ponmanys installation of Rs 100 notes and 100dollar bills at Lodha Excelus Worli PicBipin KokateIn 1998 Girish Dahiwale presented Toxic Tales Therapy his solo exhibition of nine works at the erstwhile Birla Academy of Art and Culture Worli Among them was a 5x7 feet painting of the Indian Rs 100 note However the famous figure of the Mahatma that adorns Indian currency bills was replaced by a selfportrait Dahiwales signature sat in place of the RBI governorsIt was accompanied by a quote from Pearl Jams song Garden I dont question our existence I just question our modern needs Curator Niyatee Shinde who was introduced to Dahiwale by Akbar Padamsee says that manipulating the legal tender was his method of commenting on the social and ideological world of the moneyed Girish came from far out Vasai and when he stepped into the world of art he began engaging with the upper middle class By translating his own emotions into the rupee note he was turning all known social and political hierarchies on their heads says Shinde who was the then director of the Birla AcademyJustin PonmanyDahiwale who sadly committed suicide that year at the age of 25 may have certainly found the present economic unrest prompted by the demonetisation announcement earlier this month of particular interest It is hard to say if a switch of character in currency notes such as what Dahiwale did artistically then will be safe from the wrath of political bodies now howeverCurrency inspired note artThe 2000s were when it all began mdash with globalisation and the recession mdash when select Indian artists drew from monetary themes with demonetisation and the hit it has had on businesses and lives it looks like the artistic concerns of the last decade are far from overLN Tallurs Chromatophobia 2010 allowed visitors to nail a coin into a log PicChemouldacircu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Prescottacircu00c2u0080u00c2u0088RoadJustin Ponmany an intermedia artist and Dahiwales contemporary says that currency has paradoxical qualities A currency bill is meant to win the faith of the public in the value that it asserts This is calibrated with deep thought and planning so that finally when you hold it in your hand it is meant to be reassuring he says But currency is also subject to extreme volatility and thats what we are seeing now as well he continuesIn 2011 Ponmany was commissioned by curator and gallerist Dr Arshiya Lokhandwala to create an installation that used elements of the Rs 100 note and the 100dollar bill It is housed fittingly in the financial block of Lodha Excelus in Apollo Mills Worli commenting on changing economies and the currency indexLN TallurLokhandwala who has curated an ongoing exhibition at Gallery Odyssey surrounding the gift economy says that this and Ponmanys other works that use holograms comment on highcapitalism The site on which Ponmanys installation is situated draws attention to reappropriation and exchange value she says Ponmany says that rather than approach the currency note as a whole he would rather dig beneath the surface and strip it down to its various components that give it valueStability and destabilisingRelated to the discomfort and instability that money can give rise to is LN Tallurs Chromatophobia made in 2010 and which subsequently travelled to eight biennales It was made a little after the recession hit and at a time when Tallur was interested in the concept of money the objects that represent money and how users interact with itAshim Purkayastha manipulates stamps in an artistic attempt to destabilise centres of power as in He Is Not My Enemy PicSakshiacircu00c2u0080u00c2u0088GalleryThe artist who divides his time between Udupi and Korea says that Chromatophobia took off from the abnormal fear of money that it could be mismanaged or could be the root of evil in ones lifeTallur offered his visitors an interactive installation where people could nail a coin to a log reminiscent of a housewarming ritual back here in India A coin is hammered to the doorway in an attempt to ask Lakshmi mdash considered chanchala the restless one mdash to stay It is also one of the reasons why the seated Lakshmi rather than the standing one is preferred as an idol says TallurAshim PurkayasthaWhile the motif of currency is not one that Tallurs oeuvre is concerned with in totality another work considers the creation of value mdash a coinpolishing machine titled Apocalypse Coins get polished to such an extent that monetary embellishments mdash numerals and personalities mdash get erased You get polished but the greed for shine reduces the coin to a faceless entity and a mere metal piece he saysAn artist who has consistently used the motif of postage currency in his works is Ashim Purkayastha At various points in his artistic engagement the Bengali artist from Assam has manipulated the Indian stamp in an artistic attempt to destabilise centres of powerI have seen up close the Armed Forces Special Powers Act gave the military sweeping powers of life and death in disturbed areas and stamps mdash so fragile and delicate mdash have served as my material for commenting on how the state refuses to consider all its citizens says Purkayastha who is currently working on a series with 15p stamps depicting farmersPurkayasthas interest extends to collecting defaced currencies which will bring to mind the recent discussion around Sonam Gupta bewafa hai With about 400 notes that bear handwritten comments jibes and testimonies as well as the odd ornamentation of the Mahatma in ink Purkayastha says that these attempts to personalise currency can also be read as denying central authorityCritic and cultural theorist Ranjit Hoskote says that various historical processes have led artists such as CAMP and RAQS Media Collective to look at the spectral circulation of global capital rather than hard cash It is a bizarre idea from the 1970s to think that people are hiding black money under their pillows when in fact money is circulated as part of the speculative economy As an extension some artists are now looking at control and surveillance and the invisible circulation of money he says