Using money to suspend heavy or fragile objects

Author(s)
Ela, Jedediah Smith, 1979-
Thumbnail
DownloadFull printable version (12.07Mb)
Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.
Advisor
Krzysztof Wodiczko.
Terms of use
M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
The author suspends a 700-lb steel money safe from the ceiling, using ropes constructed from approximately 10,000 United States $1 bills. The role of money in this artwork is compared and contrasted with the role of money in artworks by other contemporary artists. It is noted that the presence of money has an irritating effect on most viewers, and hypothesized that this effect is based on the installation's exposure of differences in financial wealth between different persons. Accordingly, a proposal is made for the reduction of economic inequality by wasting the excess wealth of the very rich, and it is suggested that the author's artwork both enacts and visually supports this proposal.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2003.
 
Includes bibliographical references (p. [102]).
 
Date issued
2003
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65734
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Architecture.
Collections