CaCO3-in, Digital image, 2020

CaCO3-in is an ‘expanded essay’, which consists of: a collection of real and imagined currencies, and an accompanying text. The collection sits on top of a custom made table, whose legs are based on the Traditional Chinese character 貝 (bei). Currencies include; cowrie shells, which have historically been used throughout the world as currency; a George III Cartwheel Twopence (1797), a copper coin whose value was equal to its weight; the Ottring Pound (2008-13), a local currency influenced by the ideas of Silvio Gesell; and CaCO3-in (2030-) whose value is based on the “...health of the Earth's oceans”.

The text can be read here.

CaCO3-in
was originally produced for Throughout the Fragment of Infinity That We Have Come to Know, The NewBridge Project, Gateshead, Mar - Sept 2020.


CaCO3-in, Shells, plaster, coins, banknotes, acrylic, digital image, display table, text, 2020


Credits:
3D Modelling: Chris Mewies (Mewies Design)
Furniture fabrication: Joseph Shaw

Commissioned by:
The NewBridge Project, Newcastle/Gateshead

With thanks to:
Niomi Fairweather, Programme Director, The NewBridge Project
Rebecca Huggan, Director, The NewBridge Project

Funded by:
Arts Council England
Community Foundation, Newcastle