Money: Engine of Art and Humanity

What is the role, what is the relationship between money and art? This is the question from which the exhibition L'Argente dans l'Art at the Monnaie de Paris was conceived. Fascinating and complex theme that is explored in this exhibition through a vast selection of artworks - from the Middle Ages to contemporary - which offer a unique and stimulating perspective on how money has influenced art and culture. Many famous works are on display. Like The Pack, the 1969 work by Joseph Beuys, composed of a deer horn, a piece of felt and a German mark, which represents the idea of money as an instrument of social exchange and power. Or Banksy's provocative Disintegration II, an installation composed of an out-of-service ATM and a mural depicting a monkey doing an office job that questions the value of money and work in contemporary society. Or Michelangelo Pistoletto's Stair Cleaner from 1965, which presents a man cleaning the stairs of a building as a metaphor for the artist's marginal position in today's society. The curatorship of the exhibition, by Cécile Debray and Thomas Schlesser, offers a unique and innovative perspective on the theme, exploring the role l'argent has played throughout human history and in contemporary culture. "Money has always been at the center of human exchanges" explained the curators and this exhibition eloquently demonstrates how this centrality has influenced art and culture over the centuries.