Installation view in “Europa, die Zukunft der Geschichte,” 2015.
Installation view in “Europa, die Zukunft der Geschichte,” 2015.
Installation view in "L’Europe en devenir," Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, 2007.
Installation view in "L’Europe en devenir," Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, 2007.
Detail, “A Taste for Money — France,” 2002
Detail, “A Taste for Money – Spain,” 2002
Detail, “A Taste for Money – Ireland,” 2002
A Taste for Money
In: “Europa, die Zukunft der Geschichte”
12 June – 6 September, 2015
Kunsthaus Zürich
“A Taste for Money,” 2002/2007/2015
Installation:
25 photographs behind glass, each 35 x 70cm
The foundation of the European Economic Community in 1957 was aimed at fostering trade relations between its member states and at encouraging the European integration process. Since then, the community of states, today’s European Union, has seen numerous expansions, both in its orientation and objectives, through the accession of new member states as well as through the introduction of the euro as a common currency in 2002. In “A Taste for Money” the conceptual artist Christian Philipp Müller shows the member states by 2007, the year he created his wall installation, in chronological order by the year of their entry. Each of the states is represented through the photograph of a showcase in which either a selection of chocolates produced in the country as a metaphor for the euro or the respective country’s currency and national flag are laid out, depending on whether the country’s own currency had already been replaced with the euro or not.
Müller focuses on the importance of currencies as a way of the citizens’ identification with their country or, in the case of the euro, with a community of states. Most of the countries’ banknotes and coins show national personalities, cultural achievements or insignia of the respective state. Exchanging one’s own currency against the euro is often linked with fears of losing one’s identity, though the euro also offers possibilities of identification through country-specific motifs on the various coins. The stylized representation of a common cultural history on all banknotes emphasizes the euro’s function as a European meaning maker. Looking at Swiss notes for comparison, one is struck by the fact that, except for Arthur Honegger, they only show personalities whose influence extended all over Europe and who, like Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Le Corbusier or Alberto Giacometti, spent long periods of their lives not in Switzerland but in European cities. These identification figures seem to have been chosen because of their international renown rather than because of their “Swissness.”
The euro is not only a tangible symbol of European identity but also simplifies the exchange of goods and services as well as the tourist industry within the European single market and serves to ensure a higher stability against speculations and cyclical business fluctuations. This strengthens the position of the European market on the world market where it competes with other large markets. Joining the euro zone is something most countries of the European Union are very interested in — since 2007 the euro has been introduced in another seven countries: Eurozone membership is subject to strict standards to guarantee stability, though. In the wake of the euro crisis, the major national banks have been placed under the supervision of the European Central Bank in November 2014, which has overcome one of the weak points of the common currency.
Excerpt from Cathérine Hug and Robert Menasse, eds., Europe: The Future of History (Zürich: Neue Zürcher Zeitung Publishing, 2015), 212.