The most successful belief system on earth is the faith in money. We have a global belief in the exchange of currency for good and services, resulting in money’s powerful status. Our faith in its transactional value is the core of the global economy and drives virtually everything on earth.

Fata Morgana by Sanne Vaassen, examines the very nature of these decorated papers that represent the belief system. Deconstructing currencies from several countries and re-imagining them into an analogue film forces the viewer to decontextualise money into its constituent parts and ‘devaluing’ it. The historical figures, symbols and colours that are depicted on the currencies fuse together and are looped on a 16mm film projector. 

Fata Morgana, 16mm diaprojector, money from various countries, 2019

Text written by Stacie McCormick for the solo exhibition Surplus to Purpose (2019) at Unit 1 Gallery | Workshop, London, UK.

Made possible thanks to the generous support of the Mondriaan Fonds