Gold Card, 2006
24k gold & brass
5.5 x 8.5 x 0.2 cm
edition of 2
Gold card is cast from 24k gold into the shape of a credit card. The numbers on the face depict its chemical and physical properties as a well as its market value for the first day of 2006 (see diagram below).
The credit card has become a powerful symbol of our times, with its personalised magic numbers and memory swipe band on the back, it affords us infinite possibilities. It buys desires, makes us see new places and shapes our very destiny. To turn this very object, which holds no direct physical value in itself, into a precious object, questions the notion of value and valuables.
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''... The capacity to calculate the exact value of its materials on a daily basis explicitly set up questions about the role of artists. How do artists place a value on the conceptual development of a body of work? If the same amount of metal had been presented as an ingot in the gallery or if the work had been presented in another context would it have been priced differently? "
Jasmin Stephens, Artlink magazine v.27, 2007
