Giant Pool of Money
Literal trickle-down theory, 2016
Matt Kenyon (US)
The Giant Pool of Money series examines the thoughts and beliefs that led to the global financial crisis in 2008, and the profound loss of faith in markets that followed. The centerpiece of the series is a pyramid of champagne glasses, connected to a change machine that breaks mined cryptocurrency into ‘quarters’.
The coins were actually replicas minted out of the element gallium, a metal that melts just above room temperature. Deposited into the uppermost champagne glass, the coins melt and cascade down the pyramid over time. It’s equal parts literal trickle-down theory, and Terminator 2’s liquid metal monster
BIO
Matt Kenyon is a new media sculptor who lives and works in Rhode Island, USA. He is an associate professor in the Digital + Media Program at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he runs the Interventions in Capitalism research group with Edek Sher. From 1999—2012, he collaborated with Douglas Easterly on Studies of Work Atmosphere and Mass Production (SWAMP); Matt now runs SWAMP as a solo project. He has participated in numerous collaborations with artists, architects, and technologists, including McLain Clutter, Adam Fure, Tiago Rorke and Wafaa Bilal.
Matt’s work has been exhibited internationally and collected by institutions including The Museum of Modern Art in New York. His work has received a number of awards including the distinguished FILE Prix Lux. Reproductions of SWAMP’s work have been featured in mainstream publications such as Wiredand Gizmodo, and also appear in edited volumes such as A Touch of Code and Adversarial Design