The Currency 12" Vinyl
Elom 20ce, Musquiqui Chihying, and Gregor Kasper
French, German, Mandarin
31×31 cm, 12" Vinyl
Commissioned byTimes Art Center Berlin
Published by Sternberg Press
ISBN 978-3-95679-578-7
24€
The Currency by Elom 20ce, Musquiqui Chihying, and Gregor Kasper is a vinyl record, its golden hue reminiscent of a wafer – one of the thin silicon discs used in microchip production. The rap song of the same name on the A-side is a collaboration between artists Musquiqui Chihying (Taipei/Berlin), Gregor Kasper (Berlin), and rapper Elom 20ce (Lomé), who identifies as a griot, a traditional West African storyteller, oral historian, and singer.
The lyrics, in French, Mandarin, and German, offer a poetic reflection on various overlooked aspects of contemporary culture and economy: the entanglement of digital payment systems in China (WeChat and AliPay) with the daily lives of their users, whose every movement and action are visible to the state and market, subjecting them to constant surveillance; the introduction of the new ECO currency, intended to replace the CFA franc in eight West African nations by the end of 2020, marking a significant step towards monetary independence for these countries; and the widespread, idealised notion of a clean, free, and fair digital cloud, which disregards the material realities behind it, such as the industries involved in wafer production and other electronic hardware, and the labour conditions therein.
The B-side features The Hubs, a sound piece that includes a conversation with Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou (Lomé/Paris) – architect, anthropologist, and founder of FabLab – accompanied by music composed by Elom 20ce. In the WoeLab “open hardware” workshop in Lomé, Togo, Agbodjinou introduced an alternative digital barter currency that functions through social activity and local services as its medium of exchange.
work
The Alp
The Bedroom
The Cable
The Camera (16)
The Camera (17)
The Camera (36)
The Camera (65)
The Chat
The Cultural Center
The Dust
The Figure
The Gate
The Jog
The Lighting
The Link
The Looty
The Map
The Mask
The Postcard
The Route
The Sallow Man
The Sculpture
The Smart City
The Toyota
The Vitrine
collective
Bengawan Solo
Café Togo
Songs of SPECX The Currency-Sensing 01 The Currency-Vinyl The Gesture I
The Gesture II The Guestbook The Sallow Sea
exhibition
Ghost In The Sea Too Loud A Dust
On The Faience Of Your Eyes There Are Lights That Never Go Out I'll Be Back Resistance is Futile
Modern Life is Dull
The Alp
The Bedroom
The Cable
The Camera (16)
The Camera (17)
The Camera (36)
The Camera (65)
The Chat
The Cultural Center
The Dust
The Figure
The Gate
The Jog
The Lighting
The Link
The Looty
The Map
The Mask
The Postcard
The Route
The Sallow Man
The Sculpture
The Smart City
The Toyota
The Vitrine
collective
Bengawan Solo
Café Togo
Songs of SPECX The Currency-Sensing 01 The Currency-Vinyl The Gesture I
The Gesture II The Guestbook The Sallow Sea
exhibition
Ghost In The Sea Too Loud A Dust
On The Faience Of Your Eyes There Are Lights That Never Go Out I'll Be Back Resistance is Futile
Modern Life is Dull