This idea was based on the text of the coin suggesting a relationship between love and money. I minted a brass coin for a group art show called Art in Odd Places (www.artinoddplaces.org) where the street was the gallery, so to speak. I put a few hundred tokens out each night for one week on East 8th Street between Fourth Avenue and Avenue D in the East Village, NYC; on the sidewalk, in trees, coin return slots, stairs, cracks in walls, in parks, any public space available within my stretch of designated area. These tokens were meant to be picked up and taken by the viewer. The response was very interesting. One interaction was a trade for 25 cents for a token, another, someone asked if I was putting out alms for the poor and another thought they were sex tokens for porn movies.
The piece also addresses love. Finding love. Losing love. Love can be enduring or fleeting, stable or disruptive. Does it happen by chance, circumstance or providence? Or is it as impulsive as a one night stand, which can be looming and provocative? Sometimes we gleefully stumble, fall and dive right in knowing that the flip side can be ominous and dreary by leaving a void. Often we take the gamble, with fantasy and reality working side by side. By what measure do we consider our choices when it comes to love and by what measure do decide to stay or leave? This piece explores how choices can sometimes be made. Another interaction resulted with the viewer asking me for a bunch of coins for his friends, so they could flip the coin to decide on their relationships.
Opening day was Sunday, August 21, 2005. The piece was on view, if you looked carefully, all day, all night, all week, rain or shine through August 28th, 2005.