Billion euro home

Fig 2. Buckley sitting on toilet in 'Billion euro house' (2012) http://www.ibtimes.com

Artist Frank Buckley has transformed a home into an art installation in its own right by using 1.4 billion euros worth of notes to make bricks! I like the ambition of the project coupled with the fact the artist is unemployed adds to the perfection of his exploration on the value of money. This further more questions my current questioning of ‘what is money worth?’ My paper making has taken a back seat at the moment whilst I wait for other countries to respond to my emails but looking at Buckley’s ‘Billion Euro House’ has really inspired my work with money. Maybe I'll start small scale and start building a shed!

Fig 1. Euro bricks of the 'Billion euro house' (2012) http://www.ibtimes.com

Buckley uses an abandoned office building, enhancing the issue of value and worth. He says, ‘People were pouring billions into buildings now worth nothing… I wanted to create something from nothing.’ (tehpardox forum, 2012).

I  enjoy how Buckley has created a website dedicated to publicising the billion euro house. It looks almost like a newspaper website. Or a website to make the most money out of the house as possible, says the cynic in me. Maybe if I ever start building a shed I'll dedicate a website to that too in homage to Buckley!

I have recently purchased a great new book (Standard catalog of world paper money), containing images of bank notes throughout the world and is truly inspiring, it's made me think more about money in terms of decoration and imagery. I have since considered making my own notes, as I am engrossed in researching about them. It makes me question, ‘who designs such notes?’ I have spent hours searching through this directory viewing other cultures decoration interests me greatly.

I feel like I've got so many ideas but not enough time to do it all!

Bibliography

Billion euro house (2013) Billion euro house [online] Available at: http://billioneurohouse.com/ [Accessed 29 December 2013]

Cuhaj, G. S (2010) Standard catalog of World Paper Money: Modern Issues 1961- Present. America: Krause publications.

Tehparadox (2012) [online] Available at: http://tehparadox.com/forum/f11/irishman-builds-billion-euro-home-3833722/ [Accessed 29 December 2013]

Images

Fig 1. Euro bricks (2012), (2013) [Image online] Available at: http://www.ibtimes.com/irish-artist-builds-home-out-14-billion-shredded-euros-photos-553873 [Accessed 29 December 2013]

Fig 2. Buckley sitting on toilet of billion euro home (2012), (2013) [Image online] Available at: http://www.ibtimes.com/irish-artist-builds-home-out-14-billion-shredded-euros-photos-553873 [Accessed 29 December 2013]