>> Project CASH 2002 << © - for the Federal Republic of Germany
Currency change Deutsche Mark - Euro
Design drawing, 1998: Glass cube (15 x 15 x 15 meters) containing approximately 230 billion Deutsche Mark in shredded banknotes. Planned temporary installation site in 2002 in the banking district of Frankfurt am Main.
 
Planning for the project began in 1998. The project idea was to showcase the entire stock of Deutsche Mark banknotes from the German Bundesbank in shredded form inside a large glass cube (15 x 15 x 15 meters) in Frankfurt for a limited period. The banknotes had a total weight of approximately 2,600 tons
and a former total value of about 230 billion Deutsche Mark. The intention was not only to display the monetary value
but also the full physical volume of a national currency – the Deutsche Mark.

The work *CASH 2002* was not meant to express nostalgia for the loss of the national currency but rather to symbolize a farewell, united in a social historical mass, to welcome the new currency—the euro—and thereby mark the beginning of a new era in European history.

In the final phase, the German Bundesbank decided not to provide the entire mass of devalued Deutsche Mark banknotes for the *CASH* project. The resulting models and numerous objects made from shredded banknotes were exhibited and are now part of several collections.

The *CASH* project was not only about a state currency but also about the broader question of money, financial systems, values, and the power of money… culminating in the devaluation and shredding of approximately 230 billion Deutsche Mark banknotes. It also explored the relationship between people and a cube
containing the banknotes of an entire national currency.
Model of the Glass Cube *Project CASH*, 1998
Glass cube (15 x 15 x 15 meters) containing approximately 230 billion shredded Deutsche Mark banknotes. Total weight of the banknotes: approximately 2,600 tons.