Meschac Gaba's Museum on the Moon

The Came of Democracy, 1997, installation. "Money, money, money / Must be funny / In a rich man's world". I'd be willing to bet that everyone reading these words simultaneously hears the tune of the world-famous ABBA hit. It doesn't matter whether you come from Sweden or from Burkina Faso. Japan or Venezuela; most likely you can immediately sing the refrain of this cheerful classic. It's the sort of universal music that is equally easy on the ear - and equally meaningless - to everyone in the world. That is not true of another universal concept: money. Money is not at all meaningless or neutral. Everyone wants it. but for someone in Burkina Faso it means something different (and presumably has a different urgency) than for someone in Sweden. Meschac Gaba's 16* Nka Jo u r n al of Co n t em p o r ar y Af r i can Ar t Nina Folkersma Meschac Gaba. an artist from Benin living and working in Amsterdam for the past two years, is fascinated by money. A fascination closely related to the economic crisis in his native land and neighbouring countries in Africa. It all began when Gaba, wandering one day through the streets of Porto Novo, discovered a trash can full of shredded bank notes behind a bank building. Confronted daily with the harrowing effects of lack of money, he suddenly saw how this selfsame valuable stuff is simply cut up and thrown away. Meschac Gaba decided then and there to incorporate shredded bank notes - those 'vouchers' of the absurdity of our world economy - in his artworks. In his first works, the emphasis appears in particular to be on the formal, pictorial quality of the bank notes. The works he made on canvas all contain stamp-like imprints of organic forms Brancusi on an African bank note from The Museum of Contemporary African M,W&, installation. Museum on the Moon Fal l / Wi n t er 1998 Left and Below: Echelle du Musee: Diredeur D'Institut, Institut Offrsnt L'Expace, 1998. which, because of the subdued ochre colours of Benin's paper currency , are most reminiscent of the leaves of trees in varying autumnal tints. These are very different from the canvases Gaba covered with Dutch money. The shreds the Bank of the Netherlands makes of its old notes look like gaily coloured confetti. Since his arrival at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam (the State Academy of Fine Art) in 1996, a more content- oriented shift has occurred in Gaba's work. His 'money pieces', now primarily objects and installations, increasingly emphasize the economic relationship between the West and the African continent. Take a look at The Game of Democracy (1997) for instance: a chess set with chess pieces made from American dollars and French francs and a wooden board with bank notes from Benin used for the spaces. Wit h this work, Gaba playfully and effectively exposes the underlying mechanisms of today's world economy. J ust like a game of chess, the market economy is dominated by the principles of competitiveness and the right of the strongest. Countries that are unsuccessful in adjusting their economies to changes taking place on the chessboard of the international marketplace are neglected - and ultimately shut out. The most recent statistics of the UNCTAD (the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) are patently obvious in this respect: 85% of worldwide direct foreign investment goes to the most developed countries. In other words, the rich invest in the rich: this forces the poorest countries to attune their economies to the production of goods for export, making them even more dependent upon the wealthy countries. The global 'game of democracy' is only a game on paper; on old and shredded paper, Gaba seems to be saying. As long as actual power - the power of money - is in the hands of the western world, contradiction and inequality will continue to exist. Indeed, Gaba poses socially critical Questions, but he averts heavy- handedness by the way he gives them form. He will always try to come up with a playful approach in order to preserve not only his own sense of humour, but also that...