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FAD Magazine covers contemporary art – News, Exhibitions and Interviews reported on from London

Cornelia Parker, Embryo Money, 1996.

Cornelia Parker ,Embryo Money, 1996. Image courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London © the artist
Ten pence pieces in the earliest stage of production
Money seems such a powerful material,
but in the end it’s only metal. I was keen
to see how it was made and managed to
get behind the scenes at the Royal Mint,
in Pontyclun, Wales. I asked if I could have
some coins without a face. Removing these
metal discs from the process just before
they were struck made them a currency
interrupted before it had value, before it
accrued power.

Cornelia Parker Exhaled-Cocaine 1996

Cornelia Parker, Exhaled Cocaine, 1996. Image courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London
Incinerated cocaine
A thorny run-in with US Customs officials
gave me a perverse desire to work with
Customs and Excise in the UK. I got
to know the team at their Cardiff
headquarters over a period of several
months. They agreed to give me some
confiscated cocaine. They gave me a
big black bin-liner full, a million pounds’
worth burnt to a cinder. I love the
theatrical way they destroy illicitly
smuggled contraband, steamrollering
fake Rolex watches or alcohol. Like me,
they are often symbolically killing
things off.

Cornelia-Parker-War-Room

Cornelia Parker
War Room 2015

Image © the Whitworth, The University of Manchester. Photography by Michael Pollard

Cornelia-Parker-Election-Abstract

Cornelia Parker
Election Abstract (video still) 2018
Courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London
© Cornelia Parker

Cornelia-Parker-Perpetual-Canon

Cornelia Parker
Perpetual Canon 2004

Collection of Contemporary Art Fundación “la Caixa”, Barcelona
© Cornelia Parker

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