Maxim Kashirskiy has long been interested in the concept of money, saying (with the help of Google Translate), “I always liked the well-developed prints with a lot of fine lines and elements. Purely from an artistic point of view, the money – it is usually the finest examples of the wizard, and images having excellent value and importance for a country that produces them. They can be used to study history, even languages can be studied, at least numerals. As a child, I started collecting banknotes because of the love of art. For many, this craze may seem strange, but I’m a Taurus, the sign of finance, as astrologers say.”
As he developed as an artist, Kashirskiy would draw his own fantasy money and, when he got older, took the process to a more evolved form by reinventing Russian Roubles with the images of historical figures of his own choosing. Realizing that the characters on Roubles were “picked wrong”, he replaced the artists typically displayed on the money with scientists and innovators who he believed were responsible for the country’s wealth. Using holograms, the artist is able to mimic the actual currency, while portraying important scientists like Nikolai Nikitin, who built the Oskatino Broadcasting Tower, and Boris Rosing, one of TV’s Russian pioneers. The project, titled Innovative Money, eventually led Kashirskiy to his next project: 3D printed coins.
Teaming up with producer Alexander Hollander, the artist has expanded his fantastical currency to include plastic coins, painted in gold, and actual silver, with the faces of other heroes. The 5 Rouble piece, for instance, features famous Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. And, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the invention of 3D printing, the duo has created a new coin with the face of 3D Systems founder, vice president and CTO Chuck Hull. All of the items are available for purchase at the artist and producers site, 3D MINT. The coins can additionally be found at their Shapeways store.
The collection of coins, along with a 3D printed tiara made up of notes from Louis Armstrong’s “A Kiss to Build a Dream On”, were displayed at Russia’s first 3D printing conference, 3D Print Expo (Alexander tells me that the duo were the only artists at the exhibition). Alongside their printed objects was a golden antelope sculpture, commissioned by Serbian sculptor Dusko Bojinovic, that they scanned at the event and have replicated with 3D printing. The antelope, is based on a Soviet cartoon from the 50’s, taken from an Indian tale, the synopsis of which is below:
An orphaned peasant boy saves a magical gold-finding antelope from a group of hunters. A greedy Raja and his servants seize the boy, threaten him with death, and demand to be told where the Golden antelope hides. The Magical antelope comes to the aid of her friend, and the evil Raja is punished.
At the end of the tale, all of the gold that the antelope has found turns to clay. Alexander tells me that the film and the sculpture are an “allegory for the industry” in which they find themselves. The antelope sculpture will be available in polished gold steel on Shapeways and all of their products are made with the help of their partner, SIU System, a Russian 3D Systems retailer previously covered on 3DPI.
The pair’s 3D printed project raises some interesting issues for me. While BitCoin spreads its strange influence across the Internet and across the globe, the question about what money is exactly, seeps into the back of people’s minds. What began as a means of exchanging valuable tangible goods and services has slowly transitioned to symbolic representations of value. With gold, we were assured that our pieces of paper and metal were rooted in an aesthetically appealing and electrically conductive mineral. Technological developments rendered physical cash close to useless with the advent of the debit card, then online banking, and, now, digital currency.
Somehow, this completely abstract concept has become our biggest means of survival, an elaborate social contract that feeds us, protects us from the elements, and keeps us healthy. The same abstract concept can be used to give a small minority access to the most lavish of luxuries and the ability to control the resources of the rest of the population. Holding a 3D printed coin, completely devoid of value, the question must subconsciously affect the coin’s holder, leading him/her/zhir to ask what any of this abstract social contract even means.
Source: 3D MINT
