It's a funny little story, the one I'm about to tell - a very true one too, in fact, happened to me just Today.
When I was five, circa 1998, I found in my Dad's things a banknote that was worth 0 Dollars. That was an incredible thing! I had never seen anything like it before! I was so amazed, that I begged for it to be mine - and it did, being a ZERO note, it shouldn't really be worth much - just a bit of a joke really. I kept it with my things, together will pens which didn't work, markers, fading highlighters, tapes, and crayons - all inside this transparent box, that belonged to me.
I even remember a day that I was playing cashier with a friend and I showed her that bank note together with monopoly bills too. I was so proud of it.
As time passed by, I would loose this banknote amongst my things and I would find it again after a few years or months. It would always make me happy to find it. Anyways, moving on...
By the time I was 15, I was given a little silver wallet which I started using right away. After finding my zero dollars again around that time, I decided to keep it on that wallet, and I would carry it around with me. It was cool, much like my good luck charm.
I have always been very much interested in arts, but it takes a little while to get to know much about it, especially at such a young age. I had been presented to the works of this famous Brazilian artist called Cildo Meireles who did amazing works, but it was only around my 18th birthday that I learned that he had made a series of Zero Dollar notes. By that time, I had already changed wallets, and hadn't seen that note in a couple of years.
These past few days, I had decided to look into my old wallets to find this goddam note, which I was sure it was by Cildo. And I didn't find it. I looked in between letters that were written my in the past, and much like the previous try, I had found nothing. I looked into photo boxes. Still nothing. I remembered my parents about it but all they would say was that there was no signature on it, and it was probably only a cheap print of a 0 note.
Today - as mentioned in the beginning of the story - I decided to swap back to my dear old little silver wallet - one which I had believed to have throughly looked through. As I was putting my UAL ID Card in one of the pockets, I found something to be interrupting its way. And it was nothing more, nothing less, than my crumpled old zero dollar banknote. And on it, there was nothing more, nothing less than a signature of Cildo Meireles.
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| Cildo Meireles, "Zero dollar" (1978-84). Click here for image URL. |
The person who had given it to my father didn't tell him the importance of that note, and my dad, much too young at the time to bother about art, didn't know of it either. Now, that note can be crippled and even a little dirty - but if you think about it, I was 5 when I was given it... I could have drawn or painted over it - OR WORSE - I could have cut it, given it away, thrown it away - but I kept it (guilty that a 3mm of its tip is missing) - I KEPT IT. It has survived at least 15 years!
Of course, if you buy a new one, it costs $5,000 - according to Artspace. If mine were to go for sale, it would be worth much much less, given its state. But for me, oh my god, it has brough smiles to my face every time I found it - from the necessity of playing with it as a kid, until today, where I study and regard it highly with much respect. Mr. Cildo Meireles, I have to thank you dearly for all the joy that you have given me for creating this note.
If you want to find out more about other banknotes by Cildo Meireles, I'll be posting a text next Monday, the 1st of September!
