Face the Euro: What can I do for the world around me?
Photo by Daniel Zakharov.
By Daniel Zakharov.
What is a man’s role in modern society?
What is the role of money? Does money serve me or do I serve money? Money can help our wishes come true. Money can motivate us, but if we have no goals, desires, or hopes, money alone is not enough. Money is important for our development and health, though a lot of money does not necessarily mean more happiness.
Every day, money passes through our hands. No matter who we are, whatever our origin or religion, whether we are men or women, rich or poor, young or old — money touches and unites all of us and is our most effective means of communication.
Money is impersonal; it can be used for any purpose. It’s up to us to decide how to use it. The actual material on which we print is neutral and has no special value. Its value depends on what we put into it.
The euro is the symbol of European unity. And yet, ironically, it has also become a symbol of discord.
The conversion to the euro caused a massive public outcry in Europe. All one could hear was incessant talk about banks, debts, and percentage. European nations began blaming one another, while their press added fuel to the fire, feeding its provocative headlines to the demotivated citizens. Prejudices, mutual accusations, and fear were soaring; terrible scenarios of the coming doom were drawn. At that moment we were in desperate need of something positive, of some pivot in the sea of negativity.
These were the circumstances in which “Face the Euro” was born.
Photo by Daniel Zakharov.
“Face the Euro” asks the question: What can I do for the world around me? All of us have enough problems — who needs more? Let politicians and economists cope with them. We want to buy and consume the feeling of happiness — after all, we live only once. Therefore, in times of crisis, the need for entertainment prevails.
Whatever the economic and political situation is, each person has the power to influence society and development.
If you feel personally responsible, you can make a positive contribution. Once again we must listen closely to ourselves. The governments are losing our trust as we realize how helpless they are. We don’t want to see business involved in anti-social activities and pursuit of profit; we don’t need their innovations, which ignore consumer demands. We are not robots and we don’t want to be ruled and manipulated. We want to be motivated to act on our own. Self-motivation and understanding of personal responsibility are growing all over the world.
“Face the Euro” deals with the relationship between man and money in our society.
It’s an interactive project, which takes place between the participants and us, the artists. To participate, one must have their photo taken and printed on a 5 Euro banknote. Those deciding whether or not to take part face two problems: not only do they have to part with their own money, but they must also have their photo printed on the banknote itself, and thereby damage it.
Photo by Daniel Zakharov.
Both problems are interesting, as they demonstrate how a small piece of paper can influence both our conscience and behavior. Therefore, every participant makes two important moves: he gives away money, and he puts his personality above it. It may be a trifle, but it has a great symbolic meaning. It helps give value to a banknote through a personal gesture, side by side with other individuals and their own motivations. This way every banknote becomes part of a growing work of art.
The reasons for participation are as varied as the participants themselves. The most important thing is that our project leads to communication. We made three stopovers — in Dusseldorf, Cologne, and Heerlen — and involved 269 people from Germany, France, Holland, the USA, Russia, Japan, and several other countries.
Photo by Daniel Zakharov.
We hope to attract more people, since we’ve decided to take our project to all the countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union and create a piece of art which stands for unity and diversity at the same time.
Original Portraits: Danielzakharov.de
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Daniel Zakharov (*1984). Daniel is a freelance photographer and works on commercial assignments as well as independent projects. He loves taking pictures of the world around him, his life, things that worry him, excite him, or are just fun to see. That’s how he retains them in his memory. In a way, he creates fragments of his life. The focus of his work is to capture his environment and surroundings in an authentic, and at the same time unique, way. “It is not about standard, but individuality, uniqueness and new points of view.” He can be contacted at [email protected] */ ]]> and www.danielzakharov.de. Sebastian Hennig (*1982) is Daniel’s partner on “Face the euro” and a freelance designer. He can be contacted at [email protected] */ ]]> and www.sebastianhennig.com.
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{Do Art.}
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