Second Burial At Le Blanc

Sarah Browne’s multi-faceted installation

Sarah Browne’s multi-faceted installation. Project Arts Centre, 39 East Essex St, Temple Bar Mon-Sat 11am-8pm Until June 25 01-8819613

"Le Blanc is the last village in France where francs are still being accepted as payment for goods and services," Sarah Browne points out in her introduction to her exhibition Second Burial at Le Blanc. The commune, on the banks of the River Creuse in central France, capitalises on a legislative loophole: French banks accept and exchange francs for euros until, that is, February 17th, 2012.

Browne went there, publicised and organised a procession, and devised a Wi-Fi tickertape machine that records euro exchange rates and counts down the time to the cut-off point next year. It's a handsome object that normally resides in Le Blanc but is currently at the Project, together with the lively newspaper, On Hoarding, Accumulating and Gifting, that was distributed to publicise the procession. That's the subject of a 10-minute 16mm film also in the show.

As the eurozone lurches from crisis to crisis, Browne prompts us to look at the deeper meanings of currency or, as Marx memorably described it, “frozen desire”.

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Aidan Dunne

Aidan Dunne

Aidan Dunne is visual arts critic and contributor to The Irish Times