Curious about how the British Museum dealt with this revolutionary (because it talks about every day, ordinary) topic and how other museums deal with other 'ordinary' simple ideas? I detect a shift of paradigm in making displays: from being interested in displaying only beautiful appealing objects, museums started being also interested in useful objects. How do museums display the 'useful'?
I believe 'Money' is a topic for an exhibition which can be made around the world, in very many different ways. All national museums have coins from archeological excavations! Visitors care for money, I suppose. Classic exhibitions, critical ones, immaginative ones.
I dream of an exhibition whith a roulette...
Thinking at one example only, of a Museum of Gold, in Michael Taussig's book, 'My Cocaine Museum'.
One example of such an exhibition made at the British Museum: Room 68, Money.
http://wwwin.britishmuseum.org/money
Here, an image from their web-site:
Looking at the image, I expect to see coins, bacnotes, shells and different other forms of trading and exchanging goods. What is valuable for people around the world? Mobile phons, I see! Money as fetish, where is lack of money, do we see expensive telephones, inscriptions on coins (like the one above 'VOTES FOR WOMEN') and other marvels of our every day life.
I would make a pannel with present inscriptions: what wold people write today on money?
I would continue this exhibition with another one, on DEBT - following David Graeber's book.
But since I am not in London for the moment, I can only guess what such an exhibition might contain or say.
