Bitcoins, a virtual currency, are booming business. Invented in 2009, they are now a hype, spurred by the uncertainties of the banking crisis. Read Kevin Roose in the New York Magazine about his acquisition of a bitcoin. Interestingly enough the British Museum collected a ‘coined’ version of the bitcoin, made by Mike Caldwell. Doe the BM have a real bitcoin in the collection? Or is that to difficult to collect and keep?
Bitcoin, solid version, front side, made by Mike Caldwell. Collection British Museum, Coins & Metals department. Registration number 2012,4040.4. Donated by Mike Caldwell.
The Banksy mural was not just a thing the neighbourhood valued and treasured. It attracted people from everywhere. It was an example of art putting a place on the map. In that way it was far more then a simple gift from Banksy to the community. Banksy did something that changed the image the people had of themeselves.
(Source: Daily Mail)
Banksy, ‘Slave Labor (Bunting Boy)’ 2012, mural created on the occasion of the Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, unexpectedly removed and put up for sale.
WOII camp Amersfoort, in use by the Nazi’s from 1941 - 1945 as a ‘Durchgangslager’ presents an exhibition of archeological finds. The camp has been demolished (almost) completely after 1945, so archeological finds are the only remaining authentic objects from this dark period, in which more than 35.000 persons have been transported to concentration camps. Camp Amersfoort features in the work of the Dutch painter and poet Armando, who coined the name ‘guilty landscape’ for places that ‘accomodated’ crimes against humanity.
At the occasion of the exhibition the management of Camp Amersfoort issued 50 memory boards with a piece of barbed wire mounted on it. The barbed wire was one of the archeological finds in the recent excavations. Every board was to be sold for 10 euro to support the conservation of the collection. However, numerous protests on the day of release have made the management withdraw the memory boards for general sale. Now they can only be bought on special request.
The management of Camp Amersfoort is puzzled by the reaction of the public. “I don’t understand it”, says the director, “earlier pieces of wood from the baracks of camp Vught have been sold, just as pieces from the Berlin Wall. We did not expect it to be so touchy.”
This is the blog of the ICOM-COMCOL Working Group on Contemporary Collecting. We welcome contributions by anyone who likes to participate in our exploration of this fascinating museological phenomenon.
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