The project budget for the work was 1000 nis. The work is a sculpture comprised of 1000 – shekel coins, the artists’ fee including expenses.
The sculpture is for sale. the price is 8000 shekel.
Performa 0:2 Festival / School of Visual Theater/ Curator: Guy Gutman
Background
In 1972, the Portuguese-Argentinian Joao Delgado decided to expose the support mechanisms of the fringe theater he managed in Argentina. In the first act of his first play, on stage, he signed a contract with an urban producer stipulating the conditions and budget of the production itself. In the second act he took it back, and signed with the largest fund in the city that gives the smallest grants. In the third act he built a tower out of 2500 one-peso coins, comprising the meager budget of the entire show.
In the fourth act, to everyone’s surprise, the money vanished from the stage.
Play was performed only once and was a critical response to the ruling economic and political policy in Argentina at the time, when both foreign and local foundations and organizations attempted to dictate an alien cultural agenda, by force of their wealth. In this work, called “Total Investment”, Delgado preceded his time in a brilliant critical act and continued to work independently until his disappearance during the military dictatorship in Argentina.
photos: hilla spector
