Cycling Values

Mixed media installation

3D print, acrylic glass (laser engraved), video (loop, 03:16 min)

2021

Each hidden underneath a thin copper layer, small pieces of zinc are constantly circulating in the society of the USA – in the form of one-cent coins, often referred to as pennies. They are made of 97.5 % zinc due to its cost-efficiency. Whereas publicly encoded with Lincoln’s profile and a face value of one cent, further values of the penny range from an actual production cost of 2.1 cents (in 2021) to rare mintages auctioned for thousands of dollars or costing an animal or child its life due to ingestion, a phenomenon repeatedly reported in the USA.
Following a possible life cycle of zinc in the form of one penny while making use of the coin’s properties as a design object and carrier of information and narratives, this project explores how we attach altering values and concepts to the same piece of metal depending on its production state, condition, or our perception. How can the same object be valued in different situations, and why?
The installation comprises a collection of alternative penny designs each reflecting on and representing individual phases in the presented cycle, translated into a video loop and high resolution-3D prints of five selected designs. The 3D-printed coins are placed in a clear coin board for double-sided view of their faces and reverses, situating them in an infographic on penny circulation in the USA.

Sources + Credits

Photography:

1–4: Rabia Sulhan.
6: Chiyue Ding.

Visual references (coin designs, in order of appearance):

Crystal Council (2018–21): Sphalerite, thecrystalcouncil.com/crystals/sphalerite/.
Anjum Trading Corporation (2021): Zinc ZN Concentrate, anjumtrading.com/project-2/.
Aculon (2021): Hydrophilic Zinc Coatings (Zinc Ingot), aculon.com/hydrophilic-zinc/.
United States Mint (2014): United States One Cent Obverse and United States Dime (proof) Reverse, via Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_One_Cent_Obv.png, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dime_Reverse_13.png.
Reed, Amy (2017): Clover, via Unsplash, unsplash.com/de/fotos/nahaufnahme-einer-person-die-eine-grune-blattpflanze-halt-49ZXvCLerUo.
Lacoste, Valentin (2018): Wide Angle Photograph of a Tunnel, via Unsplash, unsplash.com/de/fotos/weitwinkelfotografie-des-tunnels-jNSJE8dMro0/.
Rogerw02 (n. d.): Mallard Drake, via Dreamstime, dreamstime.com/stock-photos-mallard-drake-image19826863/.

Sources [retrieved 2021]:

Artazn LLC. (2021): Coinage, artazn.com/products/coinage/.
Barthelmy, David (2014): Sphalerite Mineral Data, Mineralogy Database, webmineral.com/data/Sphalerite.shtml#.YZfzutDMKUk.
Donahue, Michelle Z. (2016): How Much Does it Really Cost (the Planet) to Make a Penny?, in: Smithsonian Magazine, smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/penny-environmental-disaster-180959032/.
Gasaway, William C./Irven O. Buss (1972): Zinc toxicity in the Mallard Duck, in: The Journal of Wildlife Management, vol. 36, no. 4, p. 1107, doi:10.2307/3799239.
Heritage Auctions (2021): ha.com/.
Martínez, Alejandro/Andrea Di Cesare/Neus Marí‐Mena/Guillermo García‐Gómez/Álvaro García‐Herrero/Gianluca Corno/Diego Fontaneto/Ester M. Eckert (2020): Tossed ‘good luck’ coins as vectors for anthropogenic pollution into aquatic environment, in: Environmental Pollution, vol. 259, p. 113800, doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113800.
PoultryDVM, LLC. (2021): Zinc toxicosis, duckdvm.com/condition/zinc-poisoning/.
United States Mint (2021): Coin Production, usmint.gov/learn/production-process/coin-production/.
University of California, Davis – Department of Design/Christine Knobel/Darin Reyes/Nicole Tan (2014): Lifecycle of the U.S. Penny, Design Life-Cycle, designlife-cycle.com/us-penny/.

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