A moment of darkness

A warm October evening can be enriched only by the presence of Mr. Diego Tonus’s art presentation. The event took place on the Italian Institute of Culture in Amsterdam with the presence of the artists, curator Huib Haye van der Werf, colleagues, friends, and the interested public. In the end, the book “Fragments of a Conversation with a Counterfeiter,” freshly come under the print, was launched. Also part of the artistic work, the book is at the same time a documentary of the entire process and contains the prove of intellectual registration of the art.

And here it is: a human body sculpture of a counterfeiter smuggler who is legally intellectual propriety international registered, contains a secret money password inside and is exposed at the Ministry of Finance in front of the Justice Court in the vicinity of the sculptures representing the first members of Superior Court.

A strong message regarding “contributes to a discussion about the transformation and transportation of value, questioning the valorization of time and space in time of crisis” according to event presentation — a message made in an intellectual form comparing with the style chosen by Extinction Rebellion in authority disobedience.

“I want everyone’s money” is a second installation containing four business cases, each one covering a dispositive who can interrupt any form of electronic communication implicitly government or agency surveillance. Similar to those used in illegal meeting exchange or espionage.

Each fragment of conversation between the artist and the model becomes part of the creation. So the public can see a phenomenon of counterfeiting actions or pieces of cross-border smuggling, which means hidden part of the original product reassembled in a specific place. In this way, a valuable piece is moved with the help of a false one. The sculpture is raising the same thought: how original is a copy art of a fake and which one is art transformation? What if the fake is a unique leaving human who is delivering false products, and this person is changed in a sculpture who contains a password to access a bitcoin account?

The value of Diego Tonus art is daily changeable according to the value of the key protected inside and to the art market evaluation. It depends only on the system used by the owner. You need to steal or to destroy the sculpture.

The final point was the creation of a machine that simulates the classic trade operations used by the financial companies but instead of exchanging natural resources or products, using your name. It depends on the accent, ton, or sound power. Three performers with the status of unemployed persons were hired to repeat their names to generate electronic money and a real payment at the end of the day. But which one is the real money and for what?

With the collaboration of: Ministry of Finance Den Haag; Leon Martens Juweliers Maastricht; Schaap en Citroen Juweliers Den Haag; IUAV University Venice in collaboration with Stefano delle Monache and Maximiliano Romero; In association with Casa Verga (Catania). Special thanks to Dr. Cornelia Lauf, Giuseppe Catalano di Melilli and Dr. Santa Sorbello; Fondazione ilCartastorie – Banco di Napoli Historical Archives (Naples) in collaboration with Flip Project.

The artist is supported by Mondriaan Fonds Amsterdam.

‘Giornate del Contemporaneo’ is organized by AMACI (Associazione dei Musei d’Arte Contemporanea Italiani), between 7 and 12 October, with the aim of promoting Italian contemporary art abroad as part of a project coordinated by MAECI – Direzione Generale per la promozione del Sistema Paese and MIBAC – Direzione Generale Arte Contemporanea, Architettura e Periferie Urbane in collaboration with foundations, artists and curators.