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The E-Sylum:  Volume 4, Number 23, June 3, 2001, Article 12

BOGGS IN BERLIN 

   Money artist J.S.G. Boggs is in Berlin, living in the gallery where 
   his "Making Money" exhibit opened on May 19.  In an email 
   newsletter he reports:  "I'm spending my B-M (Boggs Mark, 
   all puns intended!) instead of DM (Deutsche Mark).  So far 
   I've managed to spend one B-M 1000 Boggsnote (about 
   $500.oo U.S.) for dinner with a little over DM 500 in change. 

   Five POLIZEI (police) came the other night around midnight, 
   banging on the door, shouting, and forcefully trying to twist the 
   door handle.  The lights were on, and they could see both 
   money and boggs-bills in the window, and my  sculpture/ 
   performance work " 1 B € " (an attaché case with ONE 
   BILLION EURO).  They wanted in! 

   I couldn't find the key to the door so I opened a window and 
   started answering their questions. 

   "Who is making this false money?", they demanded. 

   I told them I am an artist, and my work is not "falsgeld" but 
   "KunstGeld".  I showed them a sheet prepared by the gallery 
   with an explanation in German.  That didn't seem to help too 
   much, so I resorted to the "ace-in-the-hole", a letter from the 
   German Senate giving me permission to do my work in 
   Germany.  Well....... 

   That seemed to calm them down a bit, but they still weren't so 
   convinced, and thought that maybe they should take me and 
   my work down to the station for  further discussion. SCHISSE! 
   (as the Germans would say). 

   Then I grabbed one of my B-M 10 notes with a picture of 
   STEFFI (who works at the gallery) on it.  Its modeled after the 
   DM 100 note, so it isn't the same colour, and the guy on the 
   DM 10 isn't looking too happy. They smiled, and seemed to 
   like it." 

   "Do you think this is worth ten D-Mark?", I asked. 

   They started to bob their heads back and forth as they 
   considered. Each raising one eyebrow, they seemed to be 
   conceding the point. But, well...there still might be a problem... 
   The EURO! 

   My ONE BILLION EURO sculpture is made using 1,000 
   of Naples Bank Note Company's €1,000,000 Euro Notes. 

   Since people are not used to the Euro, perhaps they 
   wouldn't realize it was art.  I grabbed one of the 
   €1,000,000.oo Euro notes. 

   Got WechselGeld? 

   They all burst out laughing. 

   WechselGeld means "the change" in German. 

   I paid them a €1.000.000 Euro Note and off they went 
   into the night." 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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