Financial copulation



Wow. Thanks, Mark, for sending this my way. There is perhaps much to say about this, including the non-specificity of the woman in this. As far as I can tell, that is: her dress is marked as pounds, but the face is surely no Queen Elizabeth.


I read a suggestion that it is supposed to be Clara Schumann, from the 100 Deutsche Mark note, but that doesn't seem exactly it either. What is odd, then, is that despite the hilarious obscenity (and the great phantasmatic frisson of autogenerative money, the perverse form of finanical speculation), there remains a wariness to ascribe a nation's face to the woman who, as we see, at the end, is looking to cuckold Lincoln with Mao. There is perhaps here the breaking point of political correctness: fine to show simulated origami sex, but not to show any nation's currency as that which will be the financial womb/currency swap allowing for generation of further money in a hybrid form of, as we see hinted at here, the Eurodollar and the gestured-to Yuaneuropoundbahtdollaryen.

The erotics of circulation lead to the handkerchief dropped coyly and the conclusion that cannot truly be shown, fleshed out (or papered out) not so much in the imagination as in the real fact of the unfathomable degree of international interpenetration of global debt. The stroller expands, the glances continue, the libidinal market marches on. Just wait until they fully discover cybersex...

3 comments:

Unknown said...

The identity of the woman is intentionally left obscure: The agency who did the 3D modelling simply calls her "the unknown lady". It *is* basically Clara Schumann, but they've kind of remixed her with some of the Queen's hairdo and complexion - a sort of momentary mutant, if you like.

Unknown said...

monetary, not momentary ...

Giovanni Tiso said...

It should be remarked also that Euro banknotes don't have any actual people on them, and even the monuments don't exist - they are generic composites. So the unknown lady could very well stand for the Euro.

Word verification: tatters, and I kid you not. I can produce screengrabbing photographic proof.