a kaleidoscopic journey through money
director and animator lachlan turczan has created a stunning video animation in collaboration with musician blake mills. titled‘money is the one true god’, the six-minute-long music video has been made using imagery on banknotes from over 23 countries. the project takes viewers on a kaleidoscopic journey through the repeated motifs and iconic imagery on these bills, which reveal what humans have valued over time. the age of exploration leads to industrialization, wonders of the world are replaced by office buildings, and icons of freedom stand in stark contrast to images of slavery. the animation culminates with the collective eyes of all world leaders staring back at the audience.
engravings of oil rigs on the vietnamese 5000 dong note
‘money is the one true god’first began as a covid lockdown passion project. lachlan turczan explains the process, ‘I made hi-resolution scans of banknotes from 23 countries around the world. I used machine learning to further enhance these scans so that I could zoom in on the intricacies of the engravings. using replacement animation techniques, the guilloché patterns wash over the viewer in a barrage of visual rhythms.’
a sunset on china’s 5 yuan note
portraits of two girls representing the dong & yao nationalities on china’s 1980 1 yuan banknote
the great wall of china seen on the 1980’s 1 yuan banknote
an engraving of tenochtitlan, the largest city in the pre-columbian americas, that is on mexicos’s 100 peso banknote
an engraving of florence nightingale holding a radiating lamp is on england’s 1975 10 pound note — nightingale is known as the founder of modern nursing
a portrait of patrice lumumba in bondage on the 500 congolese franc — he was the first prime minister of the independent democratic republic of the congo before his assassination
a portrait of samuel sharpe, an enslaved jamaican who was the leader of the widespread 1831–32 baptist war slave rebellion in jamaica — his portrait is on the 50 jamaican dollar banknote
project info:
name: money is the one true god
director & animator: lachlan turczan
musician: blake mills
designboom has received this project from our‘DIY submissions‘feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: lynne myers | designboom
