[Exclusive] The Complicated, Infuriating Art of Burning Money

Micah Spear isn't the first artist to take on the stomach-lurching practice of destroying money for the sake of art, but his recent show for the Berliner Gallery, #sealedcontents, explores the rich history of creatively wrecking cold, hard cash.

In 1984 Serge Gainsbourg protested the French economy by burning 500 Francs on TV. The K Foundation rather mysteriously burned a million quid in 1994. Artist Mark Wagner has been cutting up and collaging U.S. currency for years, and just a few months ago, Dustin Yellin shredded $10,000 to dress eight canvases for the SPRING/BREAK Art Show. Spear, who takes a propane torch to fat stacks of bills from all over the world, freezes his subjects midway through their combustion with an industrial compression chamber rather than rejoicing in their destruction with completely reckless abandon. He does it with a purpose.

“Everything is about intention. I’m not destroying money, I’m examining desire and attachment. All money in the world is fake," Spear tells The Creators Project. "#sealedcontents is about the superficial nature of money. I’m exploring our blind fixation on money as an object through the act of destruction."

This kind of art can be frustrating—"Why not donate the money, if you're so keen to get rid of it?" One might ask, wincing at the wasted wads of green, pink, purple, and yellow bank notes Spear has vacuum-sealed and put on display. But his point is to fight the idea of money as an institution that governs the way we think and behave. Whether he's read the philosophy of John Steinvold, stumbled onto Anitra Nelson and Frans Timmerman's treatise Life Without Money, or critically examined the post-capitalist economy of Star Trek, Spear's voice joins a whole realm of economic thought in criticizing cash.

To be fair, it's easy to hate on capitalism when you're good at it, as Spear seems to be. The Parsons alum started his own creative agency called Playtime while he was still in school, is a member of Fast Company's Creative Braintrust, and started a second agency called [Sightful](http:// www.Sightful.io) (which he has since moved on from) that now serves clients like Louis Vuitton, Facebook, MTV, Memorial Sloane Kettering, and Microsoft, according to his LinkedIn. When we asked where all the money Spear burned came from, we were told that information could not be disclosed.

"Many are offended by the imagery I’ve created. Maybe their feelings are unconscious projections we all have of our own insecurities on how we waste and destroy things through what feels like a mandatory participation in capitalism and the consumer-economy," he suggests. "However, it’s not without choice, it’s very persuasive—and it’s that lure of the superficial nature of money that I’m choosing to point out."

Whether or not you believe post-capitalism is nigh, Spear's work is a fascinating exploration of how we feel towards money, and why it hurts so bad to see so much of it "wasted." Starting at $250, you can help put that cash back in Spear's pocket by purchasing one of the vacuum-sealed artworks on his website or on Instagram, where you can also check out his previous work.

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