Old Pennies vs. New Pennies
Trolley Trail Gratuity
2002
10,000 pennies were dropped individually along a 3 mile stretch of the Brookside Trolley Trail, a popular jogging path in Kansas City, MO. 10,000 pennies, altered jeans.
“In his 2002 performance Trolley Trail Gratuity, the artist revisits Kansas City’s public transit history before the automobile era as he retraces a former trolley route active in the early 20th century. The cable car that ran along this trolley track cost five cents in the early 1900s. Reminiscent of this low cost, he scatters $100 in pennies along a two-mile walk. In a nod to the hamster-like storage of money and portrayal of saving habits, the sewn-on pockets of his jeans are bursting with coins. The performance spotlights the discrepancy between the exact numerical value of money and its perceived worth, particularly between paper bills and coins. The artist questions the source of value through this juxtaposition of a $100 bill in a bank or wallet and 10,000 pennies found on the ground.”
— Curator Nadja Rottner’s wall label text for Andy T’s Urban Vision
$100 bill vs 10,000 pennies
Initial Stance
Walking the Trail
Pennies on the Trail
Parking Lot
After taking a class called “Karl Marx, Dead of Alive” where I read the entirety of Capital Volume One, I became increasingly interested in how value gets generated and assessed. This piece was an experiment in how to devalue 100 dollars by converting it into pennies and dropping them over two miles of a public trail in Kansas City. The altered clothing and initial pose is an homage to the artist Nick Vaughn.
— Andy T
Old Pennies vs. New Pennies
POV Old Pennies vs. New Pennies
Emptying the Pockets
Detail of Pocket
The Last of the Pennies
Picking Up the Pennies 1
Picking Up the Pennies 2