Globe still bank c. mid 20th century

This is Globe Still Bank, made by Ohio Art Co., sometime after 1908. It’s a thing that spins, it’s a pedagogical model of the world, and it’s a bank, so it’s already full of ideas. Looking at it, I wonder how the artist made the continents, how they printed them onto the globe. I love the way it flattens the spherical world into a kind of stylized, linear map, like the world seen from above. It feels really optimistic, doesn't it? Like anything is possible. You could sail anywhere, start all over again with some savings from your still bank. Also, the globe flattens history – like what was happening in ‘Terra Incognita’? It all gets mushed together on the surface, an innocent vision of world travel. It reminds me that all art is a conversation across time. Artists build on what came before, remixing ideas, inspiring each other. This piece is a reminder that the world is constantly changing and our interpretations of it are always evolving.