Mahler feest Amsterdam, 1995 1995

This coin was made in 1995 by Koninklijke Utrechtsche Fabriek van Zilverwerken van C.J. Begeer to celebrate the Mahler festival in Amsterdam. Look at the way the metal has been worked, see how the form of Mahler emerges from the material itself? Artmaking is always a conversation with the inherent qualities of the medium, whether its oil paint, or, in this case, silver. Notice the texture, how the incised details catch the light. The profile is split across two halves of the coin. On one half you can see the full profile of Mahler, surrounded by the words AMSTERDAM-MEI-1995. On the other half, the profile has been cut in half, with MAHLERFEEST and the Concertgebouw written on either side. It’s clever, the way the image is broken apart and put back together, a visual metaphor for how we remember someone, fragmented yet whole. It reminds me of the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres, who also used repetition and simple forms to evoke complex emotions. This coin, like art, is not just an object, but a vessel for memory and meaning.