Fitzwilliam; Defaced!

Defaced! Money, Conflict, Protest is a major exhibition to explore a 250-year history of protest, using currency and canvas as vehicles for rebellion. Since it is passed through many hands, cash - both notes and coins - is the ideal way to circulate a message while having a go or poking fun at those in power. "If you're fed up and throwing rocks isn't your thing, take it out on the money."

On disply are objects of rebellion made by radicals of the nineteenth and early twentieth century shown alongside works by contemporary artists and activists, including Banksy.  The objects include a Boer War cannon and the loan of the fragments of an exploded Transit van detonated by The Hoe Street Central Bank as part of the Big Bang 2 project, which bought up £1.2million of payday loan debt.

It was an extremely interesting visit; see captions with the pictures for descriptions of some of the things we saw (no images of coins though as they were too difficult to photograph in the low light conditions).Read more