Karl Holmqvist


One of Many, 2007

Deutsche Bank self service centre Köln Am Dom, Bahnhofsvorplatz 1/Trankgasse, Mon–Sun 6:30 am – 11:00 pm

Appropriation and seemingly minimal interventions are some 
of the characteristics of the work 
by artist Karl Holmqvist (*1964), which often deals with invisibility and things such as memory function or the collective subconscious. His contribution to the “Models of Tomorrow: Cologne” exhibition is “One of Many” – a one Euro coin placed in a vitrine at 
a 24-hour Deutsche Bank cash point. The work could be said to be doubly site-specific: it accentuates the monetary cycle, from which it is removed and which the bank represents. At the same time, through its stamp of a miniature map of Europe, it opens up an imaginary space whose references lie beyond the specific place, so that Europe itself is visualized as the possible sphere of action for the European Kunst-halle. As “One of Many,” the coin represents capital, the accumulation of which is the foundation for all of the future activities of the European Kunsthalle.