MARTA VEINBERGA visual artist

CURRENCY EXCHANGE
computer graphics
27 x 41 cm
2019

“Currency Exchange” has been created as a commission for the 100th anniversary book of the Art Academy of Latvia. Marta Veinberga had the honour to create a page devoted to the year 1993.

Both the visual and conceptual starting point of this work is the change from the temporary currency Latvian rubles to the nationally significant Latvian lats, which took place during the 1993. Both of these currencies are used as pixels here (rubles on the left, lats on the right). Thematically it reflects upon the state of permanent change in the country by comparing the salary of the rector of the academy with the value of the first and only computer that the academy owned back then (ratio 1: 13.5). In addition, the visual form of the “Currency exchange” recalls the start of the computerisation era, e.g., the robust interface and the first computer games.

The data upon which this work is based are historical (from the National Archive of Latvia).