Artwork Information

Contadora is named after the small island in the Gulf of Panama where the Spanish counted the pearls from the surrounding archipelago. It was also the focus of a short film which Michael Stevenson made in 2008 exploring themes of chance and probability.

In his use of objects Stevenson typically reveals layers of meaning in both art and history. Here he uses the body of an early money-counting machine to produce a short animation from fake bills. These bills bear words from an expression used by economists to describe a market that has hit rock bottom.