Making money is art

Billy Leahy on The Bank in the Gallery of Photography in Temple Bar: a sponsored group exhibition exploring different aspects of Dublin's Central Bank

The Bank, Gallery of Photography, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. www.irish-photography.com until 22 October

A cool €2m in mixed, non-sequenced bank notes currently sits nonchalantly on the second floor of the Gallery of Photography in Temple Bar. The pungent stench of unguarded money wafts down the stairs and across the space; appropriately the smell is powerful and rich. Unfortunately though, for any aspiring cat burglars or gallery-going opportunists, the mountain comprises old, tattered and decrepit notes that have been meticulously shredded and minced following their decommission.

Photographer Michael Durand, however, has found a use for the stinking pile of cut-up cash, this literally filthy lucre, by making it the star of his series in the gallery's exhibition The Bank. The show is the result of a commission from The Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (CBFSAI), who asked three photographers – Durand, Michael Boran and David Farrell – to produce a body of work that reacts and responds to any aspect of the bank, whether the actual physical structure on Dame Street, its social environment or an its role as a capitalist institution. For the project the CBFSAI allowed the three photographers full access to the building and the workers within.

As you would expect, given that the series is a sponsored commission from the Central Bank itself, all the work is quite polite and even when controversial issues are touched upon, it is with kid gloves. In fact, Durand's images stand out as the only series that engages the bank on a social and political level.

He uses various amounts of the shredded money pile (the full €2m is the average amount an Irish worker will earn during their lifetime) to represent specific fiscal statistics chosen by members of Central Bank staff, who pose alongside the cash.

By using old money, which obviously comes loaded with meaning but is dominated by its worthlessness in shredded form compared to its previous power, Durand has chosen his tool wisely. Another reason for the success of his series is down to his choice to hand the decision on what statistics to use back to bank staff. This allows people to pick from their concerns or display their personality; some have chosen to show the amount that comprises an annual state pension, others the sum spent on Eurovision voting or cigarettes in a lifetime.

Michael Boran's work concerns itself more with the architectural patterns of the Central Bank and how it interacts with the public, with images of a courier running up steps hanging alongside a similar image of two strangers passing by. Elsewhere, a father looks at his wallet; a picture of his son faces out, leaving the viewer to ponder the reasons why he might be referring to it at this seemingly random moment, with the pattern of the cobblestones on the Central Bank plaza cutting an interesting geometric backdrop.

David Farrell expands on the interaction between the bank and the outside world by cleverly superimposing the bank's interior on Dublin city by the using reflections and light. At times, the city lights appear like candles dotted around the office; elsewhere, the interior provides a light-show over the city. In other works, Farrell explores the vacated office space, playing on ideas of absence, past moments and the potential of the space for future events.

As a whole, the exhibition never really penetrates through to the symbolic or actual significance of the Central Bank on Irish society. Nonetheless, with many beautiful images – at times The Bank is visually exceptionally impressive – it should still maintain a high level of interest.