Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a print by Cildo Meireles. It dates from 1970 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
The reverse side bears a circular profile of a woman's head, echoing the note's existing iconography, with the text 'UM CRUZEIRO' positioned below.
Created in 1970, Cildo Meireles' Untitled is a conceptual intervention on a Brazilian one cruzeiro banknote. The work consists of a standard green currency note altered with a rubber stamp applied to both sides. On the obverse, the stamp features a large numeral '1' alongside the word 'SEXO' printed vertically.
The reverse side bears a circular profile of a woman's head, echoing the note's existing iconography, with the text 'UM CRUZEIRO' positioned below. This piece is a seminal example of Meireles' 'Insertions into Ideological Circuits' series, a project initiated in 1970 to subvert state-controlled media and economic systems. By stamping political and provocative messages onto circulating currency, the artist transformed everyday money into a vehicle for dissent, allowing the work to travel anonymously through the economy.
The specific juxtaposition of the word 'SEXO' (sex) with the state-issued note challenges the moral and political censorship prevalent in Brazil during the military dictatorship. The work exemplifies Meireles' strategy of using mass-produced objects to critique power structures, marking a pivotal moment in the development of conceptual art in Latin America.
Subject & Meaning
The stamped imagery juxtaposes a circular portrait of a woman's profile with the word “UM CRUZEIRO” beneath it, while the opposite side features a large numeral “1” and the vertically arranged word “SEXO.” The pairing of monetary symbols with references to gender suggests a critique of the relationship between economic value and sexual identity.
Technique & Style
Meireles employed simple rubber stamps to emboss the design directly onto the paper of the banknote, reproducing the same composition on each face so the two sides mirror one another. The use of everyday objects, here, legal tender, transforms a functional item into a site of artistic intervention.
History & Provenance
The work was produced during a period when Meireles was exploring the political potential of ordinary objects. After its creation, the altered note entered the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, where it remains on view as an example of his early conceptual practice.
Context
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Meireles’ practice frequently engaged with the circulation of commodities and the mechanisms of state power. This piece aligns with his broader investigations into how objects such as money can be re‑contextualized to question social and economic structures.
Artist & collection
Artist
Cildo Meireles is a Brazilian conceptual artist, installation artist and sculptor.
