Cildo Meireles

Insertions into Ideological Circuits . 1970

Meireles conceived his two Insertions into Ideological Circuits projects for an exhibition of conceptual art held at The Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1970 entitled Information. The Cédula or Banknote Project and the Coca-Cola Project explore the notion of circulation and exchange of goods, wealth and information as manifestations of the dominant ideology. For the Banknote Project Meireles stamped subversive messages onto banknotes before returning them to normal circulation… The Coca-Cola Project follows a similar format: Meireles attached transparent labels with his slogans and the work’s title and purpose to the sides of Coca-Cola bottles which, once emptied of Coca-Cola, would be returned to the factory to be reused…The Insertions into Ideological Circuits arose out of the need to create a system for the circulation and exchange of information that did not depend on any kind of centralized control. This would be a form of language, a system essentially opposed to the media of press, radio and television – typical examples of media that actually reach an enormous audience, but in the circulation systems of which there is always a degree of control and channelling of the information inserted …
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