Takashi Kawashima
Digital Designer. Creative Director.
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Ten Thousand Cents

 
Picture of "Ten Thousand Cents".

Ten Thousand Cents

URL: http://tenthousandcents.com/

Ten Thousand Cents is a digital artwork that resulted in a representation of a $100 bill. Using a custom drawing tool, thousands of individuals working in isolation from one another painted a tiny part of the bill without knowledge of the overall task. Workers were paid one cent each via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk distributed labor tool. The total labor cost to create the bill, the artwork being created, and the reproductions made available for purchase were all $100. The project explores the circumstances we live in, a new and uncharted combination of digital labor markets, crowdsourcing, virtual economies, and digital reproduction.

A collaboration with Aaron Koblin

Close up image of the work.

Close-up of the artwork: Each unique stroke was painted by different anonymous individuals online.

Close-up of the artwork: Hidden among the strokes, can you spot a "heart" painting? (hint: bottom right)

Close-up of the artwork: A participant left their note within their painting - "0.01$!!! Really?"

Close-up of the artwork: Despite being paid only one cent, some contributors have made meticulous drawings that contribute to the overall detail of the piece.

Exhibition View:

Permanent Collection:

Selected exhibitions and Honors: