Slugs

“On February 11, 2020 I received notification from the NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority that it had accepted my Asset Recovery Auction bid for seventeen bags containing 64,000 ‘slug’ coins. The MTA’s Asset Recovery Division claimed these slugs had been accumulated during the years 2017-2019 and were used by commuters to pay for bus fares. Since receiving this collection of counterfeit currency, I have organized the slugs into five categories based on the repetitive patterns of Faith, Place, Chance, Imitation and Blank that were present in every sifted handful. The information on the coins has led me to transcribe a random selection of histories, specific to the commuters that held them. Each coin marks a succession of fragments in time, place, and movement experienced by individuals as they passed through the system. This archive is dedicated to those who created it — the commuters of New York City, who on a daily basis circulate in and contribute to one of the most rigorous and diverse contact points in the world. ” – Rose Salane