“Gradually then suddenly” by Valentina Picozzi presents a monumental enlargement of a 1920s German Mark banknote, – the print size is 130 x 100 cm – printed through three layers of laser-engraved MDF panels in four colours. The reproduced banknote is dated 1920, a year in which Germany experienced a severe economic collapse marked by hyperinflation—money lost its value so rapidly that wages were spent within hours, and banknotes became cheaper than the paper they were printed on.

By revisiting the Mark—once a proud emblem of stability, later reduced to near-worthlessness—Picozzi invites viewers to reflect on the vulnerability of monetary systems and the precarious foundations of financial value. White, often associated with purity and clarity, becomes a symbol of both void and possibility, prompting us to question how meaning and trust are projected onto pieces of paper.

Ultimately, the work opens a dialogue about the transience of wealth, the constructed nature of economic power, and the need to imagine more sustainable and equitable forms of value in a world still marked by financial volatility.

German Mark
Relief printing (4 color) on japan paper
130 x 100 cm
Edition of 5 copies