Our Story - Defaced at Fitzwilliam Museum

Defaced! Money Conflict Protest - Curator Tour © Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, U.K.

Defaced! Money Conflict Protest at The Fitzwilliam Museum 2022-23

In late 2022, Church of Burn lent an artifact to the Fitzwilliam Museum for their major exhibition, Defaced! Money Conflict Protest. The artifact on display was our Holy Pot of Ash—or at least a stand-in for it. The original Holy Pot, central to our rituals since 2015, had mysteriously gone missing for a couple of months, leading us to believe it was “hiding” from the prospect of being exhibited in a museum. This unexpected twist is detailed in Our Mythos.

Despite the substitution, the Fitzwilliam Museum was pleased with our contribution, which you can see in their exhibition video at the 4-minute, 50-second mark.

The exhibition, which ran from October 2022 to January 2023, featured an eclectic mix of contemporary and historical money art from the UK and beyond. It included works by all three Money Artists featured in Burning Issue. Opening night attendees included Justine Smith, CK Wilde, Bob Osborne (Cash is King 2), Dan Edelstyn, and Hilary Powell (Hoe Street Central Bank), as well as members of our Church.