CILDO MEIRELES — Zero Dollar, 1978–84. Phaidon Press postcard, 2001

Phaidon Press, 2001. Original artist postcard published from The 20th Century Art Book, reproducing the front and reverse of Cildo Meireles’s Zero Dollar. Monochrome offset print on postcard stock, 10.5 × 15 cm. Artwork reproduction to recto; artist biography, work details and publication credit to verso. Unposted.

Condition: Very good. Light age toning, faint surface marks and minor corner and edge wear.

Meireles produced Zero Dollar as a double-sided offset lithograph measuring approximately 6.8 × 15.8 cm. Recorded by MoMA as an unlimited edition, the note replaces George Washington and the White House with Uncle Sam and Fort Knox while reducing the denomination to zero.

The work followed Meireles’s earlier Zero Cruzeiro and Zero Centavo, using the familiar authority of currency to separate material, symbolic and exchange value. By turning the dollar into a universal but worthless sign, the work makes the economic system visible through an object designed to resemble one of its smallest units.

The Phaidon postcard adds another circuit. A freely reproducible artwork modelled on money is selected for an international art-history publication, assigned explanatory text and returned to circulation as a commercially issued card. Image, artist, gallery credit and interpretation are transferred onto an object that can again be addressed, posted or retained.

Securely packed; tracked UK and international shipping available.