25. August 2011
Exhibition Gwangju Design Biennale 2011
The Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union.
Euro exhibition panel (click for enlargement)
Dimensions: 800 x 250 cm. Design by Evert Ypma, 2011.
In cooperation with: Brendan McGetrick, Gwangju Design Biennale; European Central Bank, Frankfurt; and the grateful designers who gave their approval for showing their rejected euro design proposals at the Gwangju Design Biennale 2011.
Statistics Eurozone vs EU vs world: Population and GDP 
Euro sign
EU-Eurozone members (blue), EU members (dark blue) and candidate member states (purple)
Selection of design proposals for the Euro. From left to right designs by Stuart Rost, United Kingdom; Roger Pfund, Switzerland; Maryke Degryse, Belgium (1995).
Visual essay (crop)
This exhibition at the Gwangju Design Biennale 2011 gives a historical overview of the development of the European currency as part of a united Europe.
A timeline shows the key events from the initial foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), a six-nation organization based on the principle of neutralizing conflict by sharing resources, to the present day on which the member states of the Eurozone have to bail out the depths of the economical bad performing countries.
The story and the affirmations of a unified Europe based on solidarity and shared prosperity came under severe pressure due the financial crisis within the Eurozone.
The idea of the EU and the attached concepts of ‘European identity’ is a unique and manifold cultural, political, and economical narrative that lives from the permanent search for its identity and own legitimization. The design of a European currency is a building block of this narrative.
The exhibition is built on facts, currencies & fiction.
Read more about the ‘Un-Named Design’ section of the Gwangju Design Biennale.
List of contributors