R. Stein Wexler

Schimb Cultural [Cultural Exchange]

2023

Chișinău, Moldova

Currency exchanges can be found throughout commercial zones in Chisinau. The visual language of these posted rates create at once a cacophony and also a monotony of plastic numerals and running LED pixels. While inter-currency exchange is written in bright lights across the city’s facades, in contrast intercultural exchange is much more subdued. This piece adopts the familiar visual language of one to express the other.

Commissioning agency: CEC ArtsLink and Oberliht Association

The installation consisted of a programmed LED panel and a video collage of hundreds of LED panels used by currency exchanges across the city. Here the panel and projection are installed on the street-facing facade of Casa Zemstvei.

R Stein Wexler

Rather than listing currency exchange rates, the programmed LED panel listed media of cultural exchange including theater, video, photography, etc.

R Stein Wexler

The LED panel and video collage were also exhibited at an outdoor guerilla public space, Flat Space, where it is still in use to signal cultural programming there.

R Stein Wexler