As we slowly recover from Covid-19,  museums in the  NYC are reopening.  Although they are requiring masking and not fully opened, many objects of numismatic interest are being dusted off and displayed.  At the Brooklyn Museum in NYC, the Oriental sections of the second floor have been under renovation for many years.  But this year, they have finally begun to reopen much of the delayed work on the second floor of this museum.  The museum had an exhibit from Chinese Born artist Ni Youyu, born in 1984, was commissioned by Brooklyn Museum to create a body of art that involves 66 coins from around the world that is pounded and reworked with micro art, and formed into a collection that makes a coherent exhibit. 

Ni's work started in the wake of the 2007 fiscal crisis and reflects his own personnel relationship with coinage and money which he goes into great details in explain here:  https://www.niyouyu.com/galaxy-project 

Following his installations in 2008, the museum commissioned its own unique work which Ni finished in 2014-2018.  It was to be installed in the refurbished exhibit.  Since then we had suffered under COVID-19 and citywide lock downs causing delays.  The flattened and painted coins  are painted with use of a loupe and together recall Chinese Cosmology.   The installation is a critique of consumerism and the world trade in art (don't bite the hand that feeds you "Vincent"). 


True View, who made the showcase, explains their display of the coin art
The museum's new acquisition of Ni Youyu's work Brooklyn Galaxy, made specifically for the newly re-opened Brooklyn Museum Chinese Galleries, is wonderful and captivating, yet it also proved a challenge to install.  The work consists of 66 coins, hammered flat, obliterating or nearly obliterating the evidence of their monetary value, and country of origin.  The coins are ½" - 1 ¼" in diameter from various metal alloys and colors.  Each of the coins became a surface onto which he painted images with extremely detailed delicacy and adeptness.  These coins when installed on a wall become a galaxy unto themselves, revealing a whole universe of ideas, thought, emotions, and feeling.
The exhibit can be seen on the Brooklyn Museums webstie:
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/216753
Here is the slideshow of the images and exhibit

http://images.mrbrklyn.com/brooklyn_museum_11_2021/coins1.jpg?slideshow=3&width=1024