"If ever a diabolically capitalist city exists long before the European and world capitalist age, it is Genoa, opulent and sordid at the same time ... This extraordinary city devouring the world is the greatest human adventure of the sixteenth century. Genoa then seems the city of the gods. miracles. "
Fernand Braudel

Claire Fontaine's retrospective exhibition presents a selection of works around the idea of value and frugality, in relation to the establishment in Genoa in 1407 of one of the first banking institutions in the world, the Casa delle compere e dei benchi di San Giorgio. The exhibition itinerary intends to build a multisensory experience, presenting works of a pictorial, sculptural and installation nature. An exhibition conceived as a journey through the artistic production of Claire Fontaine, thirteen years long, guided by the common thread of the economy. The choice of the works was made not only on the basis of their subject but also of course their interaction, their dialogue and the polarizations of their reciprocal positions. The exhibition is conceived as a discourse, a set of visual phrases that combine and intertwine with each other.
Among the works on display, Secret Money Paintings, made with real coins, include reflection on the economic value of painting and trade from the artistic system. Sculptural works, always with artistically transformed real coins such as Change allude to methods of protection to protect oneself from an economic system that excludes the weakest.
While in Untitled (Money Trap) the artist had a safe perforated so that the hand can enter it open but not exit if closed, evoking greed and also exhibiting the illusory aspect of safety devices.

Curated by Anna Daneri, the exhibition will be introduced by an installation around the history of Genoese finance created in collaboration with the Department of Economics of the University of Genoa. During the exhibition there will also be guided tours of the Bank of Italy's vault.

Finalist of the prestigious Prix Marcel Duchamp in 2013, Claire Fontaine has exhibited in international museums including The Jewish Museum, New York, the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco and Museion, Bolzano.