My sculpture project was a temporary Public art Project at Connells Bay, Auckland New Zealand, 2008
Primitive Accumulationwas made up of 1500 mm x 1500 mm x 1500 mm cube-like structure consisting of approximately 1500 garden gnomes glued together within a box form.
The title, Primitive Accumulation is derived from both the Marxist economic term “primitive accumulation” and economist Adam Smith’s term “original accumulation”. Both terms refer to the foundation of capitalism and "the accumulation of stock" as a precondition for the division of labour. With primitive accumulation “large swaths of the population are violently divorced from their traditional means of self-sufficiency” (Robert Gehl). Essentially the economy is kick started with the aid of dispossessed and desperate labourers who may (...or may not) create enough wealth for subsequent generations to enjoy.
