The Price of Copper

The Price of Copper is a fountain
constructed of a single cathode of copper
in its raw material form, as sourced from
the Skouriotissa copper mine in the Xeros
area of Cyprus. Copper mining is a
dominant subject in the archaeological and
historiographical discourse of Cyprus;
Skouriotissa is said to be the oldest
operating copper mine in the world and
central to the flux of Cypriot history, from
antiquity to the days of the working-class
struggles of the twentieth century.
Beyond this specific historical context,
Panayiotou borrows the title of this piece
from a parabole proposed by Bertolt Brecht
in his homonymous sketch for a book
Der Messingkauf (translated as The Price of
Copper). In Der Messingkauf, the German
dramaturge narrates the story of a client
who enters a musical instrument store and
wants to buy a trumpet. He proposes a price
much lower than the selling price of the
instrument, explaining to the seller that he
is neither interested in the instrument, nor
does he know how to play it; he simply
wants the metal. With this gesture the
client clearly demonstrates his disregard for
the concept of added value. In The Price of
Copper Panayiotou takes Brecht’s parabole
as a guide that he follows in order to create
this sculpture, which is nothing other than
an improvised fountain. The piece is made
spontaneously by adding found materials
that render it a fountain only so long as
the water is running. As soon as the water
stops running, the piece becomes, once
again, a mere sheet of copper.