In this kinetic sculpture, a 2008 U.S. penny spins continuously at a rapid speed on a stage-like pedestal. The 'performer' is the lowest U.S. currency and bears the image of Abraham Lincoln, the president who abolished slavery.   Amongst other connotations, the word juke references the historical 'juke joint', a remotely located illicit establishment where post-slavery African-Americans could drink, eat and dance; 'to juke' is to dance. The word jukebox is derived from this term and speaks to it having lost cultural particularity as well as its connotations of illicit or disreputable behavior, but largely, the terms has fallen out of use. Juke also makes humorous reference to funk band Parliament's 1975 album cover for Chocolate City which containted an image of the nation's capitol as a chocolate medallion, an ironic reference itself to the city's majority black population.

The creation of this work coincides with the global state of economic crisis emerging from U.S. banking policies and the concurrent election and inauguration of the first African-American president in the U.S.

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  EXHIBITED

  2009. The Conspiracy, Kunsthalle Berne, Basel, Switzerland
  2009. Liste, Special Project Guest Kunsthalle Berne, Basel Switzerland
  2009. Camille Norment - Trip Light, Solo Exhibition, September Gallery, Berlin, Germany