Destruction of cash raises conundrum

If the K Foundation's decision to burn £1m in the 1990s in an art experiment proved anything, it proved that our ties to money are much stronger than we realise, writes Nima Abu Wardeh.

My son was off ill - not feeling at all well for over a week, which is a long time in anyone's books. Halfway through his confinement he walks into the kitchen clutching a handful of torn-up tiny pieces of paper - they once made up a Dh5 note, but were now a worthless pile.
"Why did you do that?" I asked. "Because I don't feel good," came the answer.
I then realised that I would struggle to explain that it's not OK to destroy money. Is it because I work to earn it? That he needs to learn to "respect" it? My effort? What it can do for him and his life?
This is scary turf. What I help to embed in my eight-year-old child's psyche will have a lifelong effect - be it big or small - on how he views, feels about, and uses money.
I suppose I should have been grateful he hadn't set the entire contents of his money box on fire, as did the K Foundation in 1994, when it burnt the bulk of its wealth - £1 million (Dh5.58m) - in a money-related art-type thing.
The K Foundation had been set up by The KLF - one of the UK's most successful pop groups of the 1990s.
They had hoped to provoke some sort of public debate around their ritualistic burning, but failed to.
What they did provoke is disgust in the only independent person to witness the event - a journalist who reported feelings of guilt and shock as the burning started - feelings that quickly turned to boredom, which must have lasted quite a while as it took about two hours for the lot to go up in flames.
Symbols. They are meaningless in themselves, but evoke such remarkable reactions in those of us who are primed or sensitised to them.
Money. Dollar notes or dirham coins, these are symbols. Powerful symbols that evoke very physical actions and reactions within us. Science tells us that we react to the destruction of money in a very physical way.
Studies by groups of psychologists and neuroscientists show us that adult brains register a response when seeing money destroyed - not only that, but that the strength of the response varies according to the amount - the larger the amount being destroyed, the greater the brain's response.
We know this because MRI scans show which parts of the brain are activated when subjects are given things to do, watch or think about. When a group of adults watched banknotes being destroyed - cut up, burnt or torn - while undergoing a brain scan, scientists found that the part of our brain that is associated with the use of physical tools, like hammers and screwdrivers came to life. In other words, we have learnt to view money as a tool, akin to a physical tool, that "does" stuff.
Of course, how we view money is more complex, our brain regards money in several - differing - ways, but the findings of this experiment are fascinating, namely that our brain appears to treat money as a tool for tracking exchange on a scale - suggesting that a tool explanation of money is more than just a useful metaphor.
My takeaway is that we need to tread carefully when framing money. The concept of it, the uses of it and its physical presence. It appears the K Foundation founders are still struggling with this.
A BBC documentary maker who followed up on the story in 1995 reported saying he had found "the boys rather depressed, and almost in a state of shock", with Jimmy Cauty, one of the duo stating: "Every day I wake up and I think 'Oh God, I've burnt a million quid and everyone thinks it's wrong'.
In 2004, Bill Drummond, the other one, said: "Of course I regret it - who wouldn't? My children especially regret it, but I don't regret it all the time."
The K Foundation's action may not have changed or challenged much but they have certainly provoked thousands to question and analyse the power of money and the responsibilities of those who possess it.
At the time they couldn't explain why they did it, and then stopped trying to all together, with a self-imposed ban on talking about it for 23 years, which was broken by Drummond. At the time the event didn't really cause a stir, probably because it was seen as a hoax - how could anyone be so crazy/ stupid/ free and burn £1m? But the immolation of the million quid is certainly thought-provoking.
When he'd had time to think about his tearing up money, my son came back with "it's mine. I can do whatever I want with it".
True. He took it from his money box, and he could've blown it on anything. So perhaps I'm the one who needs to look at what money means to me . Either that or I have a budding social artist on my hands.
Nima Abu Wardeh is the founder of the personal finance website cashy.me. You can reach her at [e-mail] and find her on Twitter at @nimaabuwardeh.
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