Babel
Babel ©2011 David Keating - toy building kit, erector set pieces, Monopoly game pieces, painted tin top, painted frame, wood plinth, pennies.
Like the games that inspired it, this piece marries child’s play with adult ambition. The building is part Babylonian ziggurat, part century-old skyscraper, and part Atlantic City hotel – the high-stakes asset on the Monopoly board.
Babel, the Hebrew word for Babylon, was the biblical city where “the people were one and they all had one language.” The Babylonians sought “to make a name for themselves” by building a colossal tower. God confused their speech so they could no longer communicate to complete the task, and he scattered them abroad. As with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, God appeared to be punishing the attempt to rival heaven.
At the top of this building, walls unfold to offer up the world—or close up to trap it. At the sidewalk entrance Mr. Monopoly—known as ‘Rich Uncle Pennybags’ to early 1900s game players—winks and waves cash. You can almost hear his babble: “Follow the trail of pennies—99!—all the way up to the almighty dollar!!”
If the world’s common language is cash, its perch here is precarious. Rich Uncle Pennybags promotes an ethos seemingly embedded in the word monopoly – ‘one before the many’ – nearly a reversal of the United States motto E pluribus unum – ‘out of many, one.’ The monopolist doesn’t want his wealth to trickle down to raise the masses; he strives to sell the masses back downstream to raise his monuments.