Carlos Aires is a multidisciplinary artist with an incisive critique of contemporary society and his profound exploration of power and its representations. His practice navigates the complex terrain where opposing forces converge; in which, together, become sides of a complex while defying a unitary whole. In his work, Aires constructs a playful yet tragic arena where pain and pleasure are not adversaries but rather co-conspirators, revealing the paradoxes that underpin human experience. His practice critically engages with the capitalist framing of culture, drawing on symbols such as vanitas to construct narratives that expose society’s fixation on value and capital.

Money Makes the World Go Round XXVI takes its title from the lyrics of Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli’s song “Money, Money” (1972). Deconstructing the traditional collage technique, the work is composed of original banknotes and appropriates mass-media images classified through the lens of catastrophe. These images are transformed into precise silhouettes, merging economic material with visual representations of crisis.