The image is © Aaron Koblin and Takashi Kawashima. There is one other image of this object. See our image rights statement.

See more objects with the tag graphic design, digital, computing, money, Benjamin Franklin, rendering.

Object Timeline

2007	Work on this object began.
2008	Work on this object ended.
2014	We acquired this object. We photographed this object.
2015	We photographed this object. This was an Object of the Day.
2017	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Digital Project, Ten Thousand Cents

This is a Digital Project. It was designed by Aaron Koblin and Takashi Kawashima and with contribution from Mechanical Turk. It is dated 2007–08 and we acquired it in 2014. Its medium is processing, adobe flash cs3, php/mysql, amazon mechanical turk, adobe photoshop, adobe after effects. It is a part of the Digital department.

To create Ten Thousand Cents, designers Aaron Koblin and Takashi Kawashima divided a scan of a $100 bill into 10,000 equal parts. The pieces were posted to Amazon Mechanical Turk, a distributed labor tool; workers were paid $.01 to duplicate each piece. (The total labor cost was 10,000 cents.) Use the trackpad to interact with the piece, uncovering each worker’s reproduction—whether detailed, sloppy, or editorial. The project comments on crowdsourcing and individual expression within a collective work.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled Ten Thousand Cents.

This object was donated by Aaron Koblin. It is credited Gift of Aaron Koblin and Takashi Kawashima.

A pale brown, vertical, rectangular section of sidewall with sixteen US dollar bills printed in two columns, one on top the other, eight in each column. The columns are printed slightly off center towards the left, and are screen printed such that not all the detail is shown in every bill. The bills vary in value with one dollar, two dollars, five dollars, ten dollars and twenty dollars represented, some show the front of the bill others the back. The sidewall appears to be damaged with dark marks and folds at the edges. Some text has been printed diagonally down the left side in small, black, capital letters, which states [CROSSWATCH / THE JACK DENTS DESIGN INC. / COPYRIGHT 1977 / 'ALIMONY' / COLOR 1 / COLOR 2 / CROSSWATCH]

Object ID #18699753
screen printed on mylar.
Gift of The Jack Denst Designs, Inc..
2004-3-1

Border, Pocket Change
screen printed on mylar foil.
Gift of The Jack Denst Designs, Inc..
2004-3-3

An interactive exhibit in a U-shape with 90 degree right angles installed on a wall consisting of small rectangular blocks with icons in rows and columns of repeating imagery. Left of center, columns of icons represent a red purple car, rich pink you are here, a dark blue generic symbol for person, a blue evergreen tree with one wavy line, and a yellow person walking on a crosswalk all against a white ground. Centered in the installation is a colorful large rectangular form with bright confetti colors and shapes against a black ground in an abstract design like an explosion. Underneath are three rows and five columns of rectangular forms, all with black question mark icons contrasted against a white ground. Right of center columns of icons represent yellow scales, dark green money, bright green analog clock, a blue purple robot and a purple briefcase. There is order in the placement of the small rectangles and chaos on the large rectangular image.

Next Stop, 2018
wood, card stock, digital prints, electronics.
Courtesy of MIT Civic Data Design Lab.
MOBILITY.002

Our curators have highlighted 3 objects that are related to this one.

Banknote, 5000000
letterpress.
Collection of Merrill C. Berman.
15.2019.13

Banknote, Eine Milliarde (One Billion)
letterpress.
Collection of Merrill C. Berman.
15.2019.12

Screenshot entitled “Moral machine”, featuring a simplified cartoon diagram with two nearly identical images. Above the images, the caption reads “What should the self-driving car do?” In both images, a blue car with empty passenger seats (two in front and three in the back) drives on a paved two-lane gray road towards a pedestrian crossing with six stylized red people.Five of the people are positioned on the lane on which the car is advancing, to our left, and one person is already in the lane to our right. In the left image, the car continues along a straight yellow arrow, and above the five people in this lane there is a white-on-black skull icon that might symbolize death or an accident. In the right image, the car changes the lane and one single person has a skull icon on the head.

Moral Machine, 2016
metal, electronics.
Courtesy of MIT Media Lab.
MOBILITY.032

Cite this object as

Digital Project, Ten Thousand Cents; Designed by Aaron Koblin (American, b. 1982), Takashi Kawashima (Japanese, b. 1981); With contribution from Mechanical Turk; USA; processing, adobe flash cs3, php/mysql, amazon mechanical turk, adobe photoshop, adobe after effects; Gift of Aaron Koblin and Takashi Kawashima; 2014-41-2

We have 1 video that features Digital Project, Ten Thousand Cents.

Ten Thousand Cents

Ten Thousand Cents is a digital rendering of a $100 bill created from individually crowdsourced drawings.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Making | Breaking: New Arrivals.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/75k4g/
Accession Number 2014-41-2
Object ID 68743529