Modern artists such as Michael Landy, the man who destroyed all his belongings as a piece of performance art in 2001 and Neil Boorman and Jasper Joffee who respectively burnt and sold their ‘stuff’ have, in recent years, highlighted the materialism and consumerism abundant in our society today. Dramatic and thought-provoking.

Now we have one of this year’s Turner Prize exhibits at Tate Britain in London featuring a huge pile of pennies – 2043599 to be exact – by Michael Dean.  £20,436 is, according to the UK government, the bare minimum that two adults and two children can live on for a year.

The artist has taken away one penny so that what’s left isn’t quite enough – a family living on this would be below the poverty line. The money used for this installation has all been borrowed, too – which perhaps adds a further dimension?

I love this idea. If you want to go along and see it and the other exhibits, it’ll be there until 2 January 2017.