\Edition by Chris Burden consisting of a hand-addressed and engraved printed envelope postmarked December 13, 1976, an engraved folded greeting card, and a crisp $10 bill.

"One hundred new ten-dollar bills were sent to one hundred people that I was acquainted with in the art world. About half were personal friends and half business persons. The money arrived in a formal envelope, with a card which said "Merry Christmas from Chris Burden." An alphabetical list was kept, starting at Acconci and ending at Zlotnick, recording every person's serial number."

"...The season's cheeriest Christmas card was undoubtedly that sent by Chris Burden, the West Coast conceptual performance artist, to 100 selected art worldlings, ranging from Vito Acconci to Diana Slotnick. Its dignified message, in script print on an elegant white folded card, read 'Merry Christmas from Chris Burden.' Inside was a crisp new $10 bill.

'Of course it's an art piece,' said Mr. Burden from his home in Venice, Calif. 'It's just a funny way of treating money, like a joke on the old Christmas thing where your grandmother sends you cash. To me, the money was simply raw material, like wood, metal or anything else an artist uses.'

Mr. Burden says he sent half of the $10's to friends and half to people he'd done business with. 'I took note of the serial numbers,' he said, 'and I'll include it in my list of pieces.' This one is relatively sedate. Mr. Burden's other 'art pieces' include having a friend shoot him in the ann with a 22 rifle, staying in a locker for five days and firing match rockets at his wife.

The artist says the greenback idea has not produced a lot of feedback, although 'some people did some funny things. About four or five sent the money back—they were mostly businesspeople with guilt about accepting it. One artist, Ilene Segalove, made it into a bowtie and returned it. Some people I sent it to owed me money or had given me a rough time in business dealings; they seemed to think it was a put-down. On the other hand, a few just went out and spent it right away."—Grace Glueck, "Art People," New York Times, December 31, 1976