At the former First National Bank of Galveston, on the Gulf Coast of Texas, Anthony Thompson Shumate is minting the next coin of the realm. Intended to circulate across the continent from Canada to Mexico, the amero may become the North American counterpart to the more-established euro. Visitors to the bank building – now the Galveston Arts Center – can freely exchange their dollars for ameros of Shumate's making. Shumate's amero scheme, more formally titled Novus Ordo Seclorum, is just one of several monetary provocations currently on view at the Galveston Arts Center. Although they have little in common at first ... (full story)