K Foundation Burn a Million Quid

You Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid
The Guardian advert announcing a screening tour of Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid
Directed by	Gimpo
Starring	The K Foundation
Distributed by	K Foundation Inc.
Release date	23 August 1995
Running time	67 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£1,000,000

K Foundation Burn a Million Quid was an action on 23 August 1994 in which the K Foundation (an art duo consisting of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty) burned cash in the amount of one million pounds sterling in a disused boathouse on the Ardfin Estate on the Scottish island of Jura. The money represented the bulk of the K Foundation's funds, earned by Drummond and Cauty as The KLF, one of the United Kingdom's most successful pop groups of the early 1990s.

The incineration was recorded on a Hi-8 video camera by K Foundation collaborator Gimpo. In August 1995, the film—Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid—was toured around the UK, with Drummond and Cauty engaging each audience in debate about the burning and its meaning. In November 1995, the duo pledged to dissolve the K Foundation and to refrain from public discussion of the burning for a period of 23 years, but Drummond spoke about the burning in 2000 and 2004. At first he was unrepentant but in 2004 he admitted to the BBC that he regretted burning the money.

A book entitled K Foundation Burn A Million Quid, edited and compiled by collaborator Chris Brook—was published by Ellipsis Books in 1997, compiling stills from the film, accounts of events and viewer reactions. The book also contains an image of the house brick that was manufactured from the fire's ashes.

As The KLF, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty were the biggest-selling singles act in the world for 1991. They had also enjoyed considerable success with their album The White Room and a number one hit single – "Doctorin' the Tardis" – as The Timelords. In May 1992, The KLF staged an incendiary performance at the BRIT Awards, and retired from the music industry shortly thereafter in typically enigmatic fashion.