A very expensive chess set?

The picture shows a large chess set that was part of an exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. Apart from the design of the pieces, there was another interesting aspect of the display. The pieces were all covered in money, specifically US Dollars and Euros (Dollars closest to the camera). I did not get close enough to see if they were real notes (as opposed to an artistic representation), but given the lack of security, I'm assuming they might not be.
When discussing this piece with someone I guessed that it was making a statement about money. "Yes" they replied, "It says that money can be glued to big chess pieces"