Art aims to subvert market alchemists

A NEW algorithim designed to democratise the financial markets and abolish the tyranny of brokers features in an exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) in Londonderry that runs until June 28.
By Kevin Mullan
Published 11th May 2013, 18:54 BST
The tyranny of the stock markets. A new exhibition at CCA in Londonderry features a trading model designed to seize the initiative from the priesthood of annointed brokers.The tyranny of the stock markets. A new exhibition at CCA in Londonderry features a trading model designed to seize the initiative from the priesthood of annointed brokers.
The tyranny of the stock markets. A new exhibition at CCA in Londonderry features a trading model designed to seize the initiative from the priesthood of annointed brokers.

The work by Goldin and Senneby, VWAP, is inspired by Swedish mineralogist, August Nordenskiöld, who was employed by King Gustav III to alchemically produce gold to boost the country’s wealth for a war against Russia. Nordenskiöld worked for the King but wanted to make his discoveries available to all; to abolish the ‘tyranny of money’ by making gold worthless. This exhibition works on the same principles but this time focusing on the ‘alchemy’ of the financial markets.

The gallery explains: “Having identified analogous processes in late capitalism’s modes of production and accumulation, VWAP will feature the commissioning of a speculative theatrical script and the development of a new algorithmic trading model to be tested in the financial markets of today.

“In the interplay between these two modes of speculation, the work gives itself over to the mysterious forces of capital that it simultaneously stages in the gallery.”

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