PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Like its well-known precursor at the New York Stock Exchange, the Art Market Scrolling Ticker (AMST) is an LED display that reports the real-time trading value of artists, who are appropriately substituted for and measured similarly to stocks and bonds.

I will work with a computer programmer (Rory Solomon) directly to create an algorithm that culls current and relevant data from variables - such as sales from auctions - and converts this information into a “trade value.” The website ArtPrice.com, for instance, produces several indices similar to the New York Stock Exchange model, and AMST will take this particular data to partially compute its own total, arbitrary value.

The project drives home the point of the interconnection of art, commerce, and commodity, and espouses this reality in a straightforward manner, while also going beyond it. AMST also examines issues such as the arbitrary nature of pricing and valuing an artist/art work, what forces control these values, and ultimately the power dynamics associated with not only commodity, but also commodified information.

Currently, the AMST project is being produced as an LED sculpture that solely scrolls the names and values of contemporary artists. The project for Rhizome would be an internet-based manifestation of this piece utilizing the same data and aesthetic.

There is also an option to expand the data to include not only artists, but also valuations of institutions, curators, art blogs, critics, and exhibitions. Each category is thereby critiqued and presented for scrutiny similar to a review, in the New York Times, for instance.

Aesthetically, the Rizhome version may also incorporate an architectural component, in which the AMST is superimposed seamlessly, of appropriate scale and categorical relationship, digitally onto real buildings and venues, such as the Whitney Museum (two examples pictured BELOW).

To implement this on the web, I will work with a web developer/Flash designer (to be determined) who could incorporate the scrolling ticker onto whatever background image/structure I select.


TIMELINE AND BUDGET
I hope to finish this project by the end of 2007.

Currently, a budget for production costs is in mid-process of research (as the web component is tied in with the actual sculpture). The bulk of the fees for this project will go to the programmer and web developer, which is estimated to cost between $500-$1500. Any costs not covered by the commission award will be covered by the artist.


RESUME
Please click HERE.


IMAGES
Please click HERE.