Network Study XVII – Demons _ Radical Networks, Berlin
19 October 1987, New York Stock Exchange.
Against a volatile backdrop of bombing in the Persian Gulf, a Great Storm forcing European financial markets to close and the excitement around the rise of computer program trading, the Dow Jones suffers its heaviest percentage loss ever. On that Black Monday, half a billion dollars are wiped from US stock markets. With computerized trading an untested novelty in Wall Street, a network capable of placing thousands of orders triggered a domino effect, dragging markets into a downward spiral. “A demon of our own design”.
19 October 2018, Berlin.
31 years after Black Monday, the Network Ensemble re-enacts the events of the day, collecting video footage and wireless network data from the NYSE using a new portable machine* it developed. Both streams will be transmitted live to Berlin, where today’s network data and historical financial data are translated into sonic signals and mixed with audio commentary from the day, alongside projected imagery of the NYSE.
