The Way to Make Money

 

Epoxy resin

Dimension variable

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"The Way to Make Money" is a site-specific installation presented in a gallery exhibition. The work consists of a transparent resin cast of coins of varying sizes piled in a column, extending from the floor to the ceiling of the gallery space. A light at the top creates the illusion of the column continuing through and piercing the ceiling. The stack of coins plays with the illusion of transparency, existing on the border between permanence and impermanence. It positions itself in the realms of both materiality and ideas, superstitions and scientific research. Its structure evoking the concept of infinity while simultaneously enclosing a circumscribed perimeter.

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The inspiration for the work stems from market predictions, such as those of Samuel Bennet, a farmer who, in 1875, published a book forecasting business and commodity prices from 1924 to 2059. Bennet identified years of panic, good times, and hard times by examining cycles and discovered a pattern leading to the chart (in the photo below). This chart has been accurate for almost the last 100 years in the history of the stock market. The Benner Cycle indicates that 2007 is a year of high prices and a time to sell stock. In fact, the chart depicts 2007 as the panic year and the perfect time to sell, anticipating the impending 2008 crash.

 

The Bombay Stock Exchange features a statue of a bull in front of the second gate of the building. Traders hold a superstition that whenever that gate is opened, the markets crash. The door was first opened in 1992, coinciding with the infamous Harshad Mehta scam. In 2001, the door was opened again during US President Clinton’s visit, resulting in a major stock exchange crash. Once more, in 2008, when the gate was opened to install a new statue, the markets crashed suddenly.