Disturbing Volatility

Disturbing Volatility explores the perception of and sentiment towards economic systems and their market forces. Embraced and used to their advantage by some, for the majority volatility represents an appalling uncertainty and the loss of control. With the rise of financial technologies, humans are even further removed from decision-making processes and replaced by artificial intelligence. Algorithm-driven automated decisions account for approximately 80% of the daily trading volume, react instantly to signals and have caused significant fluctuation in recent years.

This artwork embodies this alienation through an animation of 60 aerial videos recorded with a cellphone through the window of passenger flights over two years. The videos are organized in five rows depending on their relative position between the ground, clouds and sky, and the 12 columns loosely resemble a histogram chart. In an endless loop, the video columns imitate economic cycles that move around an opaque layer of cloud videos as its reference point. Disturbing Volatility plays with similarities between the developments in financial markets and commercial aviation. Furthermore, it emphasizes the necessary surrender of a market participant or passenger to the faith in its driving forces.

In the adoption of new technologies such as blockchain, high fluctuation of the underlying cryptocurrencies drives in speculators but deters fast, widespread adoption. High price swings overshadow the technological benefits and reduce it for many to its monetary roots.

The artist acknowledges the use of copyright-free music by Doug Maxwell (Lost in Prayer), and I Think I Can Help You (The Ten Names) in his artwork.