Description: Distributed Risk is a sculptural video installation that stretches the facade of 1 Court Sq. across four successively smaller video monitors which are mounted to a free-standing sculpture made of steel beams and are cantalevered over the viewer at a 5º tilt. The animated facade moves upwards at a slow, constant crawl, echoing the persistent fantasy of perpetual growth that grips the financial industry whenever a market bubble is about to burst. The video acts as a perverse data visualization, with the building as a perpetually growing bar graph.
This work is part of Risk, a body of work that pairs the images of two of Citi's most recognizable buildings - 603 Lexington Ave. and 1 Court Sq. - with two of the company's most notable crises - the engineering debacle that threatened to topple the newly-built Citicorp Center in 1978-79, and their substantial role in the subprime morgage market that precipitated the 2007 financial crisis. The works in this series use these images and narratives as their material, contrasting and reframing the company’s reactions to crises to explore its philosophies, beliefs, and practices, and its effect on the world around it. Put another way: if corporations are legally considered people, what kind of “person” is Citigroup?
This project was made possible in part by a grant from Queens Council on the Arts (RIP) with public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.