Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-7pwfn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-12T15:47:56.274Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Terminal value: Building the alternative Bloomberg

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2023

Christopher Wood,
Alasdair King,
Ruth Catlow and
Brett Scott
Christopher Wood*
Affiliation:
Queen Mary University of London, UK
Alasdair King
Affiliation:
Queen Mary University of London, UK
Ruth Catlow
Affiliation:
Furtherfield, London, UK
Brett Scott
Affiliation:
Independent, London, UK
*
Corresponding author: Christopher Wood, School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK. Email: c.p.wood@qmul.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

In this essay we propose a reframing of the Bloomberg Terminal, an interface used to track financial trades and values, by using it as a creative, critical and curatorial device to explore the relationship between the art and finance. To contextualise this approach, we offer a history of the Bloomberg Terminal alongside an analysis of the power of interfaces to shape both the user and the represented information. We use the terminal as a way to critique the relationship between art acquisition and financial trading companies. We then describe some outcomes of a series of workshops themed around the idea of ‘building an alternative Bloomberg’. We conclude by offering some potential applications of a re-framed Bloomberg Terminal as an open and modular interface for engaging with issues around art and finance, both in terms of content and curation.

Keywords

Curationinterfacesart marketopen-sourcerepresentationvalue

Information

Type
Essay
Information
Finance and Society , Volume 2 , Issue 2: Art and finance , 2016, pp. 138 - 150
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© 2016 The Author(s)

References

Bennett, J. (2005) The agency of assemblages and the North American blackout. Public Culture, 17(3): 445–66.10.1215/08992363-17-3-445CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callon, M. (ed.) (1998) The Laws of the Markets. London: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Catlow, R. (2016) Interview. Skype conversation. 24 March.Google Scholar
Davies, W. and McGoey, L. (2012) Rationalities of ignorance: On financial crisis and the ambivalence of neoliberal epistemologa Economy and Society, 41(1): 64–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fraser, A. (2011) L’1%, c'est moi. Texte zur Kunst, 83:114–27.Google Scholar
Fraser, A. (2012) There's no place like home. Continent, 2(3): 186–201.Google Scholar
Goodrow, G.A. (2015) Global Corporate Collections. Cologne: DAAB Media.Google Scholar
Kottasz, R., Bennett, R., Savani, S., Mousley, W. and Ali-Choudhury, R. (2007) The role of the corporate art collection in corporate identity management: The case study of Deutsche Bank. International Journal of Arts Management, 10(1): 19–31.Google Scholar
Kitchin, R., Maalsen, S. and McArdle, G. (2015) The praxis and politics of building urban dashboards. Available at: <http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2608988/>. Accessed 29 March 2016.CrossRef.+Accessed+29+March+2016.>Google Scholar
Knorr-Cetina, K. (2000) the market as an object of attachment: Exploring postsocial relations in financial markets. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 25(2): 141–68.Google Scholar
Knorr-Cetina, K. (2009) The synthetic situation: Interactionism for a global world. Symbolic Interaction, 32(1): 61–87.10.1525/si.2009.32.1.61CrossRefGoogle Scholar
La Berge, L.C. (2016) How to make money with words: Finance, performativity, language. Journal of Cultural Economy, 9(1): 43–62.10.1080/17530350.2015.1040435CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latour, B. (2004) From realpolitik to dingpolitik: An introduction to making things public. In: Latour, B. and Weibel, P. (eds.) Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy [Catalogue for the Exhibition at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie]. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2–32.Google Scholar
Licoppe, C. (2010) The ‘performative turn’ in science and technology studies. Journal of Cultural Economy, 3(2): 181–88.10.1080/17530350.2010.494122CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackenzie, D. (2007) Is economics performative? Pption theory and the construction of derivative markets. In: Mackenzie, D., Muniesa, F. and Siu, L. (eds.) Do Economists Make Markets? On the Performativity of Economics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 54–86.Google Scholar
Malik, S. and Phillips, A. (2012) Tainted love: Art's ethos and capitalization. In: Lind, M. and Velthius, O. (eds.) Contemporary Art and its Commercial Markets: A Report on Current Changes and with Scenarios for the Future. Berlin: Sternberg, 209–40.Google Scholar
McCracken, H. (2015) How the Bloomberg Terminal made history, and stays ever relevant. Available at: <http://www.fastcompany.com/3051883/behind-the-brand/the-bloomberg-terminal/>. Accessed 23 March 2016..+Accessed+23+March+2016.>Google Scholar
Pickford, J. (2015) What was good for the Medicis is good for banks. The Financial Times, 31 July. Available at: <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/faf7dfca-2ba5-11e5-8613-e7aeDeutscheb7bDeutsche7.html#axzz41C1RUv6R/>. Accessed 25 February 2016..+Accessed+25+February+2016.>Google Scholar
Richter, D. (2012) New markets and forms of capital in art. On Curating, 20. Available at: <http://on-curating.org/issue-20-reader/new-markets-and-forms-of-capital-in-art.html#.Vr4N5cdGJ3A/>. Accessed 24 February 2016.Google Scholar
Rother, L. (2009) Die Kunstforderung der Deutschen Bank. Mittel zum Zweck? Das Konzept,Kunst am Arbeitsplatz’ am Beispiel der Frankfurter Konzernzentrale. Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte, 54:158–78.10.1515/zug-2009-0204CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, B. (2016) Activist Bloomberg proposal. Email correspondence.Google Scholar
Tkacz, N. (2014) Dashboards and data signals. Presentation at Maynooth University. Available at: <http://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/progcity/2014/10/nathaniel-tkacz-dashboards-and-data-signals/>. Accessed 29 March 2016..+Accessed+29+March+2016.>Google Scholar
Thornton, S. (2014) 33 Artists in 3 Acts. London: Granta.Google Scholar
Velthius, O. (2012) The contemporary art market between stasis and flux. In: Lind, M. and Velthius, O. (eds.) Contemporary Art and its Commercial Markets: A Report on Current Changes and with Scenarios for the Future. Berlin: Sternberg, 17–52.Google Scholar