The repetition or stammer of the title suggests uncertainty or perhaps curiousity. Or a collapse of the word before it has even left the lips? As a collage of voices blending history, superstition, reality and fiction the work circles in on the delicate subject of money.
The Stock Exchange in Copenhagen was built by the industrious King Christian IV, who, due to war debt later in life, had to sell several of his properties, including The Exchange, in order to make ends meet. This happened in 1647, only seven years after the building had finally been completed.
The performance was shown in front of a mosaic by Danish artist Boye Givskov, which depicts the history of The Exchange. The performance combines stories about money and everyday life, about the Kings daydreams and the unpredictable movements of the stock market – a man-made system, which is just as turbulent and unpredictable as the weather.
In 1969 Danish artist Lene Adler Petersen performed her work The Female Christ, in which she walked naked through The Exchange while carrying a cross. This work is a central piece in Danish art history – it was a confrontation of capitalism and disrupted business as usual. P-p-p-pengene builds on this work, but uses a different tactic: As a disturbed lecture or a guided tour in poetic breakdown, the performance invites the audience inside this otherwise inaccessible historical building, which is owned by The Danish Chamber of Commerce and not usually open to the public.
Except from the manuscript:
"Just like the turbulence of the wind or the irregular coastline of Britain, the wild movements of prices in the stock market seem to follow the logic of fractal geometry. Fractals are complex geometrical patterns that exhibit similar patterns at increasingly small scales, like the leaves of a fern or the ice crystals in a snowflake. This is called self-similarity and is also found in stock charts. A chart showing price movements across 10 years is very difficult to distinguish from a chart zoomed in, showing the price movements across one year or even one day. This view of the stock market is known as “wild” because it predicts a far greater likelihood of dramatic events like the crashes of 87, 98 and 08."
P-p-p-pengene
Site-specific performance in Børsen, The Stock Exchange in Copenhagen. Duration: 30 min. 2020.
Photo by Rine Rodin
Performed at The Exchange in Copenhagen, 2020
and in a modified version at Statens Værksteder for Kunst, 2021