title: New York Stock Exchange - Highbrow / Lowbrow Project
date: 2014 & 2017
size: 18 - 24" x 36"
medium: Digital composite prints on archival inkjet paper/canvas
This series of multimedia artworks visually interpret and map our participation in the New York Stock Exchange utilizing Ralph Nelson Elliott’s Elliot Wave Theory. The goal of the project was to address the current financial environment, create a series of works that test an economic theory, and provide a methodology that could financially benefit the viewer.
Ralph Nelson Elliott proposed that crowd psychology, not economic fundamentals, was the key factor that moved the stock market. Elliott showed that the degree of crowd psychology was observable on a subminuette level up to a multi-century Grand Supercycle. Elliott proposed that these “waves” of optimism or pessimism could be measured and predicted through a series of five dominant waves and three corrective waves reflected in the Fibonacci number sequence.
Over a period of one year, we bought and sold 20+ stocks at varying times based upon their wave position and chart analysis. The length of time each stock was held depended upon on how quickly the stock hit the target price or if the stock got “stopped out” below a previous resistance level on a dip in price. These times ranged anywhere from several days to a couple of months. Each stock’s price movement was recorded on a fifteen-minute basis for the duration of the time that we owned those shares.
Once the project period ended, each stock’s price and time range was averaged so that it would fit into a brick grid structure that consisted of one hundred and five bricks. The grid consists of seven layers of fifteen bricks. Each layer has five bricks across and three bricks deep. The five horizontal bricks represent the five days in a trading week, the seven vertical bricks represent the seven hours in a trading day, and the three bricks deep represent three twenty minute intervals in a trading hour. If the average price was higher than the previous price average, a solid brick was placed within that time period on the grid. If it was lower, then that space was left blank. Once the structure was completed, a die was rolled for the solid bricks. Even number bricks were painted and the odd number brick were left as photographs. The mix of photographed and painted bricks emphasized the game like feel of the market.
For a more detailed explanation of the project, click here.