Zero Magic
Magic box. 2016
With Malin Nilsson (magician), Théo Bourgeron (sociologist of finance), Kevin Keener (patent attorney), Johan Hjerpe (designer) and Moa Ott (carpenter)
A magician creates illusions, making us see things that don’t exist, that are not really happening. The word magic originates from the word magush (Persian), meaning “to be able” or “to have power”. In Zero Magic, the magic trick takes place on the financial markets. Goldin+Senneby have infiltrated a secretive hedge fund in the United States and recreated its short selling practices, i.e. the practice of selling shares that one doesn’t own. They have, in collaboration with the magician Malin Nilsson and finance sociologist Théo Bourgeron, developed a magic trick for the financial market that has the capacity to influence the perception of a company’s value and to profit from this. The magic box contains the props and equipment needed to perform these financial manipulations and also historical references to other controversial magic tricks performed offstage, in real life.
Artists' Bio:
“Goldin+Senneby define themselves as a “collaborative framework exploring juridical, financial, and spatial constructs”. The elusiveness of this description is somehow apt. Since 2004, when Simon Goldin and Jakob Senneby started working as a duo, they have speculated around the layering of contemporary economics, analysing and employing different dimensions of financial markets. Their collaborative strategies have shaped a withdrawn approach wherein the artists are akin to puppeteers; their productions mostly comprise choreographing the labour of others.”
—João Laia, Frieze, 2013