10 Membranes

London Stock Exchange

Absent The Source, an intriguing kinetic sculpture from artist collective Greyworld that physically maps market movements, and the London Stock Exchange is underwhelming.  I was there for a conference last Thursday and was thoroughly, and slightly unexpectedly, uninspired. This grand old institution that grew out of the East India and Muscovy Companies, grew out of coffee houses, weathered bubbles from the South Sea to the Dotcom and stands now as a crucial node in the global economy is fact an insiginifcant and unprepossessing space.

Unfortunate mainly because the Stock Exchange building is neither a true homage to the borse’s past, nor an impressive high tech space. Nothing is really achieved- instead we have a bland present that says nothing about the importance of finance in the modern economy.