Banca Rotta (Switzerland, 17th Century, oak)
Goldin + Senneby, Banca Rotta, 2012. Installation view SSE Library. Photo: Mikael Olsson
The sculpture Banca Rotta (Switzerland, 17th Century, oak) by artist duo Goldin + Senneby in the SSE library is a wooden table – originally used for trading bonds and moneylending –sawn in half.
The story goes that when a money changer in medieval Italy became insolvent, their trading bench would be cut in half to manifest the default. The word ‘bankrupt’ derives from the Old Italian word for the money-changer’s table, ‘banca’, and ‘rotta’ which means broken or split.
Goldin+Senneby’s sawed-in-half money-changer´s table is an economic memento mori of the dark side of business; failure and bankruptcy. In the times when this very table was an instrument of trade, bankruptcy meant a definite end: the death of a salesman and ruin of his whole house of trade. Today we take it for granted that “limited liability companies” offer any entrepreneur several lives, thereby making “limited liability” one of the most fundamental institutions of modern capitalism. The artwork might thus remind us of a dimension that tends to be forgotten, and even repressed, in an educational milieu focusing on success and progress.
Banca Rotta is in the collection of the Stockholm School of Economics since 2017. The addition of Banca Rotta to the permanent collection SSE Art Initiative further strengthens the bridge between art and business understanding.
What do you think the message of Banca Rotta is to us today?
Goldin+Senneby
The Stockholm-based artist duo Goldin+Senneby (Simon Goldin and Jakob Senneby) has since 2004 in their work explored the structural correspondence between conceptual art and finance capital, drawn to its (il)logical conclusions. Through virtual worlds, offshore companies, withdrawal strategies, and subversive speculation, they combine artistic practice, financial theory, and performative methods in a unique and subtle way.
The money-changer's table being sawn in half.
Standard Length of a Miracle
In 2016 Goldin+Senneby showed works connected to economic transactions and financial systems at SSE as part of the mutating retrospective Standard Length of a Miracle. The retrospective was presented as installations and performances at Tensta konsthall, as well as at other places not primarily associated with contemporary art. Stockholm School of Economics together with the Third Swedish National Pension Fund, the Financial Supervisory Authority, the clothing store A Day's March, Cirkus Cirkör, and the historical art museum Prince Eugen’s Waldemarsudde all served as stages for reactivations of Goldin+Senneby’s oeuvre from the past ten years. Introducing the artistic field to public institutions and commercial centers enabled a shift of perspective about where art takes place and who the audience is. Read more about the exhibition here.
Goldin + Senneby, Standard Legth of a Miracle, 2017. Exhibition view, SSE Library. Photo: Mikael Olsson
I Dispense, Divide, Assign, Keep, Hold, 2012
Baca Rotta (2012) was first produced as part of the solo exhibition I dispense, divide, assign, keep hold at Neuer Aachener Kunstverein NAK (2013), with Ismail Ertürk (cultural economist), Pamela Carter (dramaturge), Anna Heymowska (set designer) and Hamadi Khemiri (actor). Curator: Dorothea Jendricke.
Goldin + Senneby, Banca Rotta, 2012. Installation view SSE Library. Photo: Mikael Olsson
The unveiling of the Banca Rotta (Switzerland, 17th Century, oak) in the SSE library was followed by a short introduction by professor Örjan Sjöberg. The sculpture was generously donated by Helena Saxon, SSE alumna.
