Trade is Sublime

Trade is Sublime picks up the theme of anxiety at the WTO relating to both the ontology of global trade and multi-lateralism, and the fraught institutional culture of the WTO Secretariat.

By playing with ideas of work, trade, and the uncertain future of the organization, Trade Is Sublime was designed to evoke an idealized version of trade as effortless, equitable, homogenous, and beautiful in order to encourage viewers to consider contrary or relative actualities.  The installation is composed of three videos embedded in quarter-inch scale models of the CWR displayed on plinths in the public areas of the CWR; the videos show performers engaging in abstracted exchange activities under varying physical constraints. The piece invites the viewer to ponder the way heterogeneous elements introduce new modes of calculation, communication, and rationality into trade negotiations and bureaucratic operations.