plastic trade-off, by Sylvie Eckermann and Gerald Nestler, is a light sculpture that visualizes of one of the most influential and controversial systems of our times: the global financial markets.

The work could be described as a visual approach to the oscillating growth of markets and their diverse connections and dependences. The project traces the social life of the (im)material values of trading.

The real-time data of specific markets are translated into abstract light flows which dynamically reflect this global system. The coordinates of selected places of the market system were marked on a globe and connected as regards fundamental markets. Thus a 3D framework emerged – the structure of the sculpture.

The work is part of the Working_world net exhibition that will open on June 6, Museum Arbeitswelt Steyr, in Austria.