The First 10,000 Years: Gary Zhexi Zhang & Agnes Cameron
16 October - October 2021
Online Digital Commission
fud: Episode One
Commissioned by Arts Catalyst and Bloc Projects
Image: still from The First 10,000 Years courtesy of Gary Zhexi Zhang
> feels like deja vu…
> huh?
> like we’ve seen this storm before
> we kind of literally have, they’re perturbations of the same effect
> in that case shouldn’t all possible versions be priced in already?
> if all the storms were priced in there’d be no market
> and you’d have to move back into the basement
> lmao no
> this is one future path, but the price movements tell you if there’s another one in the works
> sounds like deja vu to me
> so what happens if the market doesn’t buy in?
> then the risk stays in the ground
> then there’s no insurance
> right. but that never happens, the market finds a way
> anyone for shares in titanic? sailing tomorrow…
> if the price is right :-)
The First 10,000 Years is a digital simulation narrative by Zhang and Cameron comprising a live catastrophe insurance marketplace. Based on statistical climate simulations used by the insurance industry to calculate future catastrophic losses (typically by simulating 10,000 years of speculative global weather activity), The First 10,000 Years is a hurricane observatory, financial exchange and chatroom in which human and non-human players place their wagers in a marketplace for systemic uncertainties.
The work can be accessed at fud.global until October 2021.
The First 10,000 Years forms part of fud, a new body of work by Gary Zhexi Zhang, drawn from the artist's research into the role of insurance in shaping the times and spaces we inhabit. Over the past year, Zhang has been researching the "catastrophe industry", the billion-dollar market for insurance against hurricanes, earthquakes and droughts, priced through climate simulations and financial modelling. Over three episodes, fud explores the catastrophe industry as an elaborate work of science fiction, in which the business of underwriting the earth begins to resemble the shaping of possible worlds.
This 18-month project comprises a digital commission, an exhibition at Bloc Projects in Sheffield (opening 4 June 2021), a residency at Medialab Prado in Madrid (2021) and a publication. A public programme (online and in person) accompanies the project throughout its development, engaging audiences through study groups, workshops and talks.
Gary Zhexi Zhang is an artist interested in concepts that interface between concrete and abstract worlds, such as ecology, finance and information.
Recent group exhibitions and screenings include Participation Mystique at Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai; the Swamp School at the Venice Architecture Biennale; Cross-feed at Glasgow International 2018, vdrome.org (online) and All Channels Open at Wysing Arts Centre. Recent residencies include Delfina Foundation, Schloss Web (with Agnes Cameron), SPACE Art & Technology, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Praksis Oslo, CCA Glasgow and Wysing Arts Centre. He is a Transformations of the Human Researcher at the Berggruen Institute, where he studies non-human networks and markets.
Agnes Cameron is an artist and technologist interested in experimental simulation and modelling. She works as a registry co-ordinator for the Knowledge Futures Group, developing tools for open data curation, and sometimes makes technology for artists.
She is a co-founder of New York-based design studio Foreign Objects, and has taught at Parsons School of Design and Hunter College. In 2019 she was a fellow at Sakiya: Art Science Agriculture, a Toolmaker-in-Residence at Signal Culture and a web resident at Akademie Schloss Solitude/ZKM.
Arts Catalyst works across art, science and technology to produce ambitious new projects that critically engage with our changing world. It programmes exhibitions, events, residencies, performances and publications, often working in collaboration with national and international partner organisations from the fields of art, science and academia. Public programming is intrinsic to the organisation's work, creating space for conversation, debate and fresh thinking. Since 1994, Arts Catalyst has commissioned more than 170 artists’ projects, including major new works by the Otolith Group, Agnes Meyer Brandis, Tomás Saraceno, Aleksandra Mir, Larry Achiampong and David Blandy, and Susan Schuppli. In late 2020 Arts Catalyst is relocating to Sheffield where it will continue its national programme and research strands.
Based in Madrid, Spain, Medialab Prado is a laboratory for experimentation and cultural diffusion promoted by the Government Department of Culture and Sports of the Madrid City Council. It is a space that favours the encounter and the collaboration around open cultural projects. Activities are structured around work groups, open calls for the production of projects, collaborative research and learning communities that address a very wide range of topics.
fud is generously supported by the Elephant Trust, The Henry Moore Foundation and Arts Council England.