By Sarah Krouse
The fifth floor of a prominent New York art museum is currently
home to a wall of bologna slices, a carousel of dolls orbiting an
iPhone-like screen and the words of BlackRock Inc.'s Laurence
Fink.
The chief executive of the world's largest money manager is the
focal point of an installation at the Whitney Museum of American
Art's Biennial, an event that is well known within the art world as
a showcase of new work. The piece, titled "Debtfair," makes a case
that the economics of American art are flawed because of artists'
debt. BlackRock, the artists said, invests in that debt.
Occupy Museums, the group of artists and activists responsible
for the exhibit, plotted the growth of BlackRock's assets on a
17-by-30-foot wall next to measures of student-loan delinquencies
and a rise in the price of art. Near the ceiling is a trimmed 2015
quote from Mr. Fink that reads: "The two greatest stores of wealth
internationally today [are] contemporary art [...and] apartments in
Manhattan."
Portions of Mr. Fink's resume are also highlighted, including
his role as a member of President Donald Trump's business advisory
forum and his appointment as trustee of the Museum of Modern Art.
He is also described as a "pioneer of the mortgage-backed
securities market." The artists argue the collapse of that market
"triggered the 2008 financial crisis" and call BlackRock the
"world's largest shadow bank."
"I respect the artists' desire to express themselves and as an
active supporter of the contemporary art world I look forward to
seeing the exhibit firsthand the next time I visit the Whitney,"
Mr. Fink said.
Mr. Fink's prominent place in the Whitney Museum show is a sign
of how BlackRock's sheer size is thrusting it into the public
consciousness in a way that it wasn't before the 2008 financial
crisis. The money manager controls more than $5 trillion in assets
for investors ranging from large pension funds and endowments to
individuals -- roughly $1 trillion more than its nearest rival. It
was founded as a small fixed-income specialist in 1988.
BlackRock isn't a bank and didn't require a bailout during the
2008 financial crisis as many banking institutions did. But it does
purchase debt on behalf of its clients. Fixed-income investments
represent roughly 31% of its overall assets, or $1.6 trillion at
the end of 2016.
The team of artists who created the Whitney exhibit formed from
a working group created during the Occupy Wall Street protests of
2011. One of its first members was Noah Fischer, who in October of
that year posted a note online arguing that "we see through the
pyramid schemes of the temples of cultural elitism controlled by
the 1%." Mr. Fischer also teaches at the Parsons School of Design
in New York and has a studio practice in Brooklyn, according to his
website.
Mr. Fischer and two other artists said they chose BlackRock
because the company's heft and leadership represent the
beneficiaries of what they consider to be unfair economic and
cultural systems. The firm, they said, is an example of Wall Street
profiting at a time when ordinary Americans have seen wages
stagnate.
Wealthy people can help create a market for artists hoping to
sell their work, but the artists said they hope to call attention
to a "collector class" of financial elites. These people, they say,
acquire and stockpile art while also benefiting from investing in
the debt artists need to pay for their work. BlackRock, they said,
invests in that debt.
Mr. Fink "bridges a lot of the different worlds we're talking
about," Mr. Fischer said.
Imani Jacqueline Brown, another artist who is a member of Occupy
Museums, said Mr. Fink's quote about wealth "really hit home" for
the group. "There's a very intimate financial system into which
artists are drawn but never see any of the profit," the New
Orleans-based artist said.
Their group targets other museums and institutions that it
believes contribute to cultural inequality. The artists said their
work was inspired in part by Gregory Sholette's "Dark Matter," a
book that explores the economics and politics of contemporary art
and stresses the importance of "work made and circulated in the
shadows of the formal art world."
BlackRock and Mr. Fink are more recent additions to the
"Debtfair" piece, which also appeared at Art League Houston in
2015. The exhibit now on display at the Whitney also shows works by
artists who owe money to other banks. Logos of those banks, which
represent different types of debt owed such as student and
credit-card borrowings, are scattered throughout the
installation.
One viewer said she was moved by the piece even if she didn't
know all of the terms referenced.
"I can relate to it visually, but the whole concept of debt puts
knots in my stomach," said Debra Rapoport, an artist and member of
the Whitney who visited the exhibit. "I don't know what a shadow
bank is." Shadow banking is a broad term that typically refers to
nonbank lenders or firms that purchase debt while operating outside
the banking system.
Another acknowledged that the financial crisis influenced his
reaction. "I have a general mistrust of banks," and an aversion to
debt, said Kris King, a 31-year-old who works at Nitehawk Cinema in
the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.
But one visitor said the message was too harsh. "I think they've
taken a shot at Larry Fink and BlackRock," said Jeff Coopersmith,
founder of Columbus, Ohio-based Core Real Estate Capital, who
visited the museum with his wife.
Christopher Lew, one of the curators of the exhibit who invited
Occupy Museums to participate, said the piece fit well with the
political bent of this year's show.
Curators treated Occupy Museums "the same way as any other
artists" even though the group has been critical of the Whitney and
other museums. "Their role as activists is to point to issues
around museums."
Write to Sarah Krouse at sarah.krouse@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 30, 2017 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
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