Variable Risk Landscape, 2004

MAN (Money/Art/Nature) Project

On 02 January 2004, Dalibor Martinis bought 365 shares of the ZBtrend Investment Fund. Since the price of one share was 102.22 euros on that day, the amount invested equals 37,310.30 euros. The money was invested for a period of one year, i.e. 365 days, and constitutes the funds of The Man (Money/Art/Nature) Foundation. While the project is in progress, the artist/investor went up once a month into the hills to hike the amplitudes that are shown by the value of the ZBtrend share for the current month. The corresponding altitudes were measured with an altimeter. The artist/investor thus experienced the changes in the value of his investment both financially and physically, and through movement in the natural landscape he reproduced the landscape of variable risk (whereby a rise in the graph’s curve ph represents financial gain but also physical loss, i.e. additional physical effort, while a fall in the value of the investment entails financial loss, but also physical gain, i.e. rest). at www.variablerisklandscape.com one could follow the course of the project in the physical and financial landscape with constantly updated information about the current worth of the investment and other financial indicators, such as changes in exchange rates, and so on. Instead of a catalogue, the VRL used donated space in the monthly magazine Banka, which was also a media sponsor of the project. At the end of every quarter, a quarterly report was issued and at the end of the year, the difference in the value of the investment 365 days after the investment was determined, i.e. consequent profit per share. An annual report for the year 2004 was issued at the end of the fiscal year. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb was the location for the closing of the project whereby the total yearly dividend (the sum divided by the number of visitors) was handed out to all the visitors present at the closing event. . The selling price of the work Variable Risk Landscape by Dalibor Martinis corresponds to the equivalent value in euros of 365 shares in the ZBtrend Investment Fund on the day of the sale.