8 I’ll Be Gone. You’ll Be Gone

Abstract

'I'll Be Gone, You'll Be Gone' is a sculptural work that responds to the story of David X. Li's 'Gaussian Copula Equation' and its role in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. The bronze plaque is displayed as if in the process of removal, referencing the previously exalted (and now maligned) position that the formula held in stockbroking offices such as those of Lehman Brothers. The title of the work references a figure of speech used by financial services professionals, the popular use of which emerged during the aftermath of the GFC. The idiom expresses the flippant, dismissive, and irresponsible attitudes of certain brokers and traders towards risk management in general. This attitude was exemplified in the inappropriate use of Li's formula as a way to assess an institution's exposure to potentially calamitous financial scenarios. In both its formal material qualities, and the concepts that underpin these creative decisions, the resulting artwork reflects on such attitudes and the related power structures of the financial services industry that foster and reward such hubris and greed to the detriment of the global economic system.