Potlatch of Derivatives

commissioned by the 14th Shanghai Biennale“Cosmos Cinema”

The Potlatch of Derivatives reflects on financialized capitalism’s commitment to endless growth.  

Picture this picture of the cosmos of financial derivatives: a fragment of jade—the food of Daoist immortals, symbol of perpetual growth—held in the mouth of a dead derivatives trader. The corpse makes a ratting sound; the jade continues to be traded through risk-free quantitative arbitrage.

Comprising two lake-shaped and one cicada-shaped tables—like those at which to dine and gamble—and twelve dishes perched on twelve sluices, Potlatch of Derivatives invites the audience to follow the whirling currents (of time, history, and money) through the universe of financial derivatives.In doing so it proposes that the capitalist cosmos is one of “derivatology”: whenever the system is at risk of collapse, it tries to avoid the consequences by deriving a new cosmos of financial opportunity, filled by the promise of future growth.

衍生宴

第14届上海双年展“宇宙电影”委任作品

《衍生宴》试图祭典金融资本主义对无止境增长的承诺。 

 想象一幅金融衍生品宇宙的图景：一位死去的交易员嘴里含着一块玉–道教神仙的食物，象征着长生不老。这具遗体的嘴巴发出微微响动，仿佛又将衔玉而生，而玉仍在进行无风险量化套利交易。

《衍生宴》由两张湖形和一张蝉形桌子组成，如同用餐和博弈的桌子一样，12道菜分别摆放在12座水闸之上，它邀请观众跟随（时间、历史和金融）的旋流，溯洄金融衍生品的宇宙。在此过程中，它提出资本主义世界是一个 “衍生学 “世界：每当系统面临崩溃的风险时，它总会试图衍生出一个新的金融投机世界来转嫁风险，而这个世界又充满了对未来增长的承诺。

It all starts from Nüwa, the mother goddess of Chinese mythology, mending a hole in the sky, which opens up the The Story of the Stone. Nüwa used stones to restore the order of the cosmos but left one piece of stone behind. It’s an ideal story about economic surplus. This surplus force hasn’t led to sacrifices, wars or inequality; instead, it has evolved into art, in a self-pitying manner. The stone left behind by Nüwa turned into a piece of jade with which Jia Baoyu was born in his mouth. At the end of this “story of the stone”, also known as the “dream of the red chamber”, it once again became a piece of stone covered with inscriptions and returned the Great Waste Mountain.

故事要从《石头记》中女娲补天讲起，女娲用石头修复了宇宙的秩序，唯独遗留一块。这也是一个有关经济过剩最理想的故事。这股过剩的力量没有造成献祭、战争与不平等，它自怨自艾地奔向了艺术。这块女娲补天剩余石，被衍生为一块美玉，含在贾宝玉的口中，记载了《红楼梦》中的一切，故事结束，它回到了大荒山，变回顽石，刻满文字。

The stone is like a projection screen, on which the dreams and stories of the red chamber are playing. Jade, a derivative of stone, is like a camera, following the steps of Jia Baoyu to record everything happening in the Grand View Garden.

石头像是一块电影屏幕，放映着红楼梦中事。玉，石头的衍生品，像是一部摄像机，跟随贾宝玉记录着大观园里外前后的一切。

The first table at the Potlatch of Derivatives (for dining, gambling and worshipping) resembles a cicada-shaped stone monument on which The Story of Derivatives is inscribed: 

COOKINGISADERIVATIVEOFSACRIFICECRIMSONBEANSASTEARSFORTHEDEBTBEARERDEBTCANBECREATEDOUTOFTHINAIRREDDATEASBOOSTERTHEMEDICINEFORXIMENQINGCURRENCYISTHEDERIVATIVEOFTIMEANDTIMEITSELFISALSOADERIVATIVEPERIODSPOTANDFUTURESTHESHORTSIGHTEDTIMEVIEWOFTHEFINANCIALWORLDCIRCLEOFLIFEHUMANISUSEDASINGREDIENTSFORSACRIFICEDEEDSOFTHEGREATYUBYTHEDRAGONSHORETHEFINANCIALNATUREOFRIVERSLIESINHIGHPRODUCTIVITYOFRICEANDNAVIGATIONTOWERSYSTEMSFORWATERCONTROLNAVIGATIONMARKINGANDSENSINGHUANGPUREPLACINGWUSONGWATERFINANCEINAGRICULTURALSENSEEVOLVESTOTHEWATERFINANCEINMONETARYSENSEUMAMIDERIVINGFROMFISHINESSANDGAMINESSCRANESTANDINGONTHESHELLSOFDRAGONHEADEDTURTLEASYMBOLOFAUSPICIOUSNESSANDPROSPERITYTHEHEDGINGCOMBINATIONDERIVINGFROMBOTHTHENORTHANDSOUTHHELPSTOPREVENTRISKSANDKEEPTHECOUNTRYSTRONGANDSECUREWITHEREDBONESOFABEAUTYSEEDLESSWATERMELONSCHASEYOUNGPONIESAMISMATCHINFINANCEANDINTIMEASWELLEMERALDDECORATEDFEATHERYCLOTHBUDDHANOTONLYPOSSESSESENDLESSMERITSBUTISALSOANEXISTENCEBEYONDTHESCALEOFTIMETHEGREATARHATGLOBALCOMMODITYDERIVATIVESPREFABRICATEDFLAVORS&JADEASAFTERLIFEINSURANCEDERIVATIVESOFTHEDERIVATIVESCREATIONNAMINGRIGHTSCONFIRMATIONTRADINGDERIVATIONTHINKINGLOSESTOCALCULATIONRISKSARETRANSFERREDSPRINGREDFADESINFALLINGFORESTBLOSSOMSALLTOOHASTY

衍生宴第一张桌子 (餐桌-赌桌-供桌) 的桌面酷似一座蝉形石碑，上面刻着衍生记：

烹饪是祭祀衍生绛珠還淚作爲債務形式之人債務可以憑空創造紅棗解春西門慶之藥貨幣是時間之衍生但時間本身亦是衍生品近月遠月短視之金融時間生生不息人作爲祭祀之原材料龍濱禹迹河流之金融性稻之高效塔之鎮水航標感應黃浦奪淞農業水之金融轉向貨幣水之金融腥膻之鮮南北對沖龍龜仙鶴江山永固紅顔枯骨無籽西瓜尋租鮮活瘦馬金融錯配時間錯配翡翠羽衣無盡藏菩薩擁有無量功德且與時間之外羅漢大宗全球商品衍生預制衍香家山無望衍生之衍生創造命名確權交易衍生思考敗給計算風險轉嫁林花謝了春紅太匆匆

The second table at the Potlatch of Derivatives features the shape of Hongze Lake. A seemingly hermaphroditic semi-human-semi-fish creature is floating on it. In its mouth, there’s a piece of jade, which looks like the cicada-shaped stone. The stone is derived into jade. Jia Baoyu was born with a piece of jade in his mouth and in ancient China, a cicada-shaped jade was placed in the mouth of the deceased in the hope that s/he would embrace a good afterlife as cicada shedding carapace. Time can be reversed, shifted and edited.

衍生宴第二张桌面勾凿出洪泽湖的大致轮廓，一具非人非鱼，雌雄难辨的生物浮在泽（水陆不分）面上。它的口中含玉，玉的样貌轮廓与蝉石桌一模一样，石头衍生成了玉。就如同衔玉而生的贾宝玉与衔玉而亡的脱壳者，时间可以被倒转、变速、剪辑。

It can be derived to infinity, duplicated, distributed, traded and gamed. The name Zhenze is preserved when referring to Taihu Lake. Today it’s hard to imagine what a grand view it was when nomads in the land of rivers traveled through it. Its glory is now overshadowed by its neighboring city, Shanghai, the economic center of the country. The third table resembles the shape of ancient Lake Zhenze. Its humanoid hands are covered with fish scales, which fall onto the ground and become banknotes. Jade is derived to chips and stacked pile by pile on its fingertips. 

甚至，可被衍生至无穷，被复制、被发行、被交易、被博弈。震泽的名字被太湖所保留，如今已无法想象水陆游牧者伏象穿行的盛况，它的光芒也被一旁的经济中心上海所掩盖。第三张桌子拥有太湖的概貌，它的人形手长满鱼鳞，鳞片洒落化作满地钞票。玉，衍生为筹码，被一码一码叠放在它的指尖。

It’s hard to tell whether it’s an alter, dungeon, ballroom, museum or casino. Water comes and goes and is beyond visibility. Water is derived to financial figures, which are added or subtracted in the spreadsheets of the central bank. Twelve sluices are erected around with food placed on top. We’re not sure if it’s tribute or chips…

无法确定，这是祭坛，还是地宫，是宴会厅、博物馆还是赌场，水来水往无法看见，水衍生成了金融数字，在中央银行的电子表格里加减。十二座水闸立于周围，上面摆放着食物，分不清它是贡品还是筹码…

Red beans are used as a base and frozen into a full-moon shaped ice ball. The red moon slowly melts into “bloody tears” (which is reminiscent of the story of Lin Daiyu, a principal character of classic 18th-century Chinese novel Dreams of the Red Chamber, paying back her “debt of tears”).It’s the first course to be served, but last to be savored. Nation and home become a debt people on this land are born with; and just like Lin Daiyu, the debt will need to be paid back with “bloody tears”.

In prior to the abolition of imperial examination system in late Qing Dynasty, the feudal empire was already on the verge of collapse. In the places for pleasure in Shanghai, the most frequently used stage name by courtesans was Lin Daiyu. But they were fully aware that tears could be created out of thin air. Likewise, debt could also be created out of thin air. Lin Daiyu didn’t owe Jia Baoyu anything, but Jia needed to pay off her debt in the hope to realize the romance between them. 

红豆调配出的基底，冻成满月状的冰球，红色的月亮慢慢融化为“血泪”（黛玉还泪）。第一道登场，待最后品尝。国与家成为此地生人天生背负的债务，如林黛玉般要用血泪偿还。

至晚清科举即将被废除的前夕，封建帝国奄奄一息。上海的风月场所之中，倌人花名最多的就是林黛玉。但她们已清醒的认识到，泪水，是可以凭空创造的。同样的，债务也是可以凭空创造的，林黛玉并不欠贾宝玉什么，而贾宝玉需要替林黛玉清偿债务，以续木石前缘。

A silicone-made sounding rod is subtly poked into the dates. With the redness of the dates spreading in the liqueur, the cocktail glass seems to be dyed red. 

There’s a hidden financial element embedded in Jin Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase), which is embodied through medicine. Medicine on the one hand strengthened Ximen Qing’s sexual power; and on the other, accelerated the course of his life. After taking it, his fortune increased further. Medicine allowed an overdraft on life of the future; and it could also accelerate the arrival of death. Red date plays a prominent role in Jin Ping Mei. The place where this story took place abounded in dates. Each time before and after Ximen Qing took the medicine, he would eat red dates. The red date was like a medium to enhance or relieve the effect of the medicine. In the novel, Ximen Qing once put some aphrodisiac into the hole on his penis (his urethra). This is probably the earliest writing about the act of sounding. “Red Date as Booster” refers to Ximen Qing’s usage of aphrodisiac (“financial leverage”), and the fact that phallus can also be poked into as it also has a hole. 

电动探茎（sounding）硅胶棒细腻地插入红枣之中，枣红在美酒中漫开，鸡尾酒杯被红色浸染…

《金瓶梅》中隐含的金融性通过药来体现，药强化了西门庆的性能力也加速了他的生命进程，西门庆服用春药后，他的财富得到进一步增长，药可提前折现未来，亦可加速死亡。红枣在《金瓶梅》中至关重要，故事发生之处盛产枣，药铺也是西门庆最重要的生意。西门庆用药前后都要吃枣，红枣像是一个媒介来增强或收敛它的药性，西门庆在小说中曾将春药塞入他阳具的孔洞（尿道）之中，那可能是文字记载里最早的一种探茎行为。红枣解春指向了《金瓶梅》中西门庆的用药（借贷）行为及阳具亦是有孔洞可被插入的状态。

(1 day – 7 days – 1 month – 3 months – 5 years – 10 years – 30 years) Dried tangerine peel is laid as a foundation of all the cold dishes. The cold dishes feature meat of rare birds and exotic animals in different flavors, including pickled, dry-cured, fermented, salted, marinated and braised flavors. The short-sighted time view of the financial world is synchronized with the time it takes for food to lock up freshness, dry-cure and ferment. It’s a kind of human time scale. 

（1天-7天-1月-3月-5年-10年-30年）陈皮垫底，冷菜中汇集了咸、风、糟、鲊、腌、卤等不同风味的珍禽异肉。金融短视的时间观，与食物锁鲜、风化、发酵的时间同步，这是一种人类的时间尺度。

The powerful reproductive ability and the texture highly similar to that of human muscles especially after being air-dried make (bull)frogs an unfortunately fit substitute for food ingredients and human sacrifices. 

The brutality behind the circle of life probably lies in that living, human sacrifices were deployed by the emperor generation after generation. It points directly at the economics of death during the Shang dynasty: the higher the status of the human sacrifices, the greater the value they had as an offering. Human sacrifices were used as the direct currency to make deals with gods and ancestors for the “financial returns” – blessings from gods and ancestors. In this way, the economic circle of life (and killing life) took shape. Sacrifice is probably the earliest act of investment, and the way human sacrifices were treated has been partly inherited in culinary culture. 

蛙强大的繁衍生殖能力与风干后接近人形的肌理不幸成为本次人类替罪与祭祀的衍生品。

生生不息背后的残酷本意可能是：活着的人牲一代一代供王用作人牲祭祀。它直指殷商时期的死亡经济学：人牲的地位越高，作为祭品的价值就越高。以人作为祭祀的直接货币，与神灵先祖献祭交易，获得先祖神权庇佑的“经济回报”，从而循环的一套 生生（杀杀）不息经济学。祭祀可能是最早的投资行为，而其对待人牲的方式也部分遗留进烹饪与饮食文化里。

Dragon is a derivative of the centralization of power; and the derivative of dragon is snake, whose derivative in cuisine is eel. While cooking eels, different proportions of oil and water would lead to different degrees of their crispness: tender ones could be seen as rivers (circulation, transportation and irrigation) and crisp ones as navigation towers (water control, navigation marking and sensing). 

Great Yu controlling the waters marked a starting point of emperors placing an emphasis on river management and agricultural efficiency, transforming Eastern China from the state of swampland (where there were no clear distinctions between waters and lands) into a high-efficient economic region with a clear and densely-arranged network of waters and lands. 

龙是权力集中的衍生物，龙的衍生物是蛇，蛇在离开餐桌后其衍生物为鳝。通过不同的油水比例，烹制出软烂与酥脆的鳝段，软作河流（流通、运输、灌溉），脆作航塔（镇水、航标、感应）。

大禹治水开启了历代帝王对河流的治理与对农业效率的重视，也让东部中国从泽（水陆不分）的地理形态变成路网水网清晰密集的高效经济区域。

During the Yongle reign of Ming Dynasty, Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Revenue, was in charge of controlling the flooding in Suzhou and Wusong areas. He took Ye Zongxing’s proposal to dredge the Huangpu River and diverted the river course towards the north. Eventually, Huangpu River took the place of Wusong River as the main stream of the Taihu Lake system into the sea. This laid the foundation for Shanghai’s emergence as the hub of cultural exchanges and trading between the inland and the sea/ocean, the East and the West. Waters located closer to land are seas; further, oceans. And the inland area fosters a variety of water forms including lakes, rivers, streams and rivulets. The ingredients of this course feature hairtails from the East China Sea and white shrimps from the Taihu Lake. High-temperature deep-frying is the best way to stimulate the fusion of their different flavors (Taihu Lake – Shanghai – East China Sea – The Pacific Ocean).

明朝永乐年间，户部尚书夏元吉治理苏淞地区水患，他采取了叶宗行的建议疏浚黄浦江，使其改道向北，最终替代吴淞江竞夺吴淞口入海，黄浦江至此替代吴淞江成为太湖宣泄入海的主河流。也为未来上海成为链接内陆与海洋、东西方文化与贸易交流的中心奠定了地理基础。近陆为海，远陆为洋。内陆衍化为湖、江、河、浦等不同水体形态。本道菜食材选自东海带鱼与太湖白虾，高温油炸最能激发它们的味觉交融（太湖-上海-东海-太平洋）。

People in northern China consider lamb as the most delicious and never feel it gamy. People in the south, on the other hand, consider fish as the most delicious and never feel it fishy. This course manages to offset the gaminess and fishiness through the two flavors themselves. The combination of lamb and fish makes a perfect “hedge strategy”.

The course is reminiscent of a traditional Chinese pattern with crane standing on the shells of dragon-headed turtle – a symbol of auspiciousness and prosperity. The hedging combination deriving from both the north and south helps to prevent risks and keep the country strong and secure. 

北以羊为鲜，南以鱼为鲜；又以北多食羊而不觉其膻，南多食鱼而不觉其腥。本道菜以鱼腥去其膻，羊膻去其腥，是鱼羊共同脍炙而成的南北对冲组合。

可谓：龙龟仙鹤，南北对冲，风险无误，江山永固。

Bone glue extracted from the bone marrow of Chinese black-bone chickens is dabbed on top of the fresh bamboo shoots stir-fried with preserved potherb mustard (also known as “Spring Never Grows Old”).After all, the mismatch between supply and demand requires us to “pluck Yin to nurture Yang”. Grandmother Jia in the novel Dreams of the Red Chamber still felt the need for more blessings despite all the blessings she’d already been endowed with. So did the seedless watermelons who chased young ponies.

乌鸡的骨髓提取出骨胶点抹在经春不老（雪里蕻）炒制的鲜嫩的笋尖之上。终究是，供需错配，采阴补阳。贾母福深还祷福，阁老无籽西瓜寻租鲜活瘦马。

Copper-coin shaped snakegourd and sea grapes are mixed in salad juice and wrapped around a buddha statue. Buddha not only possesses endless merits but is also an existence beyond the scale of time. To accumulate endless merits, people build statues of buddha with metal; excessive enthusiasm for giving offerings to Buddha tends to lead to monetary tightening, which in turn causes the melting down of buddha statues to gather more metal to coin money. Throughout the long histories of casting and melting down buddha statues, buddha is always somewhere waiting for wealthy followers to offer credit.

铜钱状的王瓜与海葡萄裹着凉拌的汁水缠绕在一尊菩萨像周围。菩萨拥有无尽的功德，且于时间之外。为了积累无尽的功德，常以金属塑造佛像，而过度的供养热情，导致货币的紧缩，又会招来熔化佛像以铸造货币的情况。在不同的货币与佛像铸造与熔化的历史长河中，菩萨总在某处等待着祂的有钱信众为其提供信用。

Chinese vegetarian cuisine takes pride in presenting the flavors of meat or the forms of meat dishes with vegetarian recipes. This course features a cluster of grapes protruding from a treasure bottle. At first sight, it seems the branch is laden with meat balls. But if you take a closer look, you’d realize they are meat-free. The side dishes of carambola and grapes collectively create an elegant imagery. By practicing vegetarianism and repetitively chanting the name of Amitabha, we believe our hearts would stay as virtuous and pure as the crystal ice in the jade jug. 

素斋中常以素食调制出荤味或衍生为荤菜为妙。此道菜中，宝瓶中脱出一串葡萄，细看葡萄枝上结满了肉丸子，丸子实为素贡制品。辅以杨桃、葡萄，吃斋念佛，一片冰清。

To extract aromas from different food by pairing different ingredients with different durations and degrees of heating is supposedly a must-have skill of a virtuoso chef. Nowadays with the developments of prefabricated food and food chemistry, this skill seems to have evolved into a cost-effective management strategy featuring chemical synthesis and food tricks. This is a straightforward presentation of the aromatic ingredients used to transform flavors of food. A sniff is more than enough. Never take a deep smell.

食物衍生香味原本是厨师厨艺精湛的一种必备技艺，通过不同的食材与火候迸发出完全不同的香型。如今在预制品与食品化工的发展下，衍生为一种化学合成偷梁换柱的精简成本的管理技术。这里直接呈现食品衍生变换的香精原料，细嗅，不宜深闻。

Mined from stone, jade is considered an epitome of high moral character. In ancient times, a cicada-shaped jade would be placed in the mouth the deceased in the hope that s/he would embrace a new life in afterlife as cicada shedding carapace was believed to be a token of its regeneration capacity. A cicada-shaped jade carved out of potato is placed in juxtaposition with a piece of real jade. Eat it up, leave the homeland behind and never look back.

玉从石中脱颖而出并被赋予高洁的品质，古人在死者口中含一块蝉形琀玉以助人如蝉一般脱壳衍生。用土豆食雕而出的衍生蝉玉，环绕在一块真玉周围，吃下它，家山在身后，莫回首。