2009 Rhizome Commission Proposal: "FOR Honey EX Money" By: Frederick Ostrenko

Proposal Summary

For my 2009 Rhizome commission I propose to put honeybees in charge of an actual foreign exchange (forex) market portfolio. Investments will be limited to the Euro, the Dollar, and the Chinese Yuan. I plan to construct 3 Langstroth style beehives, each representing a particular currency. The hives will be placed on a field that I have access to in central Florida ideal for beekeeping.

Currency is traded based on the amount of honey each hive produces (the average Langstroth beehive can produce 1-2 lbs of honey per day). Hives will have a digital scale underneath of them outputting their weight via a serial connection to a computer. The computer will use the weight recorded at the end of each week to proportionally distribute funds into corresponding currencies. The trading will be handled by Oanda’s FXTrade software platform, which provides an API especially for automated trading.

In order to visualize this honey producing currency trading operation I will construct a website that shows live video from a webcam inside each beehive. Also a live graph will show the current honey bee forex portfolio according to how much honey produced. Tickers will be displayed showing real-time honey production as well as market fluctuations. The overall feeling of the website portrays the bees as investors on a market trading floor.

Budget

The ideal amount of funding for this type foreign exchange stock portfolio to run healthily would be $1500. The total cost for all beehive equipment including live bees would be $500. The total hardware and software technology costs would be under $100 seeing as I already own most of what is required. Minimal compensation would be required as a personal artists fee. All of this would bring the total cost to about $2100.

Timeline

The ideal time period for this project would be during the summer of 2008. Setup would take place in the beginning of June and the last trades should be at the beginning of September.

Resume

  • Education
    • 2008 - Present Pursuing MFA in Digital+Media at Rhode Island School of Design - Providence, RI
    • 2004 - 2008 B.A. in Digital Arts with Studio Art Minor and Art History Minor - Deland, FL
    • 2007 New York University, Tisch School of the Arts - New York, NY
  • Honors
    • 2007 Mentored Field Experience Paid Fellowship - Art and Architecture in Brazil
    • 2006 Stetson University Newspaper - Designer of the Year
    • 2004-2008 Stetson University Dean’s Scholarship
  • Presentations
    • 2007 Oscar Niemeyer and Modernism in Brazil held at Stetson University
  • Press
    • 2007 San Diego City Beat - October
    • 2007 Daytona Beach News Journal
      • Presentation on Oscar Niemeyer and Modernism in Brazil
    • 2006 Daytona Beach News Journal
      • MIDI Scrapyard Challenge with Jonah Brucker Cohen
  • Software
    • Cycling 74 Max/Msp
    • Processing
    • Adobe: Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, Fireworks
    • Apple: Final Cut Pro, Motion, DVD Studio Pro, Logic Pro
    • Avid Media Composer
    • Autodesk: Maya, AutoCAD
    • HTML, CSS, PHP, JAVA

Contact Information

name: Frederick Ostrenko
email: frederick@ostrenko.com
portfolio: http://frederick.ostrenko.com