Europe
Suzanne Treister
HFT The Gardener
2014-15
Suzanne Treister, HFT The Gardner, 2014-15
HFT The Gardner by Suzanne Treister is a large-scale project that comprises drawings and computer works by fictional character Hillel Fischer Traumberg. HFT is an algorithmic High-Frequency Trader based in London, who experiences a hallucinogenic episode that triggers a journey into the exploration of psychoactive plants. In a nerd-like discovery of Discovering Hebrew, numerology, botany, and shamanic divination and healing, HFT becomes an ‘outsider artist’ whose works are collected by oligarchs, bankers, and museums, much like in the mainstream art world.
In the 1980s, Suzanne Treister’s practice was concerned primarily with painting. Since the 1990s, Treister has been a pioneer in the practice of digital art and new media since. Her work explores new technologies and develops fictional worlds to create obscure collaborative international organizations. Her projects often require research and development over several years and can take different forms, including the internet as a medium and platform. The artist positions herself as an operator of fantastic reinterpretations of taxonomies and histories that have hidden existences, invisible forces that govern the world as well as military, paranormal or commercial organizations.