The New Next

Menü öffnen

Heinrich Holtgreve —
Once We All Agree: Part 3

Changing trade

Money is a form of trade — the stock exchange is a place of trade. The romantic image of a gesticulating trader waving pieces of paper has faded: today, trading predominantly takes place in open-plan offices.

A veritable rarity: the trading floor at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the last of its kind in Europe.
Only staff may set foot in the trading floor’s “UFOs”. But registered visitors may move around the trading floor.
Media representatives like this journalist from “Hessischer Rundfunk”, the local regional radio station, work upstairs, with a direct connection to the trading floor.
Change of scene: a contemporary trader’s workstation at the Hamburg branch of mwb AG. Securities are traded here under the aegis of the Hamburg Stock Exchange.
The turbulent activity of traditional trading floors has given way to the order and sobriety of modern open-plan offices.
Nowadays, trading is exclusively electronic. Over 90 percent of the shares traded by German markets are settled via the electronic trading platform, Xetra.
Hamburg is home to Germany’s oldest active stock exchange. Built in 1839, the original building now houses the Chamber of Commerce. The plenary room is where the interests of regional economic players are heard and common ground is reached.
In terms of design, Hamburg’s Chamber of Commerce and Frankfurt's Stock Exchange are very similar.
Escape routes in every direction: trading has not been carried out at these wooden benches in Hamburg’s stock exchange for many years.
Employees were able to store their belongings in small compartments located behind the backrests.
Nowadays, the former trading floor of the classical-style building is used as a location for events.
What it’s all about: stock exchange courses at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
The job title “trader” is increasingly being replaced by “specialist”. Since electronic trading platforms have been setting prices, the role of human traders has changed: in their new “specialist” role, they have to classify and confirm the calculated prices.
A correspondent for “Tagesschau”, the German television news programme, gets ready on the “balcony” of the Frankfurt trading floor.
In the long-shot view, the proximity between the trading and his media production can be clearly seen.
On the Frankfurt trading floor, all information on price developments is shown on analogue displays. The wave of noise that sweeps across the trading floor in Dolby surround sound every time the stock price panels are refreshed is reminiscent of a swarm of locusts.

Heinrich Holtgreve — Once We All Agree

Heinrich Holtgreve uses his camera to visualise money in all its manifestations. He has travelled throughout Germany, seeking out places where money can be found: banks, museums, printers, tax offices, stock markets, fintech companies and even a Bitcoin mine. The idea of assigning value to things has always been a feat of abstract thinking. Holtgreve tries to retrace its development, from primitive practices to coins and paper money, all the way to electronic money. How has the relationship between immaterial and material value changed money? And, how does this transformation influence our lives? With his project, “Once We All Agree”, Holtgreve wants to provide food for thought regarding our relationship with money.

Heinrich Holtgreve has been part of the OSTKREUZ Agency since 2016 and photographs for renowned editors, publishers and agencies nationally and internationally. He lives and works in Hamburg.

Related series

Heinrich Holtgreve — Once We All Agree: Part 1

Heinrich Holtgreve — Once We All Agree: Part 2

Heinrich Holtgreve — Once We All Agree: Part 4

Heinrich Holtgreve — Once We All Agree: Part 5