Nimbus: Chicago Board of Trade Building

To represent financial empowerment, access to capital, and the American Dream, Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde created a cloud in the center of the non-closed trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade.

This trading floor was once the heart of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where buyers and sellers gathered to negotiate and finalize contracts. In 1898, the exchange specialized in just eggs and butter. It eventually grew into an exchange for related agricultural products, like wheat and soy.

Over the years, manually updated chalkboards were replaced with digital, computerized tickers. While digital exchanges have largely replaced trading floors, these grand spaces remain important and historic symbols of US commerce.