摘要：The question, what is an exchange? may prompt self-evident answers. Since the 19th century, economists as well as lawyers have characterised bourses or exchanges as the embodiment of a perfect market. They have variously been described as the »central hub of commerce«, 1 the »most important […] meeting point of purchasers and traders«, 2 the »brain of national economies« 3 or as the »central mechanism of the capitalist system«. 4 For architects, they represent a special type of trading site, while for sociologists and art photographers they show human interaction in acceleration, most famously captured in Andreas Gursky’s photograph entitled »Chicago, Board of Trade I. (1997)«. However, our memory is starting to fade: only very recently have all relevant international exchanges terminated floor trading. Trading has undergone a process of liberation from the physical constraints of the exchange hall and transformation into digital space. This brought the long history of exchanges as physical marketplaces to an abrupt end.
