'Zero Dollar' For Zero Sense

Artist's Print Derides Wall Street Bailout

NEW YORK -- Like most Americans, Laura Gilbert is outraged by the stock market mayhem, and she would like to wring the necks of those responsible. Failing that, she'd like to ask them soul-searching questions such as, "How do feel about tanking the economy?" and "Can we have our money back?"

Unlike most Americans, Gilbert devised a plan to vent her anger and pose her questions. A full-time artist based in New York, Gilbert used a computer and her drawing skills to create the "The Zero Dollar," a slightly shrunken version of the greenback. Yesterday, she headed to Wall Street, hoping to find the masters of finance who have just body-slammed our economy and, as she put it, "confront them with my art."

Just before noon, she stood in front of Federal Plaza, across the street from the iconic New York Stock Exchange, and it seemed possible that this slight, professorial woman of a certain age would start heckling men in blue suits.

That didn't happen.

It turns out that yesterday was, unofficially, guerrilla street-theater day for Wall Street, and the place swarmed with reporters and news cameras and assorted gawkers. Three "Billionaires for the Bailout" -- yes, the same folks who brought us "Billionaires for Bush" -- dressed in tuxes and tails and shouted satiric thank-yous to taxpayers for handing over $700 billion. ("Thank you for covering our assets!" was a recurring line.) Nearby, a person wearing a massive, papier-mache head of Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. danced to the tune of "Money (That's What I Want)" while confederates held aloft a sign that read "US Treasury Under New Management: Goldman Sachs." Two women in ghoulish white masks handed out real dollar bills with "USA Beware, Arrest Bush" on them.

By comparison, Gilbert's approach seemed very high-concept. So there's no confusing her bill with the real thing, she printed the front and back on the same side of a sheet of letter-size paper, then signed and numbered each sheet, just like any limited-edition print. But she printed 10,000 copies, ensuring that there was nothing limited about this edition and that it would never have any value.

"I was trying to think of the best way to respond artistically to this mess," she said as she readied herself for the giveaway. "There's been this incredible loss of wealth -- people losing so much of their 401(k)s, seeing their savings disappear. 'The Zero Dollar' is a comment about that."

But before she could start pushing "Zero Dollars" into the hands of the culpable, she was cornered by TV reporters -- Jeanne Moos of CNN interviewed her, as did a crew from a German network and a variety of local news teams. Once the media had their turn, she was set upon by tourists. After 30 minutes, she finally encountered her first actual financial services employee, a late-20ish guy in a suit.

"What do you think of what's going on?" Gilbert asked, rather gently.

"Pressure," he said.

"Pressure -- you mean the pressure of vilification?" Gilbert said.

"No personal pressure. Like making the rent," he said, before walking away.