The worlds of advisors, art, and ETFs have collided in Lower Manhattan over the last couple of days. Commuters passing through The Shops at the Oculus inside the Westfield World Trade Center have been treated to a massive art installation by artist and engineer Karyn Nakamura, developed with T. Rowe Price and Wired.
The installation, “Signals from the Noise” is designed to help advisors and investors see through the noise of the continuous flow of market data, according to T. Rowe Price. It also visualizes how T. Rowe Price active ETFs use active management to create investment opportunities, the asset manager said, in a statement.
Using real market data as its foundation, the installation sees thousands of individual “particles” organize into flowing structures. In a statement, T. Rowe price says that the installation serves as “a visual metaphor” for the work of its active ETF portfolio managers and their work analyzing markets, identifying opportunities, and helping investors navigate uncertainty.
The two-day installation was unveiled on Wednesday and InvestmentNews took a trip over to the Oculus to see it on Thursday. At 10 feet wide and 37 feet in diameter, it was much larger than I expected. With its wavelike pulsing colors and flickering digital-style images, the installation immediately caught the eye, even within the spectacular and cavernous surroundings of the Oculus.
The installation has apparently been a conversation starter, with passersby wanting to find out exactly what it is, intrigued by the combination of art and finance. At least one person even asked whether they could go inside it.
For T. Rowe Price, the installation represents an opportunity to tout its lineup of more than 30 active ETFs, which account for assets under management of more than $25 billion.
The world of active ETFs is also booming. In 2025, active ETF flows were over $450 billion, surpassing the prior year’s record of about $300 billion, according to data released earlier this month by JP Morgan Asset Management. Active ETFs have taken in about 38% of all flows into ETFs in 2026.
Of course, art and wealth management are not such strange bedfellows. The latest UBS Art Basel Survey of Global Collecting, released last year, found that engagement with art remained strong. High Net Worth Individuals continued to allocate a significant proportion of their wealth to their art collections, rising to an average of 20% in 2025, up from 15% in the prior year.
The American art market rebounded last year, boosted by a jump in auction sales, according to the 2026 US Art Market Report from Bank of America Private Bank in partnership with ArtTactic.
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