[Air-L] MoneyLab#4 in London 20 January 2018

[Max Dovey]

MoneyLab: Art, Culture and Financial Activism

Saturday 20 January 2018
10.00-18.00

Somerset House

London

Full day £15.00/ £12.00 conc

More info - http://networkcultures.org/moneylab/events/moneylab-4
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/events/122385678449918/
Tickets - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/moneylab-art-culture-and-fina
ncial-activism-tickets-38950373616


A day-long programme of workshops, discussions and artistic experimentation
exploring the relationship between financial technologies, artistic
practice and contemporary culture.
MoneyLab is a programme of critical research and artistic intervention that
explores the connections between contemporary art, financial activism and
digital culture.

Previously organised by the Amsterdam-based Institute of Network Cultures,
this fourth edition of MoneyLab brings together researchers, artists,
designers, and cultural entrepreneurs thinking beyond money.

Join panels, talks and workshops which inspect the borderlands between
critical art-making, decentralised financial technologies, collective
organisation, and civil disobedience.


SCHEDULE

10:00
INTRODUCTION
With *Geert Lovink* from Institute of Network Cultures and *Martin
Zeilinger* from Anglia Ruskin University.

10:30
WORKSHOPS

Offshore Investigation Vehicle with The Demystification Committee

Half of the existing global wealth has been calculated to be located
offshore, stacked in tax havens. But where is offshore? What does it mean
to ‘go’ or ‘become’ offshore? Can we visit it? The Demystification
Committee have infiltrated a number of tax havens and set up an
international corporate structure to investigate offshore finance. At the
head of this corporate structure is Empire Management Limited, a UK Private
Limited Company that invites members of the public to become investors in
their self-initiated offshore tax evasion scheme. Join in and explore the
tactics Empire Management use to abuse its financial position offshore and
find out about the murky world of offshore investment practices.



Total Liquidity Now: Trading in the augmented landscape of Patternist

PATTERNIST is a location-based, augmented reality demo game for urban
research, sci-fi visions, and alternative economies. It speculates on the
appearance of an alien planet hovering above our own, whose augmented
terrain becomes visible through the lens of a mobile and desktop game.

As part of this workshop participants are invited to develop the game’s
trading mechanisms through role play and participatory exercises.
Facilitating and experimenting with a multi-directional, barter-based
trading system, the group will explore the alien geography of the
PATTERNIST-3 planet. The workshop will close with a discussion on designing
incentives in alternative economies, autonomous currencies, and
market-based decision making.


12:00

DISCUSSION

Playing to Lose: Gameplay in Art and Finance

Artists are increasingly adopting game design as a methodology to
interrogate and subvert complex financial and political systems. From
simulations of fictional companies to live action role play games, a
diverse range of situated methods are emerging to expose social and
political infrastructures. This discussion will explore to what effects
gamification and digital simulation are useful for organising
socio-political activism. Is responsible, community-oriented life in
contemporary society a ‘skill’ that can be learned in a game-like
environment? If the performance of financial investments can be simulated,
can we also simulate the disruption of capitalist systems? How can such
simulation become reality?

Chaired by journalist and campaigner Brett Scott with games designer Andy
Morales Coto, developer Kei Kreutler, researcher Stephanie Polsky, and The
Demystification Committee.

13:30

BREAK

14:15
WORKSHOPS

Earth’s Cooperative for Economic Fairness with FairCoop

FairCoop will present the world’s first democratically organised and
eco-friendly crypto-currency, FairCoin. The latest FairCoin uses a
co-operative model for distributing crypto-currencies and aims to create a
digital currency for a new global economic system. Workshop participants
will learn about the development of FairCoin, from the technical elements
to the political and social motivations of creating an energy saving and
cooperative blockchain. Find out how to setup a FairCoop in your region and
how you could join a decentralized network to reduce economic inequality
and create a global wealth of abundance for the commons.

Data Workers Union with Institute of Human Obsolescence
<http://speculative.capital/>

In order to shift the imbalance between citizens,surveillance capitalism,
and the big data industry, it should be understand that we are not merely
users of free online services, but the unpaid workers of tech companies.The
Institute of Human Obsolescence (IoHO) advocates for recognising the
production of data as a form of labour.Through gatherings, assemblies and
collective actions the union aims to establish a collective political
discourse in pursuit of our data labour rights. This workshop will explore
some of the issues that arise from organising a labour union for digital
users and demonstrate the possibilities for monetizing online activity.


15:45
DISCUSSION

Art and Equity? Tokenizing Culture with the Blockchain

Artists are playing a central role in shaping our understanding of emerging
blockchain technologies, and continue to propose exciting visions for how
decentralized computation could challenge current social and political
power structures. Already, there are a few experimental blockchain projects
that question our core assumptions about ownership, authorship,
reproducibility, and authenticity. This panel introduces artistic
perspectives on distributed ledger technologies, and brings them into
critical dialogue with the emerging blockchain economies. From platform
distribution models and new types of digital art markets to hyper-real
click-mine farms and self-owning artworks, what can we learn about emerging
blockchain technologies from critical artistic practice?

Chaired by artist and curator Ruth Catlow, with panellists including art
advisor and art historian Jérôme Croisier, researcher and curator Rachel
O'Dwyer and artist/software engineer Sarah Friend.

17:15

DISCUSSION

2nd MoneyLab Reader Book Launch with The Institute of Network Cultures
<http://networkcultures.org/>
Concluding the day, this session introduced by Inte Gloerich platforms
contributors to this latest publication from the Institute of Network
Cultures in Amsterdam and features a collection of essays from artists,
academics and activists critically exploring art, finance and technology.
This second edition expands on a global network committed to exploring the
political and social territories created since the financial crash was
inscribed onto the first bitcoin block in 2009. Essays range from the
financialization of art, love as a binary proposition on the blockchain,
the cashless society, the history of your financial dashboard, and the
digital financial surveillance of the poor. Join us to celebrate the launch
of the book and listen to a handful of readings from some of the many
contributors including Geert Lovink, artist/writer/educator Emily Rosamond
and researcher Nathaniel Tkacz.

In addition to all the above, there will be works by some of the artist
participants on show throughout the day.

For more information and details from previous events please visit
http://networkcultures.org/moneylab/

-- 

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*A003 (Lighthouse Studios)*

*75 Shacklewell Lane, *

*Dalston, *
*London,*
* E8 2EB*

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