Lecture + presentation of the publication MoneyLab Reader 2: Overcoming the Hype


MoneyLab is a network of artists, activists, geeks and researchers established in 2013 by the Amsterdam-based Institute of Network Cultures. It asks a simple question: How are artists or content producers, which really includes everyone, going to make a living from their work in the 21st century? According to Silicon Valley, we aren’t – we are going to be forced to give all creative products away for free, in exchange for “attention” on social media (while Facebook and Google make billions through ads and selling your private data). In response to the 2008 global financial crisis, “crypto currencies” (such as Bitcoin) arose to bypass both banks and tech giants. Money is exchanged via mobile phones. We join crowdfunding campaigns and experiment (again) with subscription-based services. What is the politics behind all these new services? How do artists relate to these new network architectures? How should we read the current hype? Are these services really decentralized as they claim? How many of us can read the rightwing libertarian values inside the digital money protocols? Who are the new power players? Let us join the debate. Money has been digital for decades. It is now becoming inseparable from the internet. If neither Wall St. nor Silicon Valley will be the winner of this game, then who will?

Geert Lovink is a Dutch-Australian media theorist, net critic and activist. Lovink is one of the key theorists behind the concept of tactical media – the use of media technologies as a tool for critical theory to become artistic practice. He also was a founder of such projects as nettime, fibreculture, organised networks and virtual media. Lovink is a Research Professor of Interactive Media at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA) and a Professor of Media Theory at the European Graduate School. Among others his books were published by MIT Press, The University of Melbourne, Amsterdam University Press and Polity. More: http://networkcultures.org/geert/biography/

The lecture is part of Crypto Design Ljubljana.


Organized by: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, 2018 / http://aksioma.org/

In collaboration with: Institute for Network Cultures (NL), Drugo more (HR), Citizen D, and the Faculty of Social Sciences - University of Ljubljana (SI).

Supported by: the Creative Europe programme of the European Union and the Municipality of Ljubljana

The event is realized in the framework of State Machines, a joint project by Aksioma (SI), Drugo more (HR), Furtherfield (UK), Institute of Network Cultures (NL) and NeMe (CY).
http://www.statemachines.eu/

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.