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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE BA Z A AR WORKSHOP S ART & PERFORMANCES Location: Lab111 Arie Biemondstraat 111 Amsterdam
MONEYL AB IS AN INI TIATIVE OF THE INSTI T U TE OF NET WORK C ULT URES, HOGESCHOOL VAN AMSTERDAM.
Special thanks to MONEYLAB BA ZA AR ORGANIZATIONS Fundus Theater Kunst Reserve Bank Noppes Peerby Qoin ShareNL Teach2fish The Next Nature Network TimeBank CC. Transition Towns Netherlands Douwe Bart Mulder and Maurice Koopman (creators of the open-source Bitcoin ATM)
Credits ORGANIZED BY Institute of Network Cultures, networkcultures.org SUPPORTED BY Hogeschool van Amsterdam CREATE-IT Amsterdam Creative Industries, Centre of Expertise EDUCATIONAL PARTNERS University of Warwick (UK) MONEYLAB TEAM Geert Lovink, Nathaniel Tkacz, Patricia de Vries, Irina Enache, Vicentiu Dinga PROJECT COLLABORATORS Robert van Boeschoten and Gabriele Colombo LOCATION Lab 111 Amsterdam VISUAL IDENTIT Y vosbrenner.net
All conference documentation will be available at: networkcultures.org/moneylab CONTACT Patricia de Vries Project Coordinator patricia@networkcultures.org POSTAL ADDRESS Institute of Network Cultures P.O. Box 1025 1000 BA Amsterdam The Netherlands OFFICIAL ADDRESS Institute of Network Cultures Rhijnspoorplein 1 (Corner Wibautstraat / Mauritskade) Room 04A07, 4th floor 1091 GC Amsterdam The Netherlands t: +31 (0)20 595 18 83
conference coNtent FRIDaY 21
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SESSION 1 Monetization of Everything
SESSION 5 Bitcoin and Beyond
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Workshop crowdfund your dream
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SESSION 2 Dismantling Global Finance
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SESSION 3 Critical Art Practices
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SESSION 4 Mobile Money
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SESSION 6 Alternatives Bazaar on Stage
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SESSION 7 Critique of Crowdfunding
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SESSION 8 Designing Alternatives
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Speakers’ Biographies
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Session 1 MONETIZATION OF EVERY THING
09:00 – 09:30 Doors open coffee and tea
09:30 - 10:30 Crowdfunding workshop for beginners (parallel event in Cinema Hall)
Emerging digital technologies have enabled an explosion of alternative financial models. However, they cannot and should not be discussed as ‘internet solutions’ without positioning them in a larger context. They may have sprouted as a result of the 2008 global financial crisis, but do internet currencies and their models offer a sensitive response to this by simply monetizing all aspects of life? What other functions can we imagine for them? Can alternative revenue models also make bold claims to resolve current contradictions in capitalism? In addition to new money flows it is necessary to design new economic models for the redistribution of existing wealth. These can be used as vehicles for discussing growing inequality worldwide; however, while some directly target these issues, long-term development is still missing. How can they be made viable at a larger scale, acting more like public money and tax money rather than staying outside the regulatory framework? Is an equivalent of money even needed, and what would a non-monetary economy look like?
6 09:30 – 11:00 SESSION 1 The Monetization of Everything
Moderator: Geert Lovink
Speakers Saskia Sassen ( U S )
Sassen’s research intertwines topics such as globalization (including its social, economic and political dimensions), immigration, global cities (including cities, finance and terrorism), and the new networked technologies. Her previous works have challenged the hard-armoured, established truths and dynamics of mainstream finance. In The Mobility of Labor and Capital (Cambridge University Press, 1988), Sassen showed how foreign investment in less developed countries can actually raise the likelihood of emigration; this went against established notions that such investment would retain potential emigrants. How, then, can the financial inequality of less developed countries be addressed differently in the light of new financial models like mobile money? Similarly, in The Global City (Princeton University Press 1991; 2nd ed. 2002), Sassen showed how the global economy is far from being placeless. It has, and needs, very specific territorial insertions. The paradox with the world’s most powerful financial cities is that while their centres benefit from a highly digitized financial activity (from banking to investments and consumers markets), this financialization has physical footprints: with rocketing house prices and loan interests, the city pushes those who can no longer compete to the periphery. The need to re-empower people is vital when discussing what functions alternative financial models and currencies should fulfil.
7 Stefan & Ralph Heidenreich ( D e ) NON-MONEY
At its base, economy deals with the allocation and distribution of work and goods. We are used to taking money as a given, a sheer necessity, but the tasks of allocating and distributing work and goods can also be redefined in network terms in a graphtheoretical approach. In that case money would not be the only means of solving these tasks; data and algorithms could perform the same service. A non-monetary approach to economy poses some general questions, both in theory and in practice. Do we need a general equivalent of money, or can it be avoided altogether? What existing economic models might be applied? Who can be considered an economic agent - a person, a group, an object? What elements of a non-monetary economy are already in place? What kind of time
frame is set and which data are needed? How do we organize infrastructure without money? What about innovation or progress? And what would a technical implementation look like?
Bill Maurer ( U S )
CLOSED LOOPS AND PRIVATE GATEWAYS: MONEY, TECHNOLOGY AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN PAYMENT
From ancient tallies to coins, cards, and now mobile devices, money has always been a matter of technology interfacing with law, with rights and corresponding remedies embedded in institutional arrangements, and with the material form of money and/or its accounts-keeping. A ‘Cambrian explosion in payments’ is currently taking place - a profusion of business experiments with new technologies for the systems that people use every day in physical and online spaces to buy things. It is raising anew questions about the role of the state and public institutions in warranting the clearance, settlement, and safety of retail payments, as well as, more profoundly, the role of the state in warranting money itself. That this Cambrian explosion comes on the heels of the global financial crisis is no coincidence: the financial crisis put the wind back in the sails of alternative currency proponents, ‘sound money’ advocates and gold bugs, as well as others interested in challenging the state’s monopoly over money. How can we understand the public function of payment as a kind of utility in our digital and data-saturated world, especially as ‘big data’ leads many corporate actors to seek to commodify behaviour and activity in a new way, simultaneously creating and enclosing new commons?
WorKSHoP crowdfuNd Your dreaM TEACH2FISH.NL Sign up for a crowdfunding workshop! You can reserve a seat at the registration desk. There are 4 workshops throughout Friday 21 March — 2 for beginners — 2 for advanced
TIME SLOTS LOCATION: CINEMA HALL 9.30–10.30 (beginners) 11.15–12.15 (advanced) 14.00–15.00 (beginners) 16.00 - 17.00 (advanced)
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“By ignitin leadership, ignite crow
“By igniting leadership, you can ignite crowds” – Karim Maarek, founder of teach2fish, is a creative trainer and advisor with a big heart for others’ passions and enterprises. He has developed numerous crowdfunding, community building and personal leadership programs and is especially interested in accelerating sustainable and creative ventures, via the crowd. He defines crowdfunding nowadays increasingly as crowd campaigning and crowd caring because money is just one part of the equation. Moving crowds has three main components: excellent preparation, a damn good story and passionately seeking connection. The intensive course “Crowdfund your Dream!” is the flagship product of teach2fish.
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ng p, you can wds” KM
Session 2 DISMANTLING GLOBAL FINANCE
11:00 – 11:15 Tea break
11:15 - 12:15 Crowdfunding workshop for advanced (parallel event in Cinema Hall)
From Occupy Wall Street and anti-student debt protests in the US to global protests against neo-liberal budget cuts, we are seeing rising protest against the radical redistribution of wealth into the hands of the 1%. Given the waves of market crashes to come, how can resistance be better organized? What are the vital concepts and tactics that we believe can create a new dimension in global protest? Is electronic disturbance a necessary and desirable strategy? What about boycotts? This session calls, first, for a better comprehension of the current financial system and its crisis, followed by experiments with alternatives. How can people grasp finance, given its constant portrayal as a complex, highly digitized giant that is always run by ‘others’ (states, banks, and corporations)? How can they be encouraged to take up active roles and experiment with alternative models?
10 11:15 – 13:00 SESSION 2 Dismantling Global Finance
Moderator: Nathaniel Tkacz
Speakers Franco Berardi ( I T )
MONEY LANGUAGE INSOLVENCY
Money and language have something in common: they are nothing and they move everything. What can the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics with which we analyze language tell us about the concept of money? What is the referent, the signifier and the injunction in this case? Could we identify them in ‘money as equivalent’, ‘money as abstraction’ and ‘money as blackmail’ ? How have the changes in money’s substance (from coins to paper to electronic transfers) affected its very meaning and its relation to value? Can we expand the discussion of debt by adopting similar linguistic analyses: financial debt, moral debt and semiotic debt? Is it possible to use money as a tool for social composition? Franco Berardi will address the insolvency of money language and the position of alternative currencies within this context.
reviews some of the points of tensions and the oppositions to a project such as Bitcoin (such as its extractivist model of money creation as mining and its faith in algorithms), but also some of the convergences in the drive to experiment with a constituent critique of financial capital. What kind of relation can be drawn between virtual money and the kind of currency which would support alternatives to neoliberal capital? How can social struggles and subjectivities be brought to bear on the process of money creation? If money is a social convention, now inflected by the powers of digital communication and computation, while the social is a relation, what could be the role of social network technologies in practical experimentation with virtual currency creation?
Brian Holmes ( U S )
MONEY UNLIMITED: THE CONSEQUENCES OF QUANTITATIVE EASING
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APPLYING THE HACKER ETHIC TO THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Our perception of high finance frequently bears a resemblance to our perception of high technology. We often view it as a black box that we interact with without really knowing how it works. This in turn disempowers ordinary people relative to financial professionals, disconnects us from the investment process, and contributes to a pervasive sense of alienation from the money we use every day. In this talk Brett Scott will sketch out why hacker philosophy can be a useful framework with which to approach the financial sector, and will share examples from his experience working both within the financial sector and with financial campaign groups.
Tiziana Terranova ( I T )
VIRTUAL MONEY AND THE CURRENCY OF THE COMMONS
Terranova addresses tensions, oppositions and possible convergences between post-autonomist analyses of the financial crisis to be found in the writings of post-autonomist authors such as Toni Negri, Christian Marazzi, Andrea Fumagalli, Maurizio Lazzarato and Carlo Vercellone (and their notion of a ‘currency of the common’) and the processes of creation of virtual currency. It
Austerity is usually presented as the implacable discipline that must follow easy credit in order to clip the wings of profligate speculators. Yet it has only affected those without major resources, who formerly depended on the job market, public institutions, and state redistribution. Meanwhile the US, Japan, the UK and a number of other countries have re-inflated their stock markets and property values by emitting new currency on a hitherto unseen scale. This creation of value ex nihilo could potentially have been used to meet urgent human and ecological needs, launching a twenty-first century socialism. Let’s look instead at the real consequences of a world built on fictitious capital.
Session 3 CRITICAL ART PRACTICES 13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break
14:00 - 15:00 Crowdfunding workshop for beginners (parallel event in Cinema Hall)
An artist’s relationship with money has always been one of crisis. Perhaps this is one reason why money itself makes a particularly suitable subject for highly critical and unique artistic practices. In this session three artists will illustrate different histories and understandings of money and finance in relation to the art world and society. These include an experimental art reserve bank, an exhibition of interactive public sculptures, and finally a humorous stand-up economy performance.
12 14:00 – 15:40 SESSION 3 Critical Art Practices
Moderator: Patricia de Vries
Speakers
value, but became added value for the artwork. Money has become almost a part of our Nature, so it’s hard to realize that for a large part of their history humans lived without Ron Peperkamp ( N L ) Money, and this might be the case again in the Peperkamp will talk about the Art Reserve future. But long after Money is gone Nature Bank - a monetary experiment set up by artists will still be there, and we might still be able to and economists to test the viability of a new pick things of real value from trees. reserve currency. The value of this currency is based, not on the promise of endless economic Dette Glashouwer ( N L ) growth, but on the value of art. With an MONEYMONEYMONEY (THEATRE industrial mint and a big concrete safe, the PERFORMANCE) theatrical set-up of the Art Reserve Bank has In her own personal way, like a merchant of unmistakable artistic appeal. However, it is the Dutch East Indies Company, Glashouwer not a regular art-project, taking place in the takes you through the history of money and sheltered setting of an art gallery or museum. alternative money (the Brixton Pound), the It’s a real-life experiment involving a real bank first shares, the first multinational and the first that takes real risks with real money. The Art bonus, the FED, and what the dead presidents Reserve Bank is doing fundamental research are doing on the dollar bills. She shares her into the premises of a stable monetary system fascination with debt and offers solutions. She - like public trust in the value of money. Until confesses her money therapy secrets, wonders the early 1970s this trust was inferred by the how she will ever obtain the happiest income, gold standard, but this can be considered and whether that would even be a good idea. the relic of a Bronze Age value system. A personal search for this common subject This experiment is testing the possibility to is easy to imagine, but for many money is a introduce a modern equivalent of the gold mystery. Everybody wants more, but is there standard - one more in tune with contemporary such a place as the ‘Point of Enough’, and values. how would it feel? Glashouwer has played
13 Dadara ( N L )
Amsterdam-based artist Dadara is internationally known for public sculptures that intertwine performance and multimedia to critically challenge our relations to different utopias. In this session he will present his experiences of two particular projects. Exchanghibition Bank: In today’s financial crisis art is frequently cited as an advantageous alternative asset class. But do the millions of dollars that might buy you a Hirst, a Koons, or a Picasso have anything to say about social and artistic value? The potential for change? Whatever your opinion, the Exchanghibition Bank is committed to serving Art: The Art of turning Art into Money. Transformoney Tree (exhibited at the Burning Man Festival, Nevada): Our current form of currency is increasingly turning from a neutral medium of exchange into a system, solely based on our trust, that mortgages the present moment for an ever-receding future payoff. Participants at Burning Man Festival were able glue banknotes to the Transformoney Tree. In this process money lost its financial
MoneyMoneyMoney and other (money) performances all over the world, from New York to San Francisco, Berlin to Riga, Nairobi to Durban.
Quotes from visitors and reviews: “Can I kiss your hand? Your story was so totally to the point this evening” “Never knew money could be so sexy” “Money did not interest me, but now it does” “My brother is a banker, he really has to see it”
Session 4 MOBILE MONEY 15:40 – 16:00 Tea break
16:00 – 17: 30 SESSION 4 Mobile Money
Whereas in the West US-American credit card companies remain in control when it comes to internet payments, elsewhere in the world things look different. When traditional banks were not interested in servicing citizens of the so-called ‘developing worlds’, telecoms took over the job. They expanded their initial monetary system of purchasing airtime and SMS credit to include a wide range of services, from P2P payments to water and electricity bills, school fees and transportation. Today, mobile money is front and centre in development discourses. While it is often positioned as a solution for the unbanked, this session tackles some lesser-known but problematic issues: what are the implications of mobile money being simultaneously a private tool for people as well as a marketing and surveillance tool for providers? What do we know about the underlying infrastructure between ‘peers’ ? What challenges is mobile money currently facing?
14 16:00 -17:00 Crowdfunding workshop for advanced (parallel event in Cinema Hall)
Moderator: Bill Maurer
Speakers Stephen Musoke ( U G )
MOBILE MONEY - WHAT IS NEEDED FOR THE NEXT STAGE OF GROWTH? Mobile money has grown by leaps and bounds as a means of peer-to-peer money transfer in Uganda and Kenya - this is the case for the world famous M-pesa. Mobile money’s growth has been fuelled by the availability of feature mobile phones, poor transport infrastructure, low financial institution penetration, and a large agent network for cash-in and cash-out. However, mobile money is facing multiple challenges as it aims to grow beyond its initial successes, as financial institutions have realized its threat to their traditional business models and are now responding by partnering with telecoms, providing competing products, and improving existing services. In addition to the inherent simplicity of the technology, the use of USSD menu-driven sessions that quickly expire, the lack of cross-border transfers due to regulations, and the complexity of USSD menus for less literate populations are challenges to growth. 80% of commerce is centred around agriculture, so the further development of mobile money from the initial peer-to-peer money transfer application will require changes to support transactions for merchants, deferred transfers, simpler transaction steps for the less literate, a simpler transaction fee structure, and integration with 3rd party systems outside the telcos.
implications of incorporating everyone around the globe into one global financial system. She contrasts mobile money on the demand side (as a tool that frees people to build their own networks and economic security) with mobile money on the supply side (as a device for surveillance, marketing, and public goods provision). Taylor uses the term ‘social goods’ to describe how, as development and market ideology collide, private goods and public goods are taking on each other’s properties. Finally, Taylor argues that socio-economic development and global finance, when objectified in mobile money, lose their distinction.
Taylor Nelms ( U S )
MOBILE MONEY AND THE SOCIAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURES OF TRANSACTION: LESSONS FROM THE INSTITUTE FOR MONEY, TECHNOLOGY AND FINANCIAL INCLUSION The rapid expansion of branchless banking and mobile money initiatives around the world, often in the service of an explicit ‘financial inclusion’ development agenda, has provoked questions about the intersection of novel technologies and financial systems with existing monetary practice. The Institute of Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion at the University of California, Irvine has supported five cohorts of researchers, mostly from the global South, who have carried out investigations on the interface of technology, policy, and practice. This talk will focus on a finding in their research that complicates the taken-for-granted peer-to-peer (P2P) model of much mobile money discourse: the plurality of the P at either end of the mobile money transaction. The lesson that not all ‘peers’ are individuals - or rather, that such actors are always situated in a particular social context gives rise to questions about the technical and social intermediaries that connect them, the ‘2’ that stands for the infrastructure through which value is transacted. In turning our attention to the transactional architectures foregrounded by mobile money initiatives, we must ask about the technical specificities of those systems, but also about the specific ways people use such systems in everyday social settings. How is our understanding of money transformed by a focus on the infrastructures of transaction?
15 Erin Taylor ( a U )
MOBILE MONEY AND THE ‘SOCIAL GOOD’ OF FINANCIAL GLOBALIZATION After decades of mixed results from microfinance initiatives, mobile money has the potential to provide a portfolio of financial tools to the world’s poorest people by building on existing infrastructure, reducing transaction costs of service delivery, and providing more reliable ways of identifying financial customers. Yet mobile money is not just ‘microfinance’: it is a private good that incorporates individuals into a global financial system - often for the first time. Drawing upon a case study of Haiti as well as global data, Taylor teases apart the private and public properties of mobile money to address the historical and economic
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Session 5 BITCOIN AND BEYOND 09:30 - 10:00 Doors open, coffee and tea
09:30 - 18:00 Alternatives Bazaar opens for the entire day
The internet currency Bitcoin would benefit from a differently-angled inquiry - a debate that moves away from the overrated media narratives and dedicated forums. This session first accommodates a historical perspective on encrypted and anonymous payments that first started with e-cash and Digicash in 1990s, in order to position Bitcoin within a broader context and development. This is followed by discussions on Bitcoin’s pragmatic, but less controversial functions and implications. Bitcoin stands as a real attempt to radically redesign global finance. Like the current order, Bitcoin privileges specific forms of exchange and monetary models (such as the gold standard). Bitcoin is currency as Weltanschauung. And like all systems, it is producing its own animal spirits. Will it be possible for Bitcoin to scale up beyond the geek economy? What are the technical and economic criticisms of Bitcoin, and how can they be fed back into the currency or be used to create others? Is Bitcoin the ‘make or break it’ for alternative cryptocurrencies, or is it possible to imagine a future currency market?
18 10:00 – 11:45 SESSION 5 Bitcoin and Beyond 11:45 – 12:00 Tea break
Moderators: Nathaniel Tkacz and Lana Swartz
Speakers Eduard de Jong ( N L )
CASH OR CURRENCY: AN OVERVIEW OF ELECTRONIC PAYMENT TECHNOLOGY Bitcoin has recently been stirring up lots of attention for electronic payments. Electronic payment already has quite a history: in Europe, the first forms of electronic payment emerged with phone cards around 30 years ago. e-Cash, an electronic cash technology invented by David Chaum, was implemented in 1991. In subsequent years many electronic payment initiatives arose in many parts of the world, with names like Mondex and DanMønt (DanCoin), Geldkarte, ChipKnip and n-Count. The emergence of NFC as shortrange contactless communication, and smartphones as advanced user interface devices, has given a new impulse to electronic payment after the lacklustre take-up of earlier initiatives. This talk looks at the history of electronic payment and identifies common properties. It defines the key aspects to be realized securely in any system of electronic payment. The talk concludes by with an analysis of Bitcoin in the light of these insights.
and fuelled countless economic bubbles. It is only a matter of time before this system, in which debts are paid by new debts and a few people make huge profits at the expense of many others, collapses like a house of cards. Bitcoin has many of the qualities of gold; it is decentralized, stateless, free market money. Moreover, Bitcoin is a global payment system that allows direct transactions from human to human, with no need for banks or government regulations. Can decentralised money replace today’s failed financial system?
Beat Weber ( a T )
OVERCOMING THE LEGITIMACY CRISIS OF MONEY WITH BITCOIN? Fuelled by the legitimacy crisis of the current monetary and financial system in the wake of the recent economic crisis, Bitcoin has gained much attention in recent years. While speculative trading and Bitcoin’s suspected use in non-legal activities have been at the centre of popular discussion, the project’s ambitions are larger. It claims to offer an alternative monetary and payment system. What can we infer from economic theory for these claims?
19 Aaron Koenig ( D e )
WHY BITCOIN IS BETTER THAN CENTRAL BANK MONEY The current monetary system is evil. When central banks can manipulate the money supply, the devaluation of money is inevitable. Only those close to the artificial source of money being created ‘out of thin air’ benefit from this, while everyone else’s money loses value. Government monopolies on money are a relatively new phenomenon. For thousands of years, naturally scarce metals such as gold and silver were the basis for currencies banknotes were simply receipts for precious metals. Fiat money, which is only backed by governmental force, has allowed skyrocketing government debt
Quinn DuPont ( C a )
FROM ORDER TO CONTROL: HOW CRYPTOGRAPHY FUNCTIONS IN BITCOIN Quinn DuPont explores the cryptographic aspects of Bitcoin. He suggests that cryptography can be re-imagined and re-conceptualized, putting forth an alternative to the dominant view that cryptography is secrecy. He argues that we can fruitfully view cryptography as a discrete notational scheme. As a notational scheme, cryptography has the potential to reorder representations of the world in subtle but powerful ways. By looking at the use of Bitcoin cryptography in the light of this re-conceptualization, DuPont suggests that Bitcoin functions as a new weapon in our control society.
Session 6 ALTERNATIVES BA ZA AR ON STAGE
12:00 - 13:00 SESSION 6 Alternatives Bazaar on stage 13.00-14.00 Lunch break
A number of organizations involved with alternative finance/currencies will be present throughout the day, looking forward to meet visitors for acquaintance, discussion, exchange of ideas and advice during breaks or sessions at the Alternatives Bazaar on the ground floor. During this session each organisation takes the stage to present its project to the audience in a 5-minute pitch.
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Listen to the people directly involved with alternatives.
Bitcoin Automated Teller Machine is
developed and built by two students from Enschede who believe in the power of this new technology. The machine is built to bring cryptocurrency to people, without the need for technical knowledge. Understanding Bitcoin is made easy by following just three steps. Learn what these steps are and experiment with the Bitcoin ATM at the Bazaar!
geheimagentur / Theatre of Research geheimagentur.net + fundustheater.de present Schwartz Bank & Kinderbank Hamburg
For geheimagentur and Theatre of Research there was one thing about the financial crisis that seemed more important than everything else: to discover that banks in fact create their own money. Alongside the respective criticism on the topic, we were also jealous that banks could do this. As a result, we turned our ambitions to making the same thing ourselves. Yet how could we create
our own money? We got advice from the most successful community bankers in the world: our friends from Banco Palmas Brasil and those from the NEF (New Economics Foundation) in London. We started our own banks: the SCHWARZBANK (in the bankrupt city of Oberhausen) and the KINDERBANK (in Hamburg, where one out of five children has to deal with poverty). Now, three years later, we want to share our experiences and to search for an alternative digital currency that might work for the trans-European network of real democracy activists. Do you know one? Come talk to us!
Noppes (noppes.nl) is an Amsterdam-
based alternative currency that has been used to exchange goods and services for 20 years. It is also the name given to the group of hundreds of people who trade through this digital unit without interest. Noppes is a slang for “Nothing”. Noppes users or “Noppers” value personal contact, a small environmental footprint and some independence from the international banking system. Knowledge, services and goods are exchanged as if the
community is a large family or village, where neighbours help each other out, knowing that the help will be returned. Noppes is completely independent of subsidies and/or sponsors.
Peerby (peerby.com) is a website and
iPhone app that enables people to borrow the things they need from others in their neighbourhood in 30 minutes. Save money, live green and meet awesome people!
Qoin (qoin.org) is a pioneering social
enterprise based in Amsterdam, providing consultancy on all aspects of setting up community currencies worldwide. Qoin supports public authorities, businesses, financial institutions and citizens to realize their goals around the social economy, entrepreneurship, environmental responsibility and healthy government finance through community currencies. Community currencies are money at the service of people and the planet. They are instruments designed to fulfill specific social, environmental or economic objectives. Qoin has contributed to the development of community currencies including the Bristol Pound, Brixton Pound, Makkie, TradeQoin and WeHelpen.
CO.LAB facilitates through knowledge, research and publications CONFERENCE brings together entrepreneurs, corporate & governmental institutions CONCEPTS co-creates innovative concepts
The Next Nature Network (nextnature.net) explores how our
technological environment has become so omnipresent, complex, intimate and autonomous that it has become a nature of its own. At Moneylab they present their proposal for an ECO currency, a monetary value that makes environmental value explicit.
Timebank CC Timebank.cc is a tool,
21 Kunst Reserve Bank (kunstreservebank.nl) is a monetary
experiment set up by artists and economists to test the viability of a new reserve currency. Since 2012 every week a new coin is designed by the current artists. This currency is minted in public with the bank’s own coin press, that is now based in the city centre of Eindhoven. Every coin is issued for one week only. The exchange rate varies and is set by the trade value of the coins already in circulation. At the MoneyLab Bazaar you are able to buy the latest design.
Share NL (sharenl.nl) is a platform for the Dutch sharing economy. ‘One of the 10 ideas that will change the world’ COMMUNITY informs and inspires individuals
COMPANIES connects and represents entrepreneurs who are engaged in the sharing economy CONSULT consults corporates, organisations and governmental institutions
accessible to everyone, to help, work and cooperate with each other. Users can exchange skills and services using time rather than conventional money. One Timebank Hour equals exactly one hour of work. The services for which Timebank mediates range from piano tuning to programming web applications, from bicycle repair to business consultancy. Timebank.cc is an independent association founded in 2013. It is an open platform that facilitates and encourages user-initiated projects on parallel economies. With mainly users in The Hague, Amsterdam and Lisbon, the community has grown into an active network of over 1200 users.
Transition Towns Netherlands (transitiontowns.nl) is part of the
international Transition Network – a non-profit that aims to inspire, encourage, connect, support and train communities as they self-organise around the Transition model, creating initiatives that rebuild resilience and reduce CO2 emission.
Session 7 CRITIQUE OF CROWDFUNDING
14:00 – 15:45 SESSION 7 Critique of Crowdfunding
Seeking to bypass government patronage, venture capitalists and other intermediaries, crowdfunding has become a boutique industry - there are at least 120 platforms in the Netherlands alone. Serving for-profit and non-profit organizations of different constituencies and goals, many claim to raise millions per year. Practice advances quickly, and literature on the topic abounds in selfmarketing tips. However, failure is more frequent than success: more than half of all Kickstarter projects fail. Crowdfunding has an inner dynamic that remains unknown. What, then, are the critical issues we should address? This session will look into how crowdfunding is signalling an entire cultural shift, especially in art production and artists’ relationships with their audiences. It will also tackle some lesser-known shortcomings of crowdfunding – from time and effort investment, the artist’s unwillingly assumed role of marketeer, and the debatable existence of an ‘actual crowd’.
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Speakers Inge Ejbye Sørensen ( D K )
CROWDFUNDING AND CROWDSOURCING IN THE UK: Peer to Peer or Mine to Mine?
Sørensen compares traditional and new ways of co-funding and co-creating documentary film and theatrical features in the UK, and asks what it is that digital financing forms, like crowdfunding, pay-if-you-want schemes and online distribution sites mean for documentary and feature films and their industries today. As crowdfunding and crowdsourcing enter the mainstream, Sørensen explores the possibilities and problems that these new financing, cultural and creative practices present for producers, traditional funding models, and national funders and policies. Are new digital production and financing forms democratizing film production in the UK, or rather paving the way for new cultural elites, gatekeepers and hierarchies? Do these new creative and funding models enrich the creative industries, or are they a symptom of the beginning of an erosion of arts funding in the UK? Following the money as well as the cultural capital in a wider socio-economic context, Sørensen will ask who really benefits from crowdfunded and crowdsourced projects.
performing arts projects through online financing platforms. In the light of dramatic budget cuts and the crisis in public support for Dutch culture, policy makers are even tempted to claim that ‘crowdfunding enables the arts sector to reconnect with society and strengthen their bond with new audiences’. For the performing arts, though, direct interaction with spectators, the critical exploration of community, and participation have always been vital for the innovation of the art form. How can the recent practice of crowdfunding be reviewed in this context? Has it indeed become a crucial tool for surviving in the real world? Or does crowdfunding illustrate even more radically that artists are increasingly dependent on self-marketing? Marijke Hoogenboom will ask what crowd financing means for performing arts production today and for artists’ relationship with audiences and the funders of live-art events. She will also examine how the idea of ‘choices made by crowds’ is being transferred to other modes within the performing arts industry, impacting on traditional models of programming and producing.
23 Jamie King ( U K )
RETHINKING THE FILM INDUSTRY: CROWDFUNDING AND ONLINE DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS King’s film series Steal this film and Steal this film II tackle the controversies around copyright in the creative industry sector. King has successfully crowdfunded his productions (also allowing donations with Bitcoins), which have been viewed more than 5 million times via P2P file-sharing torrents. He also launched VODO, a successful, pay-as-you-want online distribution channel. He will discuss his experience as an artist using crowdfunding and online distribution as new instruments of both production and revenue.
Marijke Hoogenboom ( N L )
CHANGING NOTIONS OF CROWDS AND FUNDING IN THE PERFORMING ARTS IN THE NETHERLANDS AND BEYOND
Accessible, transparent and democratic: this is the main promise that crowdfunding holds out to those individuals who might want to support single
Enache ( ro ) Robert van Boeschoten ( N L ) Irina
VISUALIZING CROWDFUNDING AND BEYOND
This presentation will introduce MoneyLab’s interactive Crowdfunding Visual Toolkit. Its database gathers Dutch and international crowdfunding platforms serving creative projects. It allows potential crowdfunders to select relevant criteria, such as their project category (visual arts, performing arts, music, tech, etc), the model they want to use (donation, investment), and the budget size. Then they can filter and sort according to certain statistics made publicly available (average number of funders / success ratio on the platform / average donation, etc) and thus visualize the platforms that answer the project’s needs. The visual toolkit is accompanied by insights from a number of interviews with artists and creative workers who have crowdfunded and now share their challenges. These experiences are often undocumented, although they have the potential to reveal much about crowdfunding mechanisms and implications. The scope of the MoneyLab Crowdfunding Toolkit goes beyond visualization and insights. It is a proposal for a long-term, close collaboration between academics, designers, artists, as well as crowdfunding platforms founders and policy-makers to further inquire into the sustainability of crowdfunding as a revenue model.
Session 8 DESIGNING ALTERNATIVES 15:45 – 16:00 Tea break
16:00 – 18:00 SESSION 8 Designing Alternatives
Alternatives to the current monetary systems have been around for a long time. We are discussing not just currencies themselves, but also alternative ways of trading, understanding value, and communicating. This session looks into developments as old as the 1930s, moves up to the 1990s and its first e-cash payments, delves into today’s social, technical and art practices in relation to money, and inquires into what we are missing in today’s landscape. Who designs alternatives, and for which constituencies? Can we see a collective imagination arising here?
24 Moderator: Rob van Hilten
Speakers Matthew Slater ( U K )
WHAT ABOUT CREDIT? BITCOIN IS ONLY HALF OF THE REVOLUTION
Trusted or powerful central authorities have been issuing tokens for the people to exchange for as long as states and empires have existed. But too easily we forget the other half of money, which has been equally present throughout history:
credit money. Credit money is made of promises, so instead of persisting through history as gold does, it is created and redeemed as needed. All the cryptocurrencies, bar one, are issuing a fixed quantity of tokens and becoming vehicles for speculators and usurers and assets for hoarders. Credit currencies, by contrast, have no value in themselves and are as good as the reputation of the issuer. Disintermediating central banks is important, yes, but if we want actual economic justice we must allow everyone to issue credit in their own name.
Max Haiven ( C a )
MONEY AS ARTISTIC MEDIUM: MEDIATING CAPITAL, THREE STRATEGIES
Over the past two years I have been seeking to build an online collection of instances of art that mobilizes money as an artistic medium (moneyandart.tumblr.com) – from the integration of material money (coins, bills, credit cards) into various aesthetic processes (sculpture, painting, performance, etc.), to a preoccupation with more ephemeral thematics, including debt, global economics, and the dynamics of the art market itself. This presentation explores three (and a half) strategies that artists use to engage with money: crass opportunism; a stark revelation of money’s power; and a coy playing with art’s subjugation to money. It close with a more profound attempt to reveal the shared labour at the heart of both money and art’s aesthetic-political power. Money’s perennial appeal to artists, I argue, stems from the irony of its tantalizing capacity to ‘almost’ represent capitalist totality. At their core, both money and art are animated by a certain creative labour, the suspension of disbelief, and a politics of representation. As such, art becomes an important vantage point for studying, understanding, and seeing beyond the rule of money over social life. In spite of everything, there is something utopian about the power of the imagination that is, today, bound up in our use of money.
‘big data’ and put it into conversation with other ‘social’ datasets. Others see in these datasets an opportunity to create new forms of value: niche ‘currencies’ based on reputation, relations and behaviour. Many are seeking to develop interoperability between these new forms, older systems like airline miles (which have been called ‘the world’s largest alternative currency’) and, indeed, good old-fashioned state-issued money. These technological and economic changes force a reconsideration not just of payment, but of money and value themselves. In order to imagine the future of payment we should also consider its history - metal department store Charga-Plates of the 1930s, the Diners’ Club, and the first charge card popularized in the 1950s-60s. Many new payment ‘rails’ are forging new channels of communication and value in the tracks of or alongside old ones.
Gilson Schwartz ( B r )
25 Eli Gothill ( U K ) #PUNKMONEY
#PunkMoney is an experimental money system which allows users to ‘print money’ as Tweets, using a simple set of conventions. Nobody owns or operates #PunkMoney; it exists by consensus between its users. This talk will explain in detail how #PunkMoney works, what the motivations behind it are, and what has been learned since it began.
Lana Swartz ( U S )
THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF PAYMENT: FROM DINERS’ CLUB TO BITCOIN AND BEYOND The everyday act of payment - transferring value from one person to another - is undergoing dramatic change. Increasingly, payment systems are situated within an array of social media - not financial - services. A variety of new actors are getting into the payment business. Many are hoping to harness the promise of transactional
CREATIVE CURRENCIES IN BRAZIL
There is genuine interest among public officials in different areas and public funding for social currencies is on the rise in Brazil. The “Creative Currencies” project is a work-in-progress platform which unfolds as an action research agenda connected both to the production of audiovisual content and the development of social currency software. The initiative dates back to 2003 when I led an experimental project supported by the Presidency of Brazil. At that time, we issued paper currency in a small, touristic village in the Northeast Region which stimulated local cultural projects. But it was only in 2009 that the Central Bank of Brazil acknowledged “social currencies” as a legitimate economic agenda, calling for more debate at the I Financial Inclusion Forum. That year, monetary authorities organized a second forum that also opened the room to discussions on mobile payment systems and new perspectives on poverty alleviation via State subsidies. The Ministry of Culture funded the “Creative Currencies” project in 2009-2010 and the next stage in this discovery process was supported by the National Bank for Social and Economic Development (BNDES).
Speakers’ biographies FRIDaY 21 MaRCH SESSION 1 Monetization of Everything Saskia Sassen, Stefan and Ralph Heidenreich, Bill Maurer, Moderator: Geert Lovink SESSION 2 Dismantling Global Finance Franco Berardi, Brett Scott, Tiziana Terranova, Brian Holmes Moderator: Nathaniel Tkacz
26 SESSION 3 Critical Art Practices Ron Peperkamp, Dadara, Dette Glashouwer Moderator: Patricia de Vries
SESSION 4 Mobile Money Stephen Musoke, Erin Taylor, Taylor Nelms Moderator: Bill Maurer
SATURDAY 22 MARCH
SESSION 5 Bitcoin and Beyond Eduard de Jong, Aaron Koenig, Beat Weber, Quinn DuPont Moderators: Nathaniel Tkacz and Lana Swartz SESSION 7
Critique of Crowdfunding Inge Ejbye Sørensen, Jamie King, Marijke Hoogenboom, Irina Enache and Robert van Boeschoten Moderator: Brett Scott SESSION 8 Designing Alternatives Matthew Slater, Max Haiven, Eli Gothill, Lana Swartz, Gilson Schwartz Moderator: Rob Van Hilten
MoNeYLab FRIDaY 21 MaRCH SESSION 1 Monetization of Everything Saskia Sassen ( U S ) Saskia Sassen is a Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and Co-Chair at Committee on Global Thought, both positions held within Columbia University. Her research and writing is focused on globalization (including its social, economic and political dimensions), immigration, global cities, new-networked technologies, and changes within the liberal state that result from current transnational conditions (www.saskiasassen.com).
over 100 research projects in more than 34 countries on mobiles, money, and mobile money, emphasizing client perspectives and qualitative, ground-level studies undertaken by researchers from the countries under investigation. In the latter he focuses on emerging payment technologies and the future of money. He has published six books and over 50 research articles for academic, industry and regulatory audiences. A cultural anthropologist, he conducts research on law, property, money and finance, focusing on the technological infrastructures and social relations of exchange and payment. Maurer has particular expertise in emerging, alternative and experimental forms of money and finance, and their legal implications. He is currently conducting research under a grant from the US National Science Foundation on regulatory frameworks for mobile financial services and how they have the potential to challenge the definition and nature of money. He received his BA from Vassar College and his MA and PhD from Stanford University.
1970s, he fled to Paris, where he worked with Félix Guattari in the field of schizoanalysis. He has been involved in many media projects, including Telestreet and Recombinant. org. Bifo published the books The Uprising (2012), After the future (2011), The Soul at Work (2010), Felix (2001), Cibernauti (1994), and Mutazione e Cyberpunk (1993). He has contributed to the magazines Semiotext(e), Chimères, Metropoli, and Musica 80 and is currently collaborating with e-flux journals. Coordinator of the European School for Social Imagination (SCEPSI), he has taught at Ashkal Alwan in Beirut, PEI-Macba in Barcelona, Accademia di Brera in Milano, and has lectured in social centres and universities worldwide.
27 Stefan and Ralph Heidenreich ( D e ) Ralph Heidenreich lives in Biberach/Riss and works as a programmer (www. ralph-heidenreich.de). Stefan Heidenreich lives in Berlin and holds a research position at the Center for Digital Culture, Lüneburg University (www. stefanheidenreich.de). Together they wrote the books Mehr Geld (‘More money’, Merve:Berlin 1998) and Der Preis der Welt (‘Pricing the World’, 2014).
Bill Maurer ( U S ) Bill Maurer, PhD, is Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Anthropology and Law at the University of California, Irvine. He is also the Director of the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion, and Co-Director of the Intel Science and Technology Center for Social Computing. In the former he supports
SESSION 2 Dismantling Global Finance
Franco Berardi ( I T ) Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi (Bologna, Italy, 1940) is a writer, media theorist and media activist. As a young militant he took part in the experience of ‘Potere Operaio’ in the years 1967–73, then founded the magazine A/ traverso (1975–81) and was part of the staff of Radio Alice, the first free pirate radio station in Italy (1976–78). Involved in the political movement of ‘Autonomia’ in Italy during the
Brett Scott ( U K ) Brett Scott is the author of The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance: Hacking the Future of Money. He has worked with groups like Move Your Money UK, ActionAid and the World Development Movement, and is setting up the London School of Financial Activism. He has written for publications such as The Guardian, The Ecologist, Wired Magazine and Aeon, and has appeared on the BBC, Arte TV and other media outlets. He is also a fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab. Tiziana Terranova ( I T ) Tiziana Terranova is Associate Professor of Cultural Theory and New Media in the Department of Human and Social Sciences at the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’ where she coordinates the PhD programme in Cultural and Postcolonial Studies. She is also currently a Visiting Research
Fellow at the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. Terranova is the author of Network Culture: Politics for the Information Age. Brian Holmes ( U S ) Brian Holmes, author of Crisis Theory for Complex Societies, is an art and cultural critic and activist interested in the intersections of artistic and political practices (www. brianholmes.wordpress.com). He has worked with various art and activist groups such as Ne pas Plier, Bureau d’Etudes and Sixteen Beaver. SESSION 3 Critcal Art Practices
came closer, she lost her income. To survive she travelled to America, Norway, and Istanbul, performing at theatres, festivals, people’s homes, at banks and timebanks. She spoke with scientists, visionaries, and outof-the-box thinkers to get an answer to her question: “What is money, how does this money system affect our planet, and is there an alternative?” Her money performances engage her audience as stakeholders: there have now been 1100 from all over the world. Glashouwer is also one of the founders of the Dutch theatre trio Suver Nuver and has performed for her majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (www. detteglashouwer.com).
research fellow at the Instituto de Ciências Sociais at the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. She is the author of Materializing Poverty: How the Poor Transform their Lives (2013) and the editor of Fieldwork Identities in the Caribbean (2010). Taylor Nelms ( U S ) Taylor Nelms is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology and a Research Assistant at the Institute of Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion at the University of California, Irvine. He has written on zombie banks, mobile money and Bitcoin (www.taylornelms.net). His current research concerns the politics and pragmatics of money and law in Ecuador, where official dollarization and a state project to build an alternative ‘solidarity economy’ intersect to shape Ecuadorians’ notions of value, trust, and durability in relation to everyday financial and political practice.
28 Ron Peperkamp ( N L )
Ron Peperkamp is an artist and the managing director of the Kunst Reserve Bank. The Bank exchanges euros for works of art in the form of exclusive coins. Every month a different artist designs a series of four coins. These unique coins are available against the current exchange rate at the Kunst Reserve Bank and can be purchased at the Alternatives Bazaar.
Dadara ( N L ) Amsterdam-based artist Dadara is internationally known for his public sculptures that intertwine performance and multimedia to critically challenge relations to different utopias. He has given money special attention in artworks such as Transformoney (exhibited at Burning Man Festival) and Exchanghibition Bank (www.dadara.nl). Dette Glashouwer ( N L ) Like many artists, Dette Glashouwer was not at all interested in money. But as the financial crisis hit and peak oil
SESSION 4 Mobile Money
Stephen Musoke ( U G ) Stephen Musoke is a selftaught software engineer with experience in the design, development and delivery of custom software solutions to customers in government, finance and agriculture sectors (www.ssmusoke.com). In his latest engagement Musoke worked with an non-profit to build sustainable models in which farm and crop management tools and financial services are ‘bundled’ in affordable, unified platforms on mobile phone channels to promote commercially viable mass uptake. Erin Taylor ( a U ) Erin Taylor is an economic anthropologist with a research interest in material culture, financial practices, and development in the Dominican Republic and Haiti (www. erinbtaylor.com). She is currently a post-doctoral
SATURDAY 22 MaRCH SESSION 5 Bitcoin andBeyond
Eduard de Jong ( N L ) Early in 1990 Eduard de Jong designed and documented the implementation of the e-cash system designed by David Chaum in 1990 for the start-up DigiCash. In 1992, emboldened by their experiences at DigiCash, de Jong and his colleague Boudewijn de Kerf started their own company to consult on securing IT and implement security using smart cards and cryptographic
techniques. At QC Technology, as they had named their company, de Jong filed a patent for a privacy-enhanced technology for electronic payment. In 1995 he co-founded Integrity Arts Inc. in San Mateo, California. Based on his patent, Integrity Arts produced the Java Card operating system for smart cards. Sun Microsystems Inc acquired Integrity Arts in 1997. At present de Jong is involved as architect in the realization of a smartcard-based, privacyenhanced electronic cash system with planned deployments for community currency in Canada and for transit payments in the UK. De Jong holds a Bachelor’s degree in physics and a Master’s degree in computer science. He has been awarded over 30 patents in the areas of smartcards, privacy protection, and electronic payment.
Quinn DuPont ( C a ) Quinn DuPont is a PhD student in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, Canada. His dissertation research focuses on cryptography: www.iqdupont.com SESSION 7 Critique of Crowdfunding Inge Ejbye Sørensen ( D K ) Dr. Inge Ejbye Sørensen is Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Research Fellow in Digital Economy & Culture at the Centre for Cultural Policy Research, University of Glasgow. She has published articles in Media, Culture & Society, the European Journal of Communication, and book chapters in anthologies by Peter Lang and IGI Global. She is the editor of the pioneering online journal for academic videos Audiovisual Thinking and formerly a Scottish Screen (now Creative Scotland) accredited Lead Practitioner in Moving Image Education. Before entering academia Sørensen worked for a decade as an award-winning producer of documentaries and factual programmes for the BBC, Channel 4, Five and STV. Her research interests are the effects of Web 2.0 and multiplatform broadcasting on documentary and drama content, both in terms of individual productions (interactive content; database documentaries; crowdsourced projects; digital aesthetics), and in relation to industrial contexts, economies and ecosystems (digital distribution and production models; crowdfunding; digital production technologies; new industrial constellations and work practices).
Jamie King (UK) Jamie King is a filmmaker, activist, and founder of the online, pay-as-you-want distribution channel VODO. Marijke Hoogenboom (NL) Marijke Hoogenboom is head of research of the Amsterdam Theater School, where she leads the Performing Arts in Transition research group. Since 2003 she has also been in charge of the supra-faculty Artists in Residence programme of the Amsterdam School of the Arts. Hoogenboom was previously involved in the founding of DasArts, the international Master’s degree for various theatre disciplines, where she was also part of the artistic management. Until 2013 she was a member of the Grants Committee of the Prince Bernard Cultural Fund, until 2011 she advised the InterUniversity Center for Dance at the UdK in Berlin, and until 2010 she shared responsibility for international policy at the Dutch Council for Culture. She is currently an advisor for the Performing Arts Fund NL and also on the editorial board of the Routledge journal Performance Research and the Palgrave book series New Dramaturgies. In 2008 she received the MarieKleine Gartman Pen for artists and theatre commentators from the Dutch Stage Association.
29 Aaron Koenig ( D e ) Aaron Koenig is a media entrepreneur based in Berlin (Germany). He is the founder of Bitcoin Exchange Berlin (BXB), Europe’ first in-person Bitcoin exchange. Having been interested in the Austrian economy and monetary systems for some time, Aaron has blogged about Bitcoin since June 2011. In his main job he directs and produces short animated films for clients, lately most of whom have been Bitcoin start-ups: www.bitfilm.com. Beat Weber ( a T ) Beat Weber is an economist employed by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank. He lives in Vienna (Austria). His recent research work centres on a critical engagement with monetary reform proposals and theories.
Irina Enache ( R o ) and Robert van Boeschoten ( N L ) Irina Enache is a new media enthusiast and researcher within the MoneyLab project at the Institute of Network Cultures. She gained her BA in Communication and Public Relations in Bucharest, Romania (2011) and the MA in New Media and Digital Culture in Amsterdam, Netherlands (2013). Her MA thesis paper addressed
the reconfiguration of money’s meaning, brought about by an exploding activity of online currencies. She has been part of TimeBank Romania since 2012. Robert van Boeschoten is a philosopher (PhD on Marshall McLuhan, 1996) who is interested in the cultural impact of media on our society at large, and particularly within organizations. His work is divided between two institutions; the at the Interactive Media department of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA), where he teaches management and organization, and the University of Humanistic Studies (UvH) in Utrecht where he is coordinator and tutor for the part-time PhD programme in applied philosophical research.
order to concentrate fully on his work. He also manages the Community Currency Magazine page on Facebook. Max Haiven ( C a ) Max Haiven is Assistant Professor in the Division of Art History and Critical Studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Canada. He is author of Crises of Imagination, Crises of Power: Capitalism, Creativity and the Commons (Zed Books, 2014), The Radical Imagination: Social Movement Research in the Age of Austerity (with Alex Khasnabish, Zed Books, 2014) and Cultures of Financialization: Fictitious Capital in Popular Culture and Everyday Life (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). More information can be found at maxhaiven.com.
Brazil, former Chief Economist of BankBoston in Brazil and advisor to the President of the National Bank for Social and Economic Development (BNDES) of Brazil. Columnist at Folha de S.Paulo, Época Negócios, IOB, Terra and Exame for 25 years. Created the “City of Knowledge” project at the Institute of Advanced Studies and the “Iconomy” research group at the School of Communication and Arts. Supported by the Ministry of Culture, UNESCO and BNDES for the development of the “Creative Currencies” project since 2010.
30 SESSION 8 Designing Alternatives
Rob van Hilten ( N L ) Since 1992, Rob van Hilten has been working as Community Currency expert. He initiated the Local Exchange Trading System NOPPES, worked for the Social Trade Organisation (STRO), and as strategic senior advisor at DCE-consultants. As co-founder and director of Qoin, van Hilten has specialised in online banking, administrative processes, strategic ICT and design of Community Currencies. Matthew Slater ( U K ) Matthew Slater has been building open-source mutual credit systems for five years, and as co-founder of Swiss NGO Community Forge helps to host around 80 communities’ web sites, from donations only. He lives mostly from donations and hospitality in
Eli Gothill ( U K ) Eli Gothill is a freelance software developer and researcher who currently lives in Berlin, Germany. He writes about the future of money on his blog, www.webisteme.com.
Lana Swartz ( U S ) Lana Swartz is a PhD candidate in Communication and the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication, Technology and Society at the University of Southern California (www. llaannaa.com). She has published on mobile payments, the history of the credit card, and Bitcoin. In 2009 she gained an MA in Comparative Media Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gilson Schwartz ( B R ) Gilson Schwartz is an economist, sociologist and journalist, professor at the School of Communication and Arts, University of São Paulo,
MONEYLAB Team Biographies
Geert Lovink ( N L ) is a media theorist, internet critic and author of Zero Comments (2007) and Networks Without a Cause (2012). Since 2004 he is researcher in the School for Communication and Media Design at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) where he is the founding director of the Institute of Network Cultures. From 20042013 he also taught in the new media masters program at Mediastudies, University of Amsterdam. Since 2009 he is a media theory professor at the European Graduate School (Saas-Fee) and in 2011 became an associated member of the Centre for Digital Cultures at the Leuphana University (Lueneburg/D). Nathaniel Tkacz ( a U ) is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at The University of Warwick and the co-founder of MoneyLab. He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne and
writes and researches at the intersection of digital media and politics. His book, Wikipedia and The Politics of Openness, is forthcoming (2014) with The University of Chicago Press. His research page is available at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/ fac/cross_fac/cim/people/ tkacz/ Patricia de Vries ( N L ) is a project coordinator at the Institute of Network Cultures, and is responsible for coordinating MoneyLab: Coining Alternatives. She has an academic background in Media Studies (BA), Cultural Analysis (MA) and Liberal Studies (MA). She has previously worked as a film programmer, researcher and as an editor of an art magazine. From 2010 until 2012 she was based in New York where she served as a research associate at the think tank World Policy Institute, and as a teaching assistant of prof. James Miller at The New School for Social Research.
impact of media on society at large, and organisations in particular. His work is divided over The Polytechnic of Amsterdam (HvA) at the Communication and Multimedia Department where he teaches future scenario’s and The University for Humanistics (UvH) in Utrecht where he is a lecturer in organisation studies. Vicentiu Dinga (RO), researcher at INC, graduated from the New Media and Digital Culture Master of Arts at the University of Amsterdam in 2013. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism (2011, Bucharest). He started work as an editor and contributing editor for several publications in Romania, online and printed press, writing about media and technology and became the Project Manager of one of the most important cultural cooperative blogs in Romania, bookblog.ro, where he managed special projects and cultural events. Dinga has been working in social media and online marketing since 2011, having several local brands and companies as clients.
the creative industries and education. Miriam Rasch ( N L ) started working as a publication manager at the Institute of Network Cultures in June 2012. She holds a masters degree in Literary Studies (2002) and Philosophy (2005). Since graduating she worked as a (web) editor and from 2008 on as a programmer for the public lectures department at Utrecht University, Studium Generale, organizing events and taking care of digital broadcasts and online representation. Next to that she worked as a lecturer for Liberal Arts and Sciences, and is teaching philosophy and media theory at the Media, Information and Communication department. She writes book reviews and guest posts for different websites and magazines; her personal blog can be found on miriamrasch.nl.
31 Irina Enache ( R o ) is a new media enthusiast and researcher within the MoneyLab project at the Institute of Network Cultures. She gained her BA in Communication and Public Relations in Bucharest, Romania (2011) and holds an MA in New Media and Digital Culture, UvA, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2013). Her MA thesis addressed the reconfiguration of money’s meaning, brought about by an explosion of activity in online currencies. She has been part of TimeBank Romania since 2012. Robert van Boeschoten ( N L ) is a philosopher (Ph.D. on Marshall McLuhan, 1996) interested in the cultural
Margreet Riphagen ( N L ) holds a bachelor degree in Integrated Communication Management, a post bachelor in Business Science and a master in Information Studies (track: Human Centered Multimedia). After working at the Waag Society and Media Guild for over five years, she has worked for the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences since 2008. She is involved with various research projects at the INC, and also works at MediaLAB Amsterdam, which conducts applied research on innovative interactive media applications together with partners from
Gabriele Colombo ( I T ) holds a Master degree in Communication Design from Politecnico di Milano. His focus is on data visualisation, infographics and visual story telling. Over the years he has gained experience in designing visual tools to facilitate academic and market research projects. He has worked at The Visual Agency, an Italian design agency focused on infographics and also often collaborates as a visual designer with the Digital Methods Initiative, UvA. Colombo currently works as researcher/designer at MediaLAB Amsterdam. He is the designer of the MoneyLab Crowdfunding Toolkit.
conference scheduLe FRIDaY 21 MaRCH
SaTURDaY 22 MaRCH
09:00 - 09:30 DOORS OPEN
09:30 - 10:00 DOORS OPEN
09:30 - 11:00 SESSION 1 Monetization of Everything
09:30 - 18:00 Alternatives Bazaar opens for the entire day
09:30 - 10:30 Crowdfunding workshop for beginners (parallel event in Cinema Hall)
10:00 – 11:45 SESSION 5 Bitcoin and Beyond
11:00 - 11:15 TEA BREAK
11:45 – 12:00 TEA BREAK
11:15 - 13:00 SESSION 2 Dismantling Global Finance
12:00 – 13:00 SESSION 6 Alternatives Bazaar on Stage
11:15 - 12:15 Crowdfunding workshop for advanced (parallel event)
13:00 – 14:00 LUNCH BREAK
13:00 - 14:00 LUNCH BREAK 14:00 - 15:40 SESSION 3 Critical Art Practices 14:00 - 15:00 Crowdfunding workshop for beginners (parallel event in Cinema Hall) 15:40 - 16:00 TEA BREAK 16:00 - 17:30 SESSION 4 Mobile Money 16:00 - 17:00 Crowdfunding workshop for advanced (parallel event in Cinema Hall)
14:00 – 15:45 SESSION 7 Critique of Crowdfunding 15:45 – 16:00 TEA BREAK 16:00 – 18:00 SESSION 8 Designing Alternatives 8 PM - 01 AM MONEYLAB: THE AFTER PART Y @ De Nieuwe Anita Live Music, Cult Films, Cocktails Frederik Hendrikstraat 111 Entrance: € 7.50