[spectre] MONEYLAB#2: ECONOMIES OF DISSENT (Amsterdam, Dec 3/4 2015)

[shu lea cheang]

hi, geert

was about to write you...
i thought you did invite me to present the MCD money issue?

still?
sl



At 3:03 PM +0200 9/11/15, Geert Lovink wrote:
>MONEYLAB#2: ECONOMIES OF DISSENT
>CONFERENCE on ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
>
>December 3 - 4, 2015
>Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam
>Organized by the Institute of Network Cultures (HvA)
>
>Tickets: 30 euro/day and 60 euro/both days. 
>Students: 15 euro/day and 30 euro/both days. All 
>tickets include lunch.
>
>Program and tickets:
>http://networkcultures.org/blog/2015/09/10/tickets-for-moneylab2-economies-of-dissent-now-available/
>
>The Institute of Network Cultures presents 
>MONEYLAB#2: ECONOMIES OF DISSENT - an 
>international symposium hosting artists, 
>activists, programmers and academics that probe, 
>challenge and hack today's global economy.
>
>What political imperatives shape the economy of 
>dissent? What different views on the 
>redistribution of wealth and the exchange of 
>value are out there? How can we re-design our 
>financial infrastructures?
>
>The important first steps are being taken beyond 
>moral outrage and towards systemic interventions 
>in the global austerity economy. We witness an 
>impressive amount of financial counter-concepts, 
>works of art, digital currencies, tools and 
>hacks giving shape to an emerging economy of 
>dissent. This economy operates across borders, 
>on different scales, from sole acts of defiance 
>to a sovereign 'oxi', and is expressed variously 
>as: strategy, circumvention, innovation, 
>visualization, and making-do.
>
>Two days of talks, performances, and workshops 
>provide a stage for a variety of financial 
>interventions such as visualizations of shadow 
>economies, a guidebook how to extort money from 
>banks, Robin Hood-style financial hacks, 
>peer-to-peer insurance companies, financial leak 
>platforms, and blockchain initiatives for the 
>commons.
>
>Confirmed speakers: Robert van Boeschoten / 
>Enric Duran / Rachel O' Dwyer /Eduard de Jong / 
>Primavera De Filippi / David Golumbia / Núria 
>Güell  / Max Haiven / Femke Herregraven / Cecile 
>Landman / Silvio Lorusso /  Paul Radu /  Jip de 
>Ridder / Lena Rethel / Robin Hood Minor Asset 
>Management / Stephanie Rothenberg / Brett Scott
>
>Topics: Bringing the Dark Side of Money to Light 
>| Financial Literacy | Artistic Interventions in 
>Finance | Digital Revenue Models in the Arts | 
>Crypto-Currencies and their Future | Tactics for 
>Economic Dissent | Blockchain Technologies and 
>Initiatives | Distributed Insurance | Digital 
>Currencies | Financial Leak Platforms | Hacking 
>Global Finance | Bank Extortion | Web-based 
>offshore corruption games | Sharia Banking | 
>Ethereum | Exposing Shadow Economies |
>
>Discussion List: 
>http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/moneylab_listcultures.org
>Blog: http://networkcultures.org/moneylab/
>MoneyLab Reader: 
>http://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/moneylab-reader-an-intervention-in-digital-economy/.
>
>Editors: Geert Lovink, Patricia de Vries
>Advisors: Nathaniel Tkacz, Brett Scott, Patrice Riemens
>
>BACKGROUND
>
>We witness the development and production of an 
>impressive amount of financial counter-concepts, 
>tools, platforms, works of art, digital 
>currencies, and payment services giving shape to 
>an emerging economy of dissent. This economy 
>operates across borders, on different scales, 
>from sole acts of defiance to sovereign refusal, 
>and is expressed variously as: strategy, 
>circumvention, innovation, visualization, 
>making-do, and whatever else can be done with 
>limited resources.
>
>What political imperatives shape the economy of 
>dissent? What different views on the 
>redistribution of wealth and the exchange of 
>value are out there? How can we re-design our 
>financial infrastructures? What types of 
>experiments do we need? Can we formalize value 
>without relying on central mediators or the 
>money form?
>
>Amidst crashing markets there are dangers of 
>falling back on populism, nihilism or 
>anti-globalism. We need to channel our outrage, 
>talk innovation, and help foster alternatives in 
>the service of the commons. We need to develop 
>scalable models that allow for more autonomy and 
>a sense of ownership.
>
>This second edition of MoneyLab provides a 
>podium for a variety of financial interventions 
>such as visualizations of shadow economies, a 
>Robin Hood-style financial hack asset bank, 
>peer-to-peer insurance companies, financial leak 
>platforms, blockchain initiatives for the 
>commons, and a guidebook on how to extort money 
>from banks.
>
>These forms of dissent face serious challenges, 
>ranging from funding, scaling and competition 
>with central monetary institutions to issues of 
>power, security and trust. Despite these 
>challenges, the development of these 
>alternatives represents a move away from the 
>legacy powers and monetary institutions of our 
>previous centuries. It is a move toward more 
>bottom up and smaller-scale initiatives, a call 
>for more ownership and control by citizens, a 
>need for a more participatory form of finance. 
>They are nascent organizational forms and 
>initiatives, operating on smaller-scales, aiming 
>to harness network effects so that the economy 
>of dissent will, at some point, reach a critical 
>mass and morph into wider structural 
>transformation. As the Greek 'oxi' shows us, we 
>need to stand up and demand the democratization 
>of global finance.
>
>MoneyLab starts with the conviction that we need 
>to experiment with initiatives that allow for 
>the distribution and exchange of value in 
>different ways. The economic mire we're in is 
>not merely a technological problem waiting for a 
>technical solution or 'best practice'. Our 
>creative interventions must be considered an 
>exercise in future world building, spanning the 
>political, legal, social, psychological, 
>technical and economic.
>
>Founded in 2013, MoneyLab is a network of 
>researchers, artists and activists that critique 
>global finance while working on alternatives at 
>the same time. The initiative is coordinated 
>from the Amsterdam University of Applied 
>Sciences (HvA) by the Institute of Network 
>Cultures.
>
>PROGRAM
>
>Thursday December 3:
>
>Session 1: Bringing the Dark Side of Money to Light
>
>>From the Swiss Leaks project, that showed how 
>>the HSBC Bank helped its clients shield income 
>>from tax collectors, to the exposure of 
>>financial loopholes and web-based games that 
>>visualize the shadow world of the offshore 
>>economy; much of the finance and banking 
>>scandals that have unraveled over the past year 
>>started off with whistleblowing and the work of 
>>thorough investigative journalism. Some 
>>artists, journalists and activists have taken 
>>the important first step beyond moral outrage 
>>towards systemic interventions. What forms do 
>>these interventions take and what do they 
>>unravel?
>
>Do we need to become financially literate, and 
>if so, what do we need to raise our financial 
>literacy? What does it take to read the 
>classified documents of the world's private 
>banking systems? Can only experts make proper 
>use of them?
>What are the key takeaways of these 
>investigative projects?  Are we drowning in 
>material or have we only caught a glimpse of the 
>tip of the iceberg?
>
>Confirmed speakers: Femke Herregraven, Paul Radu
>Moderator: Cecile Landman
>
>Workshop & Break-Out Sessions:
>
>- Artistic Interventions in Finance (with Max Haiven)
>
>Max Haiven is Assistant Professor in the 
>Division of Art History and Critical Studies at 
>the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 
>Canada and an expert in all matters money and 
>art. During this workshop he will discuss his 
>recent book 'Cultures of Financialization'.
>
>- Crowdfunding in the Arts: the NL Case
>
>In this workshop we want to give an overview of 
>different initiatives in the Netherlands to 
>overcome the problems caused by budget cuts and 
>economic malaise amongst artists. What is the 
>current situation with crowdfunding? Where is 
>need for research? Can platforms like Spotify or 
>YouTube provide a living?
>
>Session 2: Tactics for Economic Dissent
>
>The tasks on the table after formulating a 
>rigorous critique on the current banking and 
>finance system are plentiful. The question is 
>not what can be done, but where do we start? 
>Financial activism today goes beyond calls for 
>laws, regulations and institutional oversight. 
>Different alternative practices unfold, ranging 
>from networking initiatives, ethical banking, 
>speculative hacks in high finance trading, and 
>hands-on grass roots solutions. What are the 
>power dynamics surrounding these practices? What 
>are the hindrances? What counter-narrative is 
>being produced here?
>
>Confirmed speakers: Robin Hood Minor Asset 
>Management, Enric Duran, Lena Rethel 
>Moderator: Brett Scott
>
>Friday December 4:
>
>Session 3: Artistic Interventions
>
>If money is a medium, it can be imagined in 
>different ways. If money is a medium, it can be 
>used to different ends. Over the last seven 
>years we have seen the rise of finance art: 
>shrewd, bold, well-versed, trickster-like tools, 
>installations and objects actively engaging with 
>high finance and banking systems. In 
>depth-research, provocation and visualization 
>are some of the tactics used to critique, 
>visualize and materialize the virtual political 
>economy of banking and finance. How does money 
>affect social processes and the way we relate to 
>one another? Where is there room for 
>intervention and autonomy? Is there such a thing 
>as finance art? And what alternatives are 
>imagined?
>
>Confirmed speakers:  Stephanie Rothenberg, Núria Güell, Silvio Lorusso
>Moderator: Max Haiven
>
>Workshop & Break-Out Sessions:
>
>- Temporary Amsterdam Office of Robin Hood Asset Management
>
>Robin Hood Minor Asset Management is a financial 
>project most known for its 'Deleuzian' hedge 
>fund that began in 2013 in Helsinki. It 
>describes itself as "an alternative method of 
>financial investment, providing a way for those 
>shut out of big-time investment funds to profit 
>from the same systems that benefit the Wall 
>Street fat cats". Besides presenting their 
>algorithm, also known as The Parasite, Robin 
>Hood will discuss their current plans to launch 
>its own blockchain technologies.
>
>- P2P Insurance with Jip de Ridder
>
>Decentralized insurance claims that we can 
>insure ourselves at a lower cost, regardless of 
>pre-existing conditions. As we all know, 
>commercial insurance companies take up to a 20% 
>cut and spend it on employees who look for 
>reasons to reject your claim. Why don't your 
>friends and family validate your health 
>insurance claim?
>
>Session 4: Blockchain: Revolution or Business as Usual?
>
>The different usages of the blockchain - as the 
>grid on which Bitcoin and other 
>crypto-currencies are running, as a platform to 
>sell art, as the administration and as a 
>transparent decision-making and voting 
>technology for various kinds of organizations 
>-show that it is a political-economic response 
>to the question: what needs to change? The 
>undermining of existing finance formations can 
>be found in anonymity; p-2-p, bottom-up 
>initiatives are made possible by this 
>consensus-based protocol. Trust is a central 
>challenge to a different future economy.
>
>How can we generate trust in these types of 
>technologies on a larger-scale - expanding 
>outside the domain of the small, tech-savvy 
>communities and progressive developers who 
>currently use it - without falling back on a 
>centralized mediator, like banks? What does it 
>mean when we argue in favor of such a general 
>tool that is designed to administrate whatever 
>value or procedure? And how decentralized is it 
>anyway? What underlying structures, political 
>and economic, does it tackle? What does the 
>future hold for crypto-currencies and blockchain 
>technology? Will they be co-opted by the big 
>banks as an extra payment service? Will they 
>form parallel exchange systems of trust and 
>security?
>
>Confirmed speakers: Primavera De Filippi, David Golumbia, Rachel O'Dwyer
>Moderator: Eduard de Jong
>
>
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