MoneyLab#13 Krypto: Decrypting the Artist -Call for Contributions-

By , .

(see also https://www.neme.org/blog/moneylab13-call for submission links)

Venue and organizer: NeMe Arts Centre, Limassol, Cyprus

Conference: November 3/4. 2023, exhibition, November 3 – December 1, 2023.

“The capitalist economic model, in its purest form, does not explicitly centre human well-being as its primary objective.” [1]

The Covid-19 pandemic lead to social experiments in many countries never before experienced during peacetime. As people found themselves confined to their homes, offices, restaurants, and stores, remained empty. Remote working and online learning were normalised while medical advice was dispensed over Zoom, all enabled by a networked infrastructure centred on profit over privacy. Meanwhile, online food delivery platforms exploited their migrant ‘self-employed’ riders and drivers, and workers fulfilled our consumer needs in warehouses.[2]

The pandemic also enabled a shift to cashless payments and many countries using the pretext of infection risk, limited or banned the use of cash. This societal move towards dematerialisation was also evident in the art world. 2020 saw the proliferation of centralised NFT platforms utilising decentralised blockchain technologies which attracted many artists who saw them as a way of taking control of the promotion and sales of their work, and a way out from their usual precarity. But as Christiane Paul noted, “People talk about ‘buying’ NFTs rather than acquiring a specific artwork through an NFT. The sales mechanism itself has been commodified: a capitalist milestone.” NFTs and their rampant commodification also peaked in more mainstream spaces before bursting a short time later –  Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, which sold for $2.9 million in 2021, only demonstrated limited interest when it was put up for resale in 2022, attracting a mere $6,800. [3]

Commodification continues, in October 2021 during the midst of the pandemic, Mark Zuckerberg, in an effort to reshape his business still stigmatised from the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and other issues, announced that Facebook would change its name to Meta and become a metaverse company — the vision of which included billions of people inhabiting immersive digital environments, working, socialising and playing games inside virtual and augmented worlds. Within a year, in what can now be interpreted as a strategic move, Apple made privacy changes to its mobile operating system that have cost Meta billions of dollars in advertising revenue[4] and the discontinuation of their VR dreams. In June 2023 Apple announced their new Vision Pro, a $3,500 ‘spatial computing’ device that offers a mixed reality experience … only for those who can afford it. Will artists benefit from this latest gadget? Will Vision Pro lead to a redistribution of wealth in the direction of artists, designers and content producers? Most likely not.

MoneyLab#13 aims to interrogate the state of our recent and emerging technologies, and how they relate to our hegemonic economies.  To this end, NeMe and the Institute of Network Cultures are seeking submissions for:

  • Artworks to be exhibited in the NeMe Arts Centre between 3 November – 1 December 2023.
  • Speakers for a two-day conference which will take place on 4 and 5 November 2023.

Texts for a possible Moneylab publication will be gathered, to be published by the Institute of Network Cultures in 2024.

NeMe Contribution

  1. Up to €500 flight costs to 6 selected speakers, Including accommodation for up to 4 days and a per diem of €40.
  2. The 10 selected artists will each receive an honorarium of €200.

Process

All submissions should be uploaded using the form on the NeMe website by 3 September 2023. Submissions will be judged by a selection committee. Kindly note that the decision of the selection committee will be communicated via email around September 25, 2023. Also, note that we will not be able to give individual feedback on unsuccessful applications.

Requirements

Submissions can address at least one of the themes of MoneyLab#13

  1. Blockchain, DAOs, NFTs and other crypto-related topics.
  2. Dematerialisation of money, cashless society, CBDC/digital euro.
  3. Revenue models for the arts.

Applicants are allowed to make more than one proposal but these should be made on separate submissions.

As we are interested in new ideas, the submissions could be for a completed work or a work in progress.

Artists, designers, coders, journalists, researchers, writers and critics can apply for the exhibition, the conference and the publication, to be produced in 2024.

Interested speakers who can raise their own funds for their travel and accommodation to Limassol, Cyprus should state this on their application as they will be excluded from the limitations of the available budget.

The Exhibition

We are seeking artworks that make radical use of crypto/blockchain, suggesting new, critically engaged investigations into alternative economies/wealth redistribution for artists such as UBI, NFTs, crowdfunding etc.

The proposal should be uploaded using the form on the NeMe website in one pdf document which should include:

  1. Name/Surname(s) of artist(s)/artist
  2. Contact email
  3. City/Country of residence
  4. Title of artwork
  5. Description of the proposed artwork and how it is relevant to the themes of Moneylab 13
  6. Screenshots/photographs of the artwork
  7. Tech-Rider for the artwork
  8. Bio of the artist(s)/collective

The Conference

  1. Name/Surname of speaker
  2. Contact email
  3. City/Country of residence
  4. Title of presentation
  5. Abstract
  6. Bio

For any questions, please contact us at https://www.neme.org/about/contact-us.

MoneyLab#13 is funded by the Department of Modern and Contemporary Culture, Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture with the support of the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam.

—

[1] ChatGTP responding to Sonali Kolhatkarand. See: Sonali Kolhatkarand. “Replacing the capitalist dream of AI-driven profits.” Altternet, 17 June 2023. https://www.alternet.org/replacing-capitalist-dream-ai-profits/

[2] Howson, Kelle & Ustek-Spilda, Funda & Bertolini, Alessio & Heeks, Richard & Ferrari, Fabian & Katta, Srujana & Cole, Matthew & Reneses, Pablo & Salem, Nancy & Sutcliffe, David & Steward, Shelly & Graham, Mark. “Stripping back the mask: Working conditions on digital labour platforms during the COVID‐19 pandemic.” International Labour Review, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12222.

[3] “Man who paid $2.9m for NFT of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet set to lose almost $2.9m.” The Guardian, 14 April, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/14/twitter-nft-jack-dorsey-sina-estavi

[4] Daniel Newman. “Apple, Meta And The $10 Billion Impact Of Privacy Changes.” Forbes, 10 February 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2022/02/10/apple-meta-and-the-ten-billion-dollar-impact-of-privacy-changes/

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