The crowdfunding campaign takes a holiday break!

We have raised 1.729 Euro for our MoneyLab Reader #2 and we think we deserve a holiday. While we sit back and enjoy the fireworks, donations will remain possible until the 15th of January 2017.

As we have mentioned before, the cultural sector is ripe for “optimization”, at least with regards to its approach to financing critical discourse. Besides meaningful publications targeted at the seemingly positive, nevertheless precarious role of the entrepreneur (see this blog by Silvio Lorusso), crowdfunding has proven itself ready for a subversive makeover too (read more about Crowdfunding Future Subversion in this article by Max Hampshire). We have to rethink the ways in which the dissemination of knowledge is paid for, as is happening in the call for open access publishing in academia. What is the cost of spreading knowledge for free? What should it be? (Check out this zine documenting how much it costs to produce it and charge 0 euro for it). Under which conditions do artists and authors work? How should cultural institutions and artists receive funding? Should places like the Institute of Network Cultures need to rely on crowdfunding and position themselves as product marketeers in order to sustain important critical knowledge?

If you think we (critics, authors, artists, etc) shouldn’t have to resort to crowdfunding, this crowdfunding campaign is for you! We’ve tried our hand at a subversive, ironical, meme-like crowdfunding campaign and we hope we’ve posed some issues to reflect on too. It’s been great! But as the holiday cheer seeps in, we will take time to reflect on this tumultuous year and we are officially ending this campaign.

For now.

Despite not reaching the full 100% of our goal, every contribution is valuable. With the amount that we raised, we can still produce a smaller print run of the upcoming Moneylab Reader #2. Soon enough, more information on the publication and it’s authors will be available and as we produce more and more interesting content for the Reader, odds are high that we will return…

Yes, yes, you can keep donating if the giving spirit overwhelms you this season, because the Eventbrite page will remain open until January 15th 2017. So, if we’ve resonated with your views, if you think it’s important to be able to continue to produce critical knowledge on subjects like global finance, universal basic income, platform cooperativism, blockchain, cryptocurrencies and financial surveillance, please donate whatever you can spare.

Before we go, we would like to thank everyone who has already contributed to funding the new reader and everyone who supports, in whichever way they can, the knowledge we try to make accessible. Without you, it would not have been possible to get closer to our Moneylab Reader #2 funding goal, but more importantly, to continue to do what we do, what we like to do and what we think is a vital contribution to economic criticism.

We wish you an amazing winter break and a happy new year! See you in 2017!

PS: Don’t forget you can still donate here.