A screenshot of Abba’s video “Money, money, money”. Courtesy YouTube
For its thirteenth edition, TEOK collaborated with Dutch design collective Fictional Collective in the initiative Thisiswork.org, curating an event around the topics of Debt, Currency, Value and Trust. Our thirteenth session was held at Depot Basel. Titled Common Wealth, the event explored financial systems both implemented and emerging, analyzing alternative currency and value systems. At the core of the evening was the questioning of of trust: can it be undermined, exploited and used for nefarious ends? A reflection of the many ways in which spam has evolved to become more and more sophisticated allowed us to critically enquire which are the limits of trust in the digital world. The event is complemented by the reflections collected in the “This is work” publication, Chapter #4 Common wealth. It was a pleasure to collaborate with the young designers of Fictional Collective, and as always a pleasure to return to Depot Basel for a TEOK.