Blowup: Show Me The Money
What pricetag do you put on priceless experiences and objects? Join us in discussion getting to the root of notions of "value" and "culture" with cultural economist Diane Ragsdale, artist-economist Hans Abbing, and researcher and artist Saul Albert.
Featuring: Saul Albert (UK), Diane Ragsdale (US/NL), Hans Abbing (NL)
With austerity budgets slicing into the civil service, healthcare, education, and the arts across Europe, it's a prime moment to stop and assess what we as a society value and hold dear. The straw man argument usually goes that hospitals are more important than art galleries, but is a society with no cultural expression worth living in? We can put a man on the moon, so can't we balance a budget so that people have good local hospitals and a nice film festival to attend, too? Our society has evolved in an amazing way -- flush toilets! airplanes! smartphones! -- and yet when it comes to investing in culture, it can feel like we never left the cave.
This debate will focus on the finer points of how we think about culture and money, and how we can get out of the losing argument with our austerity-minded leaders. Guiding the conversation will be a cultural economist with experience both in Europe and the US (Diane Ragsdale), an artist-economist with insides into both fields (Hans Abbing) and a representative from The People Speak, who masterminded the Who Wants To Be? gameshow/social experiment that saw V2_ audiences spending around 1000 Euro together at the previous night's Test_Lab (Saul Albert).
Following a brief talk show with Diane, Hans and Saul, the audience will join us at the interactive Talkaoke table designed by The People Speak! Talkaoke is a UFO-shaped glowing table with embedded interactive surprises that get people involved and talking to each other. The debate is sure to be animated and heated, as we challenge each other on how economic prosperity and cultural vibrancy can co-exist.
Event stream:
Blowup: Show Me The Money (2011) from V2_ on Vimeo.
After the event, the Blowup e-Book Reader for this event is available for download.
Admission Free if you attended Test_Lab: Who Wants To Be...? on the previous evening!
Free entrance for students (college card)
€5,- for everyone else
