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Kalli Retzepi

The Ecological Metaphor, Critical Design, and Rethinking Digital Infrastructure

Rethinking Networks and Value: An Ecological Approach to Digital Economies

In this critical and wide-ranging talk, designer and technologist Kalli Retzepi shares her work from the Digital Economies Lab, challenging the foundations of our digital and cultural infrastructure.

Retzepi begins by exploring an ecological metaphor, drawing inspiration from natural systems like mycelium networks (the “Wood Wide Web”) to conceive of alternative, decentralized networks. This led to the development of the Need Offer Machine (NOM/ONM), a system designed to facilitate exchange based on non-monetary value.

The conversation questions the capitalist conflation of value and money, proposing that a unit like “the hour,” scaled by skill and knowledge, could foster resilient networks of care within the arts community. Retzepi also advocates for critical design that builds uncertainty, is human-first, and acknowledges failure.

Finally, the talk looks to the future, as Retzepi details her current work in challenging the very interface of personal computing—asking: What if the desktop metaphor no longer exists, and how can we break free from the dominance of the scrolling feed?

Watch to understand how an ecological lens can fundamentally reshape our approach to technology, cultural support, and economic exchange.

More about Kalli Retzepi here

 

Produced by the Artengine Stream Team:

Mikke Gordon aka Seiiizi https://twitter.com/s3iiizi

Ryan Stec

Kimberly Sunstrum https://www.kmbrlysnstrm.com/

Editorial Assistant

Erin Galt

Production Design Consultation

Leslie Marshall/MAVNetwork http://mavnetwork.com/

Post-Production Support: Chris Ikonomopoulos

DEL Theme Music by Mikki Gordon aka Seiiizi

Artengine’s Digital Economies Lab brought together a diverse group of artists, designers and other creatives to rethink the infrastructure of cultural production in the 21st century.

Funding for the Digital Economies Lab was received through the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategies Fund.

“Trees that are networks together, they tend to promote, like the soil becomes more fertile under the trees… So we’re thinking, ‘Oh, like, very clearly in a way, artists that live in cities that have strong cultural representation.’ I mean, that’s basically what an artist offers to their surroundings…”

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What does it mean to speak of “aural culture?”  What does listening offer, as a tool or technique for understanding our world, that visual perception cannot?  The sounds that fill our lives are dense with information about the interwoven cultures to which we belong, and approaches to their investigation can take similarly varied routes.  For Linda-Ruth Salter, language is a primary element of culture.  Expressed aloud it is a richly coded meaning system, but it can also speak volumes when forced into silence. 

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