$ Value and Values

One unexpected “viral” consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is the somewhat forced digital education that many faced and the renewed inspiration to use technology in unprescribed ways. For those selected to participate in the Digital Economies Lab, there already was the invitation to consider alternative and future relations between technology, art and culture; however, it is within the context of the pandemic and mass social upheaval that there was a deafeningly loud question of sustainability for the current model of monetizing labour and a critical assessment of who it serves. Join us as DEL participant, artist, lawyer and foresight strategist Macy Siu discusses co-developing the prototype for the Offer Need Machine, a network of decentralized reciprocity for creatives. Resisting the monetization of networks in the ever growing gig economy, the team behind the Offer Need Machine is breaking down the mechanics of power, generosity, and care to imagine a digital and physical space where creatives could do more than just exchange hard skills. Instead, imagine a space where artists could participate in, as Siu suggests, hard discussions. With a challenge as great as eroding established attitudes around the value of cultural labour, it is no surprise the research required to build the Offer Need Machine demands the machine be broken in order to build a more resilient model. Listen closely, for you may just catch there is more than one machine that is in need of breaking.