From Decentralising Political Economies to Economics The Blockbuster

From Decentralising Political Economies to Economics the Blockbuster

From Decentralising Political Economies to Economics The Blockbuster

From Decentralising Political Economies to Economics The Blockbuster

From Decentralising Political Economies to Economics The Blockbuster

«And therefore these are the things that I have first and last to tell you in this place;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Locomotion, but by making the homes we live in lovely, and by staying in them;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Competition, but by doing our quiet best in our own way;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Exhibition, but by doing what is right, and making what is honest, whether it be exhibited or not;—and, for the sum of all, that men must paint and build neither for pride nor for money, but for love; for love of their art, for love of their neighbour, and whatever better love may be than these, founded on these» (Ruskin, 1970).

In the lead-up to The Whitworth’s exhibition Economics the Blockbuster, and for the next chapter of its research activities, the Decentralising Political Economies platform, will be developing three categories of rethinking:

I. Rethinking economics

II. Rethinking the uses of art

III. Rethinking how we live together

These three categories of rethinking will be addressed by three key related questions and consideration of their attendant issues:

I.  IS THE ECONOMY MORE THAN MONEY?

We live in an age of networked and global neoliberalism that has sold us the idea that everything has a price. Alongside this is the idea that everything – every transaction and every relationship - can be exchanged through the medium of money. But what if we thought of this in another way? What if money was only one way in which we could measure, exchange and quantify our ideas, our relationships and our needs?

• Is the economy a complex social activity that can’t simply be reduced to money?
• Is the economy of monetary exchange simply the tip of the iceberg – something that prevents us from seeing the complex interactions that take place in order to make the financial economy work?
• How would we begin to develop more pluralistic ways of seeing, using and participating in this complex (and often hidden) social economy?

II. CAN WE USE THE PROCESS OF ARTISTIC ACTIVITY AS TOOLS FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE?

If art is no longer simply an object – a commodity to be bought, sold, or experienced as a leisure activity – but a process – something which evolves over time through use and re-use – can individuals and constituencies make meaningful changes to their lives through the act of artful living? And if this is the case, how can artists, museums, educational institutions and constituencies rethink their own roles as we move toward a post-scarcity future of degrowth, decolonisation and decentralisation?

• How can we develop and share an understanding of art as a process for active social change? 
• If these processes of art can provide us with toolkits for change, then what effect can these have upon our current understanding of the economy?
• How can we use art to build multiple, pluralistic, networked and context-specific resources for re-empowerment?

III. CAN THE PROCESS OF ART HELP US TO RECONNECT ACROSS OUR ECONOMIC DIFFERENCES?

In our age of global and networked neoliberal logic – it can be hard to see the globalisation as anything other than multinational corporatisation. Similarly, it can be difficult to think of the localisation without the concern of nationalism. But can we use art as a tool for rethinking these categories together? Of globalisation which is one of networked sharing, and a localisation which is a connected celebration of specificity in context? And, if so, how can we begin to undertake this process?

• Can art, as an activist process of social and political change, be reimagined as a form of open-source sharing (rather than individual object-making)?
• How can we use the process of art to develop systems of care and economies of friendship?
• Can art help us to dig where we stand - affecting global change from the context of the specific - and to take newly forged relationships to a marketplace of convivial exchange?

-

Over the last two years, Decentralising Political Economies has sought to open up interconnected and transdisciplinary spaces within which the Whitworth can begin to think itself otherwise, both constituently and publicly. Seeking to move beyond the model of opening up a public window onto pre-existing museological research and exhibition making, dpe.tools has begun to situate itself as a point of convergence, where different ideas, voices, beliefs and discourses can interact - in an effort to imagine what a Constituent Museum might become, and to think how such a public space might function in a post-exhibitionary era.

As a means to do this, and to provide some shared grounding for the project, dpe.tools developed an online Roaming Symposium – which took place in October and November 2021 – and which sought to address the recent ‘usological turn’ in art, intended as the application of art as a tool to be used for social, economic and political change within the art world and beyond. Over two months, the Roaming Symposium articulated a series of questions by including practices across art and education, aiming to create a toolkit available through the platform. The programme included a series of panel discussions and workshops focussed on a range of practices that challenge the art canon, introducing different epistemologies developed thanks to the collaboration with constituencies. For example, we practised the act of dreaming as a knowledge tool and an intentional space for studying something that cannot be seen; we realised how imagination and speculation influence not only the creative process but also the economy; therefore, we tried to use the means of art to reclaim the economy as a social activity; we asked ourselves what would be the implications of living in a post-scarcity future - where art is no longer primarily a commodity or a scarce resource, but becomes widely available in everyday life through its use as an active tool for reshaping economies?

The Roaming Symposium acted as a fundamental enquiring device to activate a transnational network of solidarity, breaking the isolation and the atomisation caused by the neo-liberal economy. As dpe.tools moves into the next phase of its research, it will begin to focus on providing a shared platform for thinking around, through and beyond the key exhibition that will take place at The Whitworth.

 The exhibition Economics the Blockbuster brings together artistic projects that demonstrate how artists and communities collaborate to transform their local economy to better serve their needs. Addressing various forms of economic inequality, each artwork has emerged from a particular place in the world and a specific set of conditions. They employ ground-up activist practices to infiltrate and re-purpose existing dominant economic systems, whilst also opening up new spaces of exchange and value.

As part of the development of the exhibition, Whitworth staff are working with the Centre for Plausible Economies on a series of economic drawing workshops. This process consists of visually mapping the visible and invisible economies of the gallery, to understand how equity and resilience might be better practised. Through this, the workshops test how models of self-organisation and collective practice can infiltrate and begin to transform art institutional infrastructures.   

 Over the next year, dpe.tools will continue to commission a range of contributors to reflect upon the above three questions. These contributions will be made available online as part of the dpe.tools library, blog and toolkits.

«And therefore these are the things that I have first and last to tell you in this place;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Locomotion, but by making the homes we live in lovely, and by staying in them;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Competition, but by doing our quiet best in our own way;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Exhibition, but by doing what is right, and making what is honest, whether it be exhibited or not;—and, for the sum of all, that men must paint and build neither for pride nor for money, but for love; for love of their art, for love of their neighbour, and whatever better love may be than these, founded on these» (Ruskin, 1970).

In the lead-up to The Whitworth’s exhibition Economics the Blockbuster, and for the next chapter of its research activities, the Decentralising Political Economies platform, will be developing three categories of rethinking:

I. Rethinking economics

II. Rethinking the uses of art

III. Rethinking how we live together

These three categories of rethinking will be addressed by three key related questions and consideration of their attendant issues:

I.  IS THE ECONOMY MORE THAN MONEY?

We live in an age of networked and global neoliberalism that has sold us the idea that everything has a price. Alongside this is the idea that everything – every transaction and every relationship - can be exchanged through the medium of money. But what if we thought of this in another way? What if money was only one way in which we could measure, exchange and quantify our ideas, our relationships and our needs?

• Is the economy a complex social activity that can’t simply be reduced to money?
• Is the economy of monetary exchange simply the tip of the iceberg – something that prevents us from seeing the complex interactions that take place in order to make the financial economy work?
• How would we begin to develop more pluralistic ways of seeing, using and participating in this complex (and often hidden) social economy?

II. CAN WE USE THE PROCESS OF ARTISTIC ACTIVITY AS TOOLS FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE?

If art is no longer simply an object – a commodity to be bought, sold, or experienced as a leisure activity – but a process – something which evolves over time through use and re-use – can individuals and constituencies make meaningful changes to their lives through the act of artful living? And if this is the case, how can artists, museums, educational institutions and constituencies rethink their own roles as we move toward a post-scarcity future of degrowth, decolonisation and decentralisation?

• How can we develop and share an understanding of art as a process for active social change? 
• If these processes of art can provide us with toolkits for change, then what effect can these have upon our current understanding of the economy?
• How can we use art to build multiple, pluralistic, networked and context-specific resources for re-empowerment?
  

III. CAN THE PROCESS OF ART HELP US TO RECONNECT ACROSS OUR ECONOMIC DIFFERENCES?

In our age of global and networked neoliberal logic – it can be hard to see the globalisation as anything other than multinational corporatisation. Similarly, it can be difficult to think of the localisation without the concern of nationalism. But can we use art as a tool for rethinking these categories together? Of globalisation which is one of networked sharing, and a localisation which is a connected celebration of specificity in context? And, if so, how can we begin to undertake this process?

• Can art, as an activist process of social and political change, be reimagined as a form of open-source sharing (rather than individual object-making)?
• How can we use the process of art to develop systems of care and economies of friendship?
• Can art help us to dig where we stand - affecting global change from the context of the specific - and to take newly forged relationships to a marketplace of convivial exchange?
  

-

Over the last two years, Decentralising Political Economies has sought to open up interconnected and transdisciplinary spaces within which the Whitworth can begin to think itself otherwise, both constituently and publicly. Seeking to move beyond the model of opening up a public window onto pre-existing museological research and exhibition making, dpe.tools has begun to situate itself as a point of convergence, where different ideas, voices, beliefs and discourses can interact - in an effort to imagine what a Constituent Museum might become, and to think how such a public space might function in a post-exhibitionary era.

As a means to do this, and to provide some shared grounding for the project, dpe.tools developed an online Roaming Symposium – which took place in October and November 2021 – and which sought to address the recent ‘usological turn’ in art, intended as the application of art as a tool to be used for social, economic and political change within the art world and beyond. Over two months, the Roaming Symposium articulated a series of questions by including practices across art and education, aiming to create a toolkit available through the platform. The programme included a series of panel discussions and workshops focussed on a range of practices that challenge the art canon, introducing different epistemologies developed thanks to the collaboration with constituencies. For example, we practised the act of dreaming as a knowledge tool and an intentional space for studying something that cannot be seen; we realised how imagination and speculation influence not only the creative process but also the economy; therefore, we tried to use the means of art to reclaim the economy as a social activity; we asked ourselves what would be the implications of living in a post-scarcity future - where art is no longer primarily a commodity or a scarce resource, but becomes widely available in everyday life through its use as an active tool for reshaping economies?

The Roaming Symposium acted as a fundamental enquiring device to activate a transnational network of solidarity, breaking the isolation and the atomisation caused by the neo-liberal economy. As dpe.tools moves into the next phase of its research, it will begin to focus on providing a shared platform for thinking around, through and beyond the key exhibition that will take place at The Whitworth.

 The exhibition Economics the Blockbuster brings together artistic projects that demonstrate how artists and communities collaborate to transform their local economy to better serve their needs. Addressing various forms of economic inequality, each artwork has emerged from a particular place in the world and a specific set of conditions. They employ ground-up activist practices to infiltrate and re-purpose existing dominant economic systems, whilst also opening up new spaces of exchange and value.

As part of the development of the exhibition, Whitworth staff are working with the Centre for Plausible Economies on a series of economic drawing workshops. This process consists of visually mapping the visible and invisible economies of the gallery, to understand how equity and resilience might be better practised. Through this, the workshops test how models of self-organisation and collective practice can infiltrate and begin to transform art institutional infrastructures.   

 Over the next year, dpe.tools will continue to commission a range of contributors to reflect upon the above three questions. These contributions will be made available online as part of the dpe.tools library, blog and toolkits.

«And therefore these are the things that I have first and last to tell you in this place;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Locomotion, but by making the homes we live in lovely, and by staying in them;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Competition, but by doing our quiet best in our own way;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Exhibition, but by doing what is right, and making what is honest, whether it be exhibited or not;—and, for the sum of all, that men must paint and build neither for pride nor for money, but for love; for love of their art, for love of their neighbour, and whatever better love may be than these, founded on these» (Ruskin, 1970).

In the lead-up to The Whitworth’s exhibition Economics the Blockbuster, and for the next chapter of its research activities, the Decentralising Political Economies platform, will be developing three categories of rethinking:

I. Rethinking economics

II. Rethinking the uses of art

III. Rethinking how we live together

These three categories of rethinking will be addressed by three key related questions and consideration of their attendant issues:

I.  IS THE ECONOMY MORE THAN MONEY?

We live in an age of networked and global neoliberalism that has sold us the idea that everything has a price. Alongside this is the idea that everything – every transaction and every relationship - can be exchanged through the medium of money. But what if we thought of this in another way? What if money was only one way in which we could measure, exchange and quantify our ideas, our relationships and our needs?

• Is the economy a complex social activity that can’t simply be reduced to money?
• Is the economy of monetary exchange simply the tip of the iceberg – something that prevents us from seeing the complex interactions that take place in order to make the financial economy work?
• How would we begin to develop more pluralistic ways of seeing, using and participating in this complex (and often hidden) social economy?

II. CAN WE USE THE PROCESS OF ARTISTIC ACTIVITY AS TOOLS FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE?

If art is no longer simply an object – a commodity to be bought, sold, or experienced as a leisure activity – but a process – something which evolves over time through use and re-use – can individuals and constituencies make meaningful changes to their lives through the act of artful living? And if this is the case, how can artists, museums, educational institutions and constituencies rethink their own roles as we move toward a post-scarcity future of degrowth, decolonisation and decentralisation?

• How can we develop and share an understanding of art as a process for active social change? 
• If these processes of art can provide us with toolkits for change, then what effect can these have upon our current understanding of the economy?
• How can we use art to build multiple, pluralistic, networked and context-specific resources for re-empowerment?

III. CAN THE PROCESS OF ART HELP US TO RECONNECT ACROSS OUR ECONOMIC DIFFERENCES?

In our age of global and networked neoliberal logic – it can be hard to see the globalisation as anything other than multinational corporatisation. Similarly, it can be difficult to think of the localisation without the concern of nationalism. But can we use art as a tool for rethinking these categories together? Of globalisation which is one of networked sharing, and a localisation which is a connected celebration of specificity in context? And, if so, how can we begin to undertake this process?

• Can art, as an activist process of social and political change, be reimagined as a form of open-source sharing (rather than individual object-making)?
• How can we use the process of art to develop systems of care and economies of friendship?
• Can art help us to dig where we stand - affecting global change from the context of the specific - and to take newly forged relationships to a marketplace of convivial exchange?

-

Over the last two years, Decentralising Political Economies has sought to open up interconnected and transdisciplinary spaces within which the Whitworth can begin to think itself otherwise, both constituently and publicly. Seeking to move beyond the model of opening up a public window onto pre-existing museological research and exhibition making, dpe.tools has begun to situate itself as a point of convergence, where different ideas, voices, beliefs and discourses can interact - in an effort to imagine what a Constituent Museum might become, and to think how such a public space might function in a post-exhibitionary era.

As a means to do this, and to provide some shared grounding for the project, dpe.tools developed an online Roaming Symposium – which took place in October and November 2021 – and which sought to address the recent ‘usological turn’ in art, intended as the application of art as a tool to be used for social, economic and political change within the art world and beyond. Over two months, the Roaming Symposium articulated a series of questions by including practices across art and education, aiming to create a toolkit available through the platform. The programme included a series of panel discussions and workshops focussed on a range of practices that challenge the art canon, introducing different epistemologies developed thanks to the collaboration with constituencies. For example, we practised the act of dreaming as a knowledge tool and an intentional space for studying something that cannot be seen; we realised how imagination and speculation influence not only the creative process but also the economy; therefore, we tried to use the means of art to reclaim the economy as a social activity; we asked ourselves what would be the implications of living in a post-scarcity future - where art is no longer primarily a commodity or a scarce resource, but becomes widely available in everyday life through its use as an active tool for reshaping economies?

The Roaming Symposium acted as a fundamental enquiring device to activate a transnational network of solidarity, breaking the isolation and the atomisation caused by the neo-liberal economy. As dpe.tools moves into the next phase of its research, it will begin to focus on providing a shared platform for thinking around, through and beyond the key exhibition that will take place at The Whitworth.

 The exhibition Economics the Blockbuster brings together artistic projects that demonstrate how artists and communities collaborate to transform their local economy to better serve their needs. Addressing various forms of economic inequality, each artwork has emerged from a particular place in the world and a specific set of conditions. They employ ground-up activist practices to infiltrate and re-purpose existing dominant economic systems, whilst also opening up new spaces of exchange and value.

As part of the development of the exhibition, Whitworth staff are working with the Centre for Plausible Economies on a series of economic drawing workshops. This process consists of visually mapping the visible and invisible economies of the gallery, to understand how equity and resilience might be better practised. Through this, the workshops test how models of self-organisation and collective practice can infiltrate and begin to transform art institutional infrastructures.   

 Over the next year, dpe.tools will continue to commission a range of contributors to reflect upon the above three questions. These contributions will be made available online as part of the dpe.tools library, blog and toolkits.

«And therefore these are the things that I have first and last to tell you in this place;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Locomotion, but by making the homes we live in lovely, and by staying in them;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Competition, but by doing our quiet best in our own way;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Exhibition, but by doing what is right, and making what is honest, whether it be exhibited or not;—and, for the sum of all, that men must paint and build neither for pride nor for money, but for love; for love of their art, for love of their neighbour, and whatever better love may be than these, founded on these» (Ruskin, 1970).

In the lead-up to The Whitworth’s exhibition Economics the Blockbuster, and for the next chapter of its research activities, the Decentralising Political Economies platform, will be developing three categories of rethinking:

I. Rethinking economics

II. Rethinking the uses of art

III. Rethinking how we live together

These three categories of rethinking will be addressed by three key related questions and consideration of their attendant issues:

I.  IS THE ECONOMY MORE THAN MONEY?

We live in an age of networked and global neoliberalism that has sold us the idea that everything has a price. Alongside this is the idea that everything – every transaction and every relationship - can be exchanged through the medium of money. But what if we thought of this in another way? What if money was only one way in which we could measure, exchange and quantify our ideas, our relationships and our needs?

• Is the economy a complex social activity that can’t simply be reduced to money?
• Is the economy of monetary exchange simply the tip of the iceberg – something that prevents us from seeing the complex interactions that take place in order to make the financial economy work?
• How would we begin to develop more pluralistic ways of seeing, using and participating in this complex (and often hidden) social economy?

II. CAN WE USE THE PROCESS OF ARTISTIC ACTIVITY AS TOOLS FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE?

If art is no longer simply an object – a commodity to be bought, sold, or experienced as a leisure activity – but a process – something which evolves over time through use and re-use – can individuals and constituencies make meaningful changes to their lives through the act of artful living? And if this is the case, how can artists, museums, educational institutions and constituencies rethink their own roles as we move toward a post-scarcity future of degrowth, decolonisation and decentralisation?

• How can we develop and share an understanding of art as a process for active social change? 
• If these processes of art can provide us with toolkits for change, then what effect can these have upon our current understanding of the economy?
• How can we use art to build multiple, pluralistic, networked and context-specific resources for re-empowerment?

III. CAN THE PROCESS OF ART HELP US TO RECONNECT ACROSS OUR ECONOMIC DIFFERENCES?

In our age of global and networked neoliberal logic – it can be hard to see the globalisation as anything other than multinational corporatisation. Similarly, it can be difficult to think of the localisation without the concern of nationalism. But can we use art as a tool for rethinking these categories together? Of globalisation which is one of networked sharing, and a localisation which is a connected celebration of specificity in context? And, if so, how can we begin to undertake this process?

• Can art, as an activist process of social and political change, be reimagined as a form of open-source sharing (rather than individual object-making)?
• How can we use the process of art to develop systems of care and economies of friendship?
• Can art help us to dig where we stand - affecting global change from the context of the specific - and to take newly forged relationships to a marketplace of convivial exchange?

-

Over the last two years, Decentralising Political Economies has sought to open up interconnected and transdisciplinary spaces within which the Whitworth can begin to think itself otherwise, both constituently and publicly. Seeking to move beyond the model of opening up a public window onto pre-existing museological research and exhibition making, dpe.tools has begun to situate itself as a point of convergence, where different ideas, voices, beliefs and discourses can interact - in an effort to imagine what a Constituent Museum might become, and to think how such a public space might function in a post-exhibitionary era.

As a means to do this, and to provide some shared grounding for the project, dpe.tools developed an online Roaming Symposium – which took place in October and November 2021 – and which sought to address the recent ‘usological turn’ in art, intended as the application of art as a tool to be used for social, economic and political change within the art world and beyond. Over two months, the Roaming Symposium articulated a series of questions by including practices across art and education, aiming to create a toolkit available through the platform. The programme included a series of panel discussions and workshops focussed on a range of practices that challenge the art canon, introducing different epistemologies developed thanks to the collaboration with constituencies. For example, we practised the act of dreaming as a knowledge tool and an intentional space for studying something that cannot be seen; we realised how imagination and speculation influence not only the creative process but also the economy; therefore, we tried to use the means of art to reclaim the economy as a social activity; we asked ourselves what would be the implications of living in a post-scarcity future - where art is no longer primarily a commodity or a scarce resource, but becomes widely available in everyday life through its use as an active tool for reshaping economies?

The Roaming Symposium acted as a fundamental enquiring device to activate a transnational network of solidarity, breaking the isolation and the atomisation caused by the neo-liberal economy. As dpe.tools moves into the next phase of its research, it will begin to focus on providing a shared platform for thinking around, through and beyond the key exhibition that will take place at The Whitworth.

 The exhibition Economics the Blockbuster brings together artistic projects that demonstrate how artists and communities collaborate to transform their local economy to better serve their needs. Addressing various forms of economic inequality, each artwork has emerged from a particular place in the world and a specific set of conditions. They employ ground-up activist practices to infiltrate and re-purpose existing dominant economic systems, whilst also opening up new spaces of exchange and value.

As part of the development of the exhibition, Whitworth staff are working with the Centre for Plausible Economies on a series of economic drawing workshops. This process consists of visually mapping the visible and invisible economies of the gallery, to understand how equity and resilience might be better practised. Through this, the workshops test how models of self-organisation and collective practice can infiltrate and begin to transform art institutional infrastructures.   

 Over the next year, dpe.tools will continue to commission a range of contributors to reflect upon the above three questions. These contributions will be made available online as part of the dpe.tools library, blog and toolkits.

«And therefore these are the things that I have first and last to tell you in this place;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Locomotion, but by making the homes we live in lovely, and by staying in them;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Competition, but by doing our quiet best in our own way;—that the fine arts are not to be learned by Exhibition, but by doing what is right, and making what is honest, whether it be exhibited or not;—and, for the sum of all, that men must paint and build neither for pride nor for money, but for love; for love of their art, for love of their neighbour, and whatever better love may be than these, founded on these» (Ruskin, 1970).

In the lead-up to The Whitworth’s exhibition Economics the Blockbuster, and for the next chapter of its research activities, the Decentralising Political Economies platform, will be developing three categories of rethinking:

I. Rethinking economics

II. Rethinking the uses of art

III. Rethinking how we live together

These three categories of rethinking will be addressed by three key related questions and consideration of their attendant issues:

I.  IS THE ECONOMY MORE THAN MONEY?

We live in an age of networked and global neoliberalism that has sold us the idea that everything has a price. Alongside this is the idea that everything – every transaction and every relationship - can be exchanged through the medium of money. But what if we thought of this in another way? What if money was only one way in which we could measure, exchange and quantify our ideas, our relationships and our needs?

• Is the economy a complex social activity that can’t simply be reduced to money?
• Is the economy of monetary exchange simply the tip of the iceberg – something that prevents us from seeing the complex interactions that take place in order to make the financial economy work?
• How would we begin to develop more pluralistic ways of seeing, using and participating in this complex (and often hidden) social economy?

II. CAN WE USE THE PROCESS OF ARTISTIC ACTIVITY AS TOOLS FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE?

If art is no longer simply an object – a commodity to be bought, sold, or experienced as a leisure activity – but a process – something which evolves over time through use and re-use – can individuals and constituencies make meaningful changes to their lives through the act of artful living? And if this is the case, how can artists, museums, educational institutions and constituencies rethink their own roles as we move toward a post-scarcity future of degrowth, decolonisation and decentralisation?

• How can we develop and share an understanding of art as a process for active social change? 
• If these processes of art can provide us with toolkits for change, then what effect can these have upon our current understanding of the economy?
• How can we use art to build multiple, pluralistic, networked and context-specific resources for re-empowerment?

III. CAN THE PROCESS OF ART HELP US TO RECONNECT ACROSS OUR ECONOMIC DIFFERENCES?

In our age of global and networked neoliberal logic – it can be hard to see the globalisation as anything other than multinational corporatisation. Similarly, it can be difficult to think of the localisation without the concern of nationalism. But can we use art as a tool for rethinking these categories together? Of globalisation which is one of networked sharing, and a localisation which is a connected celebration of specificity in context? And, if so, how can we begin to undertake this process?

• Can art, as an activist process of social and political change, be reimagined as a form of open-source sharing (rather than individual object-making)?
• How can we use the process of art to develop systems of care and economies of friendship?
• Can art help us to dig where we stand - affecting global change from the context of the specific - and to take newly forged relationships to a marketplace of convivial exchange?

-

Over the last two years, Decentralising Political Economies has sought to open up interconnected and transdisciplinary spaces within which the Whitworth can begin to think itself otherwise, both constituently and publicly. Seeking to move beyond the model of opening up a public window onto pre-existing museological research and exhibition making, dpe.tools has begun to situate itself as a point of convergence, where different ideas, voices, beliefs and discourses can interact - in an effort to imagine what a Constituent Museum might become, and to think how such a public space might function in a post-exhibitionary era.

As a means to do this, and to provide some shared grounding for the project, dpe.tools developed an online Roaming Symposium – which took place in October and November 2021 – and which sought to address the recent ‘usological turn’ in art, intended as the application of art as a tool to be used for social, economic and political change within the art world and beyond. Over two months, the Roaming Symposium articulated a series of questions by including practices across art and education, aiming to create a toolkit available through the platform. The programme included a series of panel discussions and workshops focussed on a range of practices that challenge the art canon, introducing different epistemologies developed thanks to the collaboration with constituencies. For example, we practised the act of dreaming as a knowledge tool and an intentional space for studying something that cannot be seen; we realised how imagination and speculation influence not only the creative process but also the economy; therefore, we tried to use the means of art to reclaim the economy as a social activity; we asked ourselves what would be the implications of living in a post-scarcity future - where art is no longer primarily a commodity or a scarce resource, but becomes widely available in everyday life through its use as an active tool for reshaping economies?

The Roaming Symposium acted as a fundamental enquiring device to activate a transnational network of solidarity, breaking the isolation and the atomisation caused by the neo-liberal economy. As dpe.tools moves into the next phase of its research, it will begin to focus on providing a shared platform for thinking around, through and beyond the key exhibition that will take place at The Whitworth.

The exhibition Economics the Blockbuster brings together artistic projects that demonstrate how artists and communities collaborate to transform their local economy to better serve their needs. Addressing various forms of economic inequality, each artwork has emerged from a particular place in the world and a specific set of conditions. They employ ground-up activist practices to infiltrate and re-purpose existing dominant economic systems, whilst also opening up new spaces of exchange and value.

As part of the development of the exhibition, Whitworth staff are working with the Centre for Plausible Economies on a series of economic drawing workshops. This process consists of visually mapping the visible and invisible economies of the gallery, to understand how equity and resilience might be better practised. Through this, the workshops test how models of self-organisation and collective practice can infiltrate and begin to transform art institutional infrastructures.   

 Over the next year, dpe.tools will continue to commission a range of contributors to reflect upon the above three questions. These contributions will be made available online as part of the dpe.tools library, blog and toolkits.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ruskin, J. (1870) Lecture IV: The Relation of Art to Use. in Lectures on Art. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ruskin, J. (1870) Lecture IV: The Relation of Art to Use. In Lectures on Art. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ruskin, J. (1870) Lecture IV: The Relation of Art to Use. in Lectures on Art. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ruskin, J. (1870)  Lecture IV: The Relation of Art to Use. In Lectures on Art. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ruskin, J. (1870)  Lecture IV: The Relation of Art to Use. In Lectures on Art. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

 
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