Warhols experimental art currency

The “Warhols” are inspired by the iconic statement that in an ever-faster-paced world, anyone will have 15 minutes of fleeting fame. At the same time, in a society with increased surveillance and growing levels of over-sharing, obscurity emerges on the other side of the spectrum as a valuable asset.

They will be created during the ISEA Vancouver 2015 conference, as part of a currency design workshop. When we mention design, this doesn’t refer to the visual look of the currency, but to the rules and mechanisms by which it is created, given value and exchanged in the economy. In fact, the currencies will be digital and exchanged by text message, in a system inspired by the Kenyan currency M-Pesa.

The idea is to test the Warhols currency by setting up a special marketplace during ISEA. The conference attendants are entitled to receive an amount of different versions of Warhols and can use them to buy and exchange items in this market. The performance of each currency version will then be measured and displayed in real-time graphs.

(Registration for this 1-day workshop is open at the ISEA 2015 website)