ResourceCamp Notes
From Critical Practice Chelsea
THESE ARE A TRANSCRIPT OF THE FLIP-CHART NOTES MADE DURING RESOURCECAMP. THEY INCLUDE PRESENTATIONS AND RESPONSES FROM PARTICIPANTS, WITHOUT DESCRIMINATING BETWEEN THE TWO TYPES OF CONTRIBUTION.
PRESENTATIONS BY KUBA, NEIL, CORRADO & MARSHA, ANNA, PETER, CINZIA, TREVOR, EILEEN & BEN, JEM, MARCELL
See video of ResourceCamp presentations on Swarm TV
Kuba - HOW TO DIVIDE A CAKE?
Economy as a cake with 4 layers (from Hazel Henderson):
1. Market
2. State
3. Love
4. Natural environment
1 & 2 are concerned with individuals
3 & 4 deal with the collective
What are the Art World applications of this theory?
‘Mother Culture’ is made up of language, tradition, everyday practice.
A slice of cake contains all 4 layers
Who has the power to slice the cake?
‘Natural’ resources are assumed to be endless
Without social/emotional investment – the top 2 layers can’t exist
Neil - GENEROSITY
THE ECONOMY OF THE GIFT
Flat hierarchies based on good will
‘All art is organised’
CP as open-organisation/elf-organising group
O-O guidelines are pragmatic but…
Money (this is comparatively easy)?
Distribution?
The problem of a mixed economy context
Volunteers/generosity
Ill-will when we spend
More money is not a solution
How do we reimburse conviviality/friendship?
We could pay for specific tasks – i.e. skills rather than labour (e.g. admin work)
Can generosity be reimbursed GENEROSITY is a problem
Risky generosity – creative surplus is invested in CP
Is this sustainable?
Finance ≠ Gift Economy
Can we quantify returns?
How do we prevent exploitation (personal/institutional)?
Ethics and the capital we produce
Capitalist economy puts the market first – as a basis
Love = Gift Economy
Potential exploitation of everyday exchanges
‘Love is evil’ – Zizek
- The talk notes for Can generosity be reimbursed?
Corrado and Marsha -THE TROUBLE WITH ASKING
The accountability of desire
Openness – online budget as ‘best practice’
Asking: how do we recognise those who don’t ask to be recognised
Open Congress – a wikified budget
Some retracted their budget claims
Asking too much?
Is the wikified budget coercive?
E.g. What is involved in choosing a cheap/expensive hotel?
Sofa –Sharing instead of hotels – but what if there is no buy out?
How do systems condition personalities?
People participate in different ways
Open organisations accommodate certain types of personality
‘Impression Management’
Selecting people who can afford to be generous
Transparency as a principle – how does it function in practice?
Anna - WHERE DOES THE ACCUMULTION OF CAPITAL GO?
It’s not generosity but commitment
Free labour in the art world can build reputation
The cultural field is seen as a main source of funding
What about political aims as motivation?
What happens when we call ‘Politics’ ‘Art’
What happens to the capital you produce?
We have to teach ourselves how to respect different forms of labour
The importance of logistics
Desire – arts practice
Desire - political practice
Subjectivisation:
It’s different to be a ‘me’ for ‘me’
Rather than a ‘you’ for ‘them’
Peter -TRANSITIONAL PRACTICE
The co-operative – ‘To each according to their need…’
The dynamics of an organisation change as needs change
When dealing with public money – we have to respond to formal budget terms
In Transitional Practice – everything is negotiated
Contributions ‘In Kind’ (for match funding)
Budgets should be organised around tasks – but these are always negotiated
Working within an institution – is transparency a good thing?
Membership of an organisation
Does the online relationship change the relationships we can have?
What’s the online/offline relationship?
Trust and Prestige
Prestige doesn’t make itself. How do we value it?
Trust optimises personal resources
Trust is its own reward
Do we operate within a contradiction?
Points of friction are potentially points of change
Cinzia - THE PERSONAL IS ECONOMICAL
What is the nature of a resource?
An attempt at a personal balance-sheet on a collective project
What is a resource?
Is it possible to keep a ‘Personal Balance Sheet’?
Income /Expenses
What is the value in leaving the question open (risky)?
- - Each project should be considered in its own right
- - Precedents can be deceptive
How far should we use the language and models of corporations/capital
- 1: Transparency/Accountability – Is it possible?
- 2: Power/Hierarchy
A few have access to resources. Do the lines need to be made clearer?
- 3: Trust/Transparency
Do we need to know everything in order to trust?
The rewards of generosity –
1. Materialistic (Money/Time)
2. Decision-making (Political power)
3. Interpretation, reflection on what we are doing (trust)
Self-actualisation – we can’t begin to measure this
TRUST
A precondition of making
Concerning the density of the social bond
Patterns of communication
Cinzia's The Personal is Economical digest.
Trevor - THE COST OF OPPORTUNITY
Value is a sacrifice one is prepared to make
Opportunity costs
Choosing one option over another –
- One uses of time over another
- The decision to participate or not
Assessing the true cost of any course of action
How do we account for implicit hidden costs?
Is value imposed rather than intrinsic?
What about Volunteers?
What do they gain in terms of acquiring skills, visibility, personal growth?
How do we relate personal economies?
In a fragmented field – how do we edit?
Supply as reverse demand
The metaphor of tuning in to radio frequencies
Are choices always rational?
Either/Or is more than a choice between 2 options
Personal Economics – How far and why am I invested?
Why do we use models of scarcity to manage abundance?
Read the text of Trevor's Opportunity Cost presentation
Ben and Eileen - OPEN MUSIC ARCHIVE – THE BUDGET
A resource for future use:
60% pressing record – 500 discs
20% venue hire
10% flyers
10% transport
No-one was paid
Records were not sold but people were asked for a donation
Different sites/forms of distribution
Bidding against other artists – Undercutting? Sustainability?
Where does an open-organisation end and this type of organisation begin?
What are the benefits to the people involved in creating the resource?
Does this way of operating privilege those with independent income?
Vinyl seen as best resource for all involved
How could you track resource use?
When we have digital means, why go back to traditional market?
Emphasis on performativity
Jem - THINK OF A NUMBER – PRINCIPLES OF OPEN BUDGET MANAGEMENT
How does a group choose a number?
Behind this simple task there is a multitude of principles – each with pros and cons
Open budget management – harrow residents
Principles, definite objectives – principles met?
1. Influence 2. Information 3. Deliberation 4. Feedback 5 Independence
Possible Principles:
Consider each case Flexibility Aims/Desire Priorities (tasks) Monetary strategy and other implicated transactions
Marcel - EXPLOITATION
Good to measure exploitation
Avoid measuring using money and capitalism
Digital(ism) is a useful abstraction
Protection afforded by licences may be an illusion
We ‘own’ gestures, not substance
Reciprocity of GPL is a political gesture
There is no exploitation if feeding back according to original values
Law – contracts – relationships
Default on love!
Reputation systems – potentiality in assigning judgements/values (?)
Copyright infringement = false
Clarity at the beginning
If you want to make money – do business
Common responsibility
Make justice where it doesn’t exist
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