In this video we explore The Waterworks of Money, a metaphorical representation of our money system. We look at how new money is created, see where our pension savings end up, and discover how this system is boosting inequality in various ways. While the costs of keeping the financial system up and running are borne by society, most profits that arise from it are not. Instead, those end up in the pockets of a small group of large multinationals and their shareholders, at the expense of everyone else.
The Waterworks of Money was exhibited in Rijksmuseum Twenthe and Kunstmuseum Den Haag, and reproductions are currently on display at the Architecture Biennale in Venice and the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. In October 2023, this work of art received the Amsterdam Art Prize and the Dutch Design Award in the category Design Research.
We created the Waterworks of Money as an artistic attempt to demystify the financial world and boost ‘systemic financial literacy’. Growing inequality, the slow progress in making our economy sustainable, and recurring financial crises cannot be seen in isolation: they are intricately connected to the structure of our financial and monetary system.
Can we redesign the architecture of the waterworks of money and achieve a different outcome?
For more info check out: https://www.waterworksofmoney.com or https://www.carlijnkingma.com
For the Dutch version of this animation check out: https://www.ftm.nl/waterwerk
In the video we’ll show that the design flaws causing instability in our financial system have not been fundamentally addressed in or after the credit crisis of 2008. Some of the measures taken by our governments and central banks have actually created new incentives for excessive risk taking and exacerbated inequality within society.
The response to the crisis has also boosted a new kind of ‘asset manager capitalism’. Asset management firms like BlackRock and Vanguard have grown into major power players. They are responsible for investing our pension savings and control trillions of dollars in assets. Just like the banks before them, they are now ‘too big to fail’. Who actually benefits from this system?
In our journey we also explore new monetary channels and policy options that haven’t been used in the past decade, but could be deployed in the future to make major improvements to the system as a whole. Could the introduction of a digital euro or dollar – also called Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) – improve financial stability and make the monetary system more equitable?
The structure of our monetary system is not a natural phenomenon. We can choose to change its architecture, but only if ordinary citizens develop their own vocabulary to participate in the debate, can they tell their politicians which kind of ‘financial irrigation system’ they want.
Authors: Carlijn Kingma, Thomas Bollen, Martijn Jeroen van der Linden
Animation: Tiepes, Christian Schinkel, Cathleen van den Akker
Narrator: Loveday Smith
Translation: Erica Moore
Voice recording: Huub Krom
Music and sound: Rob Peters
Photography: Studio OPPA
Partners & Sponsors: Follow the Money, De Haagse Hogeschool, Interledger Foundation, Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Brave New Works, Rabobank, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Rijksmuseum Twenthe
Exhibitions:
'The Waterworks of Money' at Rijksmuseum Twenthe 16 October 2022 - 29 January 2023.
'The Future of Money' at Kunstmuseum Den Haag, 14 April, 2023 - 8 September 2023.
'Plumbing The System' at the Dutch Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, 20 May 2023 - 26 November 2023
'Interledger Summit' in San Jose, Costa Rica, 5 - 8 November 2023
The Waterworks of Money was exhibited in Rijksmuseum Twenthe and Kunstmuseum Den Haag, and reproductions are currently on display at the Architecture Biennale in Venice and the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. In October 2023, this work of art received the Amsterdam Art Prize and the Dutch Design Award in the category Design Research.
We created the Waterworks of Money as an artistic attempt to demystify the financial world and boost ‘systemic financial literacy’. Growing inequality, the slow progress in making our economy sustainable, and recurring financial crises cannot be seen in isolation: they are intricately connected to the structure of our financial and monetary system.
Can we redesign the architecture of the waterworks of money and achieve a different outcome?
For more info check out: https://www.waterworksofmoney.com or https://www.carlijnkingma.com
For the Dutch version of this animation check out: https://www.ftm.nl/waterwerk
In the video we’ll show that the design flaws causing instability in our financial system have not been fundamentally addressed in or after the credit crisis of 2008. Some of the measures taken by our governments and central banks have actually created new incentives for excessive risk taking and exacerbated inequality within society.
The response to the crisis has also boosted a new kind of ‘asset manager capitalism’. Asset management firms like BlackRock and Vanguard have grown into major power players. They are responsible for investing our pension savings and control trillions of dollars in assets. Just like the banks before them, they are now ‘too big to fail’. Who actually benefits from this system?
In our journey we also explore new monetary channels and policy options that haven’t been used in the past decade, but could be deployed in the future to make major improvements to the system as a whole. Could the introduction of a digital euro or dollar – also called Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) – improve financial stability and make the monetary system more equitable?
The structure of our monetary system is not a natural phenomenon. We can choose to change its architecture, but only if ordinary citizens develop their own vocabulary to participate in the debate, can they tell their politicians which kind of ‘financial irrigation system’ they want.
Authors: Carlijn Kingma, Thomas Bollen, Martijn Jeroen van der Linden
Animation: Tiepes, Christian Schinkel, Cathleen van den Akker
Narrator: Loveday Smith
Translation: Erica Moore
Voice recording: Huub Krom
Music and sound: Rob Peters
Photography: Studio OPPA
Partners & Sponsors: Follow the Money, De Haagse Hogeschool, Interledger Foundation, Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Brave New Works, Rabobank, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Rijksmuseum Twenthe
Exhibitions:
'The Waterworks of Money' at Rijksmuseum Twenthe 16 October 2022 - 29 January 2023.
'The Future of Money' at Kunstmuseum Den Haag, 14 April, 2023 - 8 September 2023.
'Plumbing The System' at the Dutch Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, 20 May 2023 - 26 November 2023
'Interledger Summit' in San Jose, Costa Rica, 5 - 8 November 2023
