Sunday, March 4, 2012

Time/Bank: a barter economy for the art community

This project has been ongoing since 2010, and has spread to branches around the world.  I wish we had a branch here in Las Vegas.  I am going to try to open one.  Anyone want to be involved?

http://e-flux.com/timebank/

How is this art?  To me, it is an extraordinarily relevant contemporary form: collaborative, engaged with the politics and economics of globalization, responding to the economic realities of the art world (many artists, sparse economic opportunity), breaks down distinctions between "art" and "life" by employing everyday skills to build a Utopian community...and on.

3 comments:

  1. I think time bank is a fantastic idea. I am reading through their website seeing how other cities have participated. I can definitely play a role in helping it happen here in Las Vegas.

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  2. This seems really interesting. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the concept. But it totally reminds of me of this really awful Justin Timberlake movie I saw recently called IN TIME. They placed the concept of a "life-span/life-time" synonymous with money. So, if you ran out of time, you died. It was some really dumb/bleak concept of capitalism. The dying part was dumb, but the concept reminds me of this. Maybe this is where they stole it from.

    But back to this, I feel like this idea could work better than the monetary system we have in place currently. Because people would be more inclined to spend their time wisely to contribute towards production rather than waiting around just to get paid. I could be thinking about this the wrong way though. Overly idealist? I'm not sure.

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  3. I really like the idea of a time bank. I could not help thinking of those who have given so much unpaid time to others (some feminist issues MUST have been brought up in discussions of this type of economy). I would be willing to participate in some form of this is Las Vegas. I say this cautiously, however, knowing that there would have to be some safety guidelines.

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