The Great Reconomy | Greg Bloom
For his project, Greg Bloom conducted and presented research on creative, social, and economic exchange at the museum. In addition to studying the individual workflows and collaborative efforts in Elsewhere, he led public discussions on the history of the “commons” as a means of resource sharing, and current and potential resource sharing efforts in local communities, digital culture and beyond. He also facilitated exchanges of time and skill through a series of progressive experiments that encouraged Elsewhere staff, residents, and interns to expand their capacity for mutual aid.
Bloom’s residency culminated in a special edition of Elsewhere’s interactive game of play pretend, CITY, in which we experiment with intriguing social possibilities through character based play. The episode, called the Great Reconomy was built on an imagined scenario in which the economy of CITY has crashed, leaving the button currency utterly devalued, and its forward thinking citizens dedicate themselves to building a new economy based on trades of time and skill rather than money.
