The Economy, Stupid!

Karl Marx saw “complete alienation,” the “dehumanization” of people, in the credit system. Capital does not appraise goods or labor to approximate creditworthiness, but humans themselves. Today, algorithms carry out economic categorization of individuals.

The Tenancy Rights of Safer the Miner shows Yugoslavian socialism’s quite awkward bonus system. Citizens receive points for labor rendered and children borne; for points one gets living space. Even figures from the most capitalist of all comic empires, Disney, are estranged to illustrate the Communist Manifesto in Manifestoon. Market Sentiments shows the filleting of the Estonian landscape for investors. In Karaoke, employees from the last Lithuanian state bank sing about the essence of their occupation ad nauseam: “Money, money, money.” Gratis Punsch, however, dabbles in the reversal of capitalist principles. What happens when one gives away mulled wine at a Christmas market? The people in Social Netwalks are not grouped by software, but through subtle montage into diverse categories. The Google Corporation became famous for its global-sorting algorithms. What is less known is that Google divides its employees into a complex system of various classes and is thus quite unwilling to play with an open hand, as shown in Workers Leaving the Google Plex.

The Tenancy Rights of Safer the Miner – Stanarsko pravo lagumaša Safera, Petar Ljubojev, yu 1974, 12 min

Manifestoon, Jesse Drew, us 1995, 9 min

Market Sentiments, Barbara Musil, at/ee 2007, 4 min

Karaoke, Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas, lt 2001, 11 min

Gratis Punsch, Eva Jiricka & Katharina Fiegl, cz 2006, 6 min

Social Netwalks, Ralph Kistler, es 2012, 8 min