“The Maths of the Secret. Lecture #2” is the second work in an ongoing video series dedicated to money, redefining the lecture-performance format and fostering an intricate dialogue between human expertise and artificial intelligence. Each video explores the theme of money and its historical evolution, delving into specific disciplines. For each episode, I invite a distinguished scholar to engage in discussions, catalyzing contemplation on the history, functions, power dynamics, and the non-neutral role of money in shaping societal transformations. Within each video, the voice and insights of one of these scholars intricately intertwine with images and texts generated by text-to-text and text-to-image models.
“The Maths of the Secret. Lecture #2” examines money through a socio-anthropological lens involving sociologist of economics Adam Hayes. Hayes offers an unconventional perspective on the concept of money, highlighting its profound social role and tracing a story from its origins to agrarian civilization, the concept of debt, the emergence of private property and looking at the future of money, deconstructing bitcoin and decentralized finance.
“The Maths of the Secret” looks at money as a relational technology that transforms in space and time depending on its origin uses, and purposes. The work thus calls into question the orthodox conception that identifies money as a mere instrument of exchange, a neutral veil. Debt, taxes, stones, cryptocurrency, art market, patronage, central banks and decentralized systems, emancipation, gender and class issues are some of the words that make up the score of this work.
Thus far, I have also collaborated with art historian Maria Giovanna Mancini (Lecture #1) and philosopher Mara Montanaro (Lecture#3).
Produced by: Museo MA*GA in the frame of the solo exhibition “La Matematica del Segreto e altre storie” curated by Alessandro Castiglioni & Studio Valentina Vetturi
Commissioned by: Lagos Biennial 2024 (english version)
Funded by: Ministero della Cultura, Fondo Cultura 2021
Texts and voices: Adam Hayes
Sound editing and AI coding support: Roberto Matarrese
Video Editing: Roberto Cillo