Rebekah Modrak spoke at the RadicalxChange conference in Detroit, March 22 – 24, 2019.

RadicalxChange brings together artists, entrepreneurs, scholars and activists to explore the potential to bridge political divides and inequality through political and economic mechanism design. Modrak spoke as part of the Arts and Communication track, and the panel, Can radical imagination thrive with radical markets, data-as-labour, and the always-on-auction?

Aware that “radical imagination is not something individuals have but something collectives do,” some artists are looking for better systems for supporting cooperation, solidarity and shared values through decentralized technologies. This panel took the lived experience of contemporary artists as a lens to explore the advantages (or otherwise) for individuals and society of the ‘always-on-auction’ and ‘data-as-labour’ mechanisms proposed in Radical Markets.

Modrak was invited to speak about her work with curator Marialaura Ghidini on #exstrange, and how the project shapes and humanizes market-based platforms, re-imagining the online marketplace as an experience and opportunity to engage with social thinkers. As advocates of radical social change, the RadicalxChange community envisions an extraordinary opportunity to create real collaboration across disciplines and perspectives to address the failings of individualistic ‘isms’ and build a coalition that can defend a renewed, radical, social platform for inclusion and equality.

The panel is chaired by Ruth Catlow, co-founder and artistic director, with Marc Garrett, of Furtherfield for arts, technology and social change, a not-for profit organization that promotes the idea that it is everyone’s business to imagine and shape society together.