This note is a part of my Zettelkasten. What is below might not be complete or accurate. It is also likely to change often.
1st September, 2020

Invisible Economy

The invisible economy is a proposed radical seperation of the making from the market using Transparency and Invisibility as core mechanisms. Although intended for artists, this idea is applicable to any kind of making- code writing, curating, journalism, etc.

The premise

The Art Market is broken

Knowledge-scarce marketplaces result in monopolies

The art market today is in the control of the few select elites. Even though the making of art has become very easy, the problems with the market remain:

  • Extreme inequality
  • Biased towards Male, White artists
  • Winner takes all. Losers get exponentially less.
  • The artist has no control over copyright
  • Art is commodified and has become an asset - a vehicle for wealth transfer and capital gains.

The CryptoArt and Blockchain movement cannot solve this problem

The current efforts in cryptoart are mostly aimed towards recreating the traditional marketplaces in an online space. The knowledge structure of the marketplace remains the same. There are efforts in creating better technological solutions to create the same type of marketplaces online but nont solve the inherent brokenness mentioned above.

The Invisible Economy is the solution

About the Invisible Economy

Fundamental Values of Invisible Economy

  • Pursuit of greater good through empowerment of Individual freedom
    • The invisible economy is based on the belief that empowering individuals will result in greater good. (this needs more thought.)
  • An individuals full potential can be realized only when basic needs are fulfilled
    • Research has shown that when intrinsic motivations to create are repalaced with extrinsic motivations, creativity suffers
    • Conversely, if the making is separated from the market-based rewards system, intrinsic motivations are conserved
    • If the artist is paid a basic income regardless of market dynamics, they will continue to make art out of pleasure and passion.

The thesis of Dada.art

  • Information networks are now the most powerful way of creating wealth today.
  • Dada is an information network and art platform
  • Gamification to boost intrinsic motivations but not extrinsic
  • New economic models need to be implemented to replace the old art market with a new one.
In DADA artists don’t level up; they earn colored dots as they make progress

What are the needs and motivations

Intrinsic Motivations

  • Higher spiritual aims

Extrinsic Motivations

  • Minimum Material baseline

Individual Uniqueness

  • Autonomy is the freedom to explore

Community community

Freedom vs fairness

Questions

What this leads to is a system where the value of an artist's art is determined not by the market by the artists collective itself. The marketplace will still be pricing the artwork by using its own (hopefully self-regulating) mechanisms. This pricing, however, will not translate to the artist getting the same price. How to deal with this?