Meet Fran Ilich, a media artist and activist who started his own investment bank six years ago with nothing more than server space. On the eve of Bank Transfer Day, he sits with me in the dimly lit kitchen of Eyebeam Art and Technology Center where he is a fellow, to discuss the Spacebank and how he ended up at Occupy Wall Street.

The bank is a complex nano-macro economy that includes funds and eleven virtual enterprises that can be traded in a stock exchange. Ilich has set a virtual currency, the Digital Material Sunflower, designed to help people achieve their goals.

“When bankers get together for dinner, they discuss Art. When artists get together for dinner, they discuss money.” – Oscar Wilde

During today’s financial crisis, art has been frequently cited as an advantageous alternative asset class. But do the millions of dollars that might buy you a Koons or a Picasso speak about the social and spiritual value?

This Art-as-Money-blog will explore the connections and frictions between money and art. Where do those two worlds meet? And where do they clash? Or is it actually one big world with various perspectives? And last but not least: What are your thoughts about those topics? Get involved in the discussion and don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and ideas by giving your comments!

As a kid, my big brother shocked the hell out of me when I asked him for 50 cents for a soda and he ripped a dollar bill in half and laughed hysterically. My only retort was: "That's illegal!!! I'm telling Dad!"
I was right. It's a federal crime to destroy real money. But how do you know if something is real, especially if you're not the one holding it?
That's the conundrum raised by Legal Tender, a World Wide Web telerobotic installation from Eric Paulos, Ken Goldberg, Mark Pauline, John Canny, and Judith Donath. Legal Tender is an exercise not in epistemology, but telepistemology in an age of mechanical reproduction

Legal Tender is the first publicly accessible online tele-robotic laboratory.  Remote viewers are presented with a pair of purportedly authentic US$100 bills.  A remote viewer can participate by giving up their anonymity and agreeing to accept full responsibility for their actions.  They are furthermore reminded that it is a Federal crime to deface US currency.

2032 heralded a new era for our currency, as more than half of the world's countries converted to electronic money systems. Although the new systems were cheap and efficient, problems began to occur...people outside the systems began to suffer. Attempts were made to include the minorities, but unfortunately this led to the system being hacked. Hyperinflation swept the globe and money needed to be made tangible once again. Nanotechnology allowed the redox flow battery to dramatically reduce in size...allowing people to carry a few kilowatt hours of electricity with them; exchanging charged electrolyte for goods is now a widespread reality and because energy cannot be created or destroyed only converted...the risk from hackers is negligible.