The Sphere is a research-creation project exploring and developing new ecologies of funding for the performing arts. Inspired by recent innovations in the field of web 3.0, our goal is to redistribute the risks and opportunities of making art by facilitating the creative involvement of invested audiences at different stages of the artistic and curatorial process. 

The advent of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies is but one new chapter in a long and complex history of record keeping, archiving practices and institutionalized trust that goes back to the origin of writing itself. What other economic systems can we tentatively prefigure as we explore web 3.0 affordances and recursivities? How can we integrate interspecies and cross-generational “return on investment” mechanisms in our future accounting systems?   

One thing is for sure: as we strive to keep ourselves accountable, something always exceeds. Anarchic shares proliferate away from the grid. You can only get a hold on them as long as you pass them on. The Sphere takes shape by developing techniques that resist the usual flattening of values against the horizon of the merely economically viable, playfully adopting frontend approaches to navigate the positive unconscious— the financial backend — of social life. 

How can you participate? Attend in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca  

Erik Bordeleau

Erik Bordeleau is a philosopher, curator, fugitive planner and cultural theorist. He works as a researcher  in cinema and philosophy at NOVA university in Lisbon and is also affiliated researcher at the Art, Business and Culture Center of the Stockholm School of Economics. 

In collaboration with Saloranta & De Vylder, he is developing The Sphere, a web 3.0 research-creation project exploring new ecologies of funding for the performing arts.  He also collaborates actively to the weirdeconomies.com platform, where he coordinates the Cosmo-Financial Study Group. He lives between Lisbon and Berlin and enjoys, from time to time, the discreet charm of the precariat.