“The Maths of the Secret. Lecture #3” is the first 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 #3” examines the inescapable relationship between women’s emancipation, their invisibility in history and money. Beginning with Virginia Wolf’s “A Room of One’s Own,” a narrative is outlined that underscores how characteristics that in the patriarchal capitalist system were considered natural to women, such as patience, generosity, helpfulness, and adaptability, are now required of all workersə salariatə and non-salariatə whose super-exploitation creates the basis for the accumulation of surplus value.
“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 Adam Hayes (Lecture #2).
