The Currency
The Currency is a vinyl EP whose golden colour is reminiscent of a wafer, one of the thin silicon discs used in the production of microchips. The rap song of the same name on the A-side is a collaboration between artists Elom 20ce, Musquiqui Chihying and Gregor Kasper. The lyrics, in French, Mandarin, and German, offer a poetic take on various aspects of contemporary cultures and economies that are often overlooked or go unnoticed: the entanglement of digital payment services in China (WeChat and AliPay) with the everyday lives of their users, whose every movement and action can be monitored by the state and the market; the new currency ECO, which is set to replace the current CFA franc in eight West African countries at the end of 2020, representing the first step toward monetary independence for these nations; the material foundations, such as the working conditions of the industry producing wafers and other electronic hardware, disregarded by the widespread belief in a clean, free, and fair digital cloud.
The B-side contains the sound piece The Hubs, a conversation with the ar- chitect, anthropologist, and FabLab founder Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou. In the WoeLab “open hardware” workshop in Lomé, Agbodjinou introduced an alternative digital barter currency that relies on social activities and local service as a medium of exchange.
Installation view at Times Art Center, Berlin, Germany
© Elom 20ce & Gregor Kasper & Musquiqui Chihying
