THE COLLABORATION

"To unravel a system as complex as the money system, you need unconventional alliances. This project is the result of an extensive collaboration on the cutting edge of investigative journalism, science and art."

Carlijn Kingma is a cartographer, but not in the traditional sense. She is society’s mapmaker, a cultural cartographer. Kingma develops an architectural language that reveals the social and political power structures we normally cannot see and allows us to visualize new, alternative futures. 

For The Waterworks of Money, the artist collaborated with Thomas Bollen and Martijn Jeroen van der Linden. Bollen is a financial economist and a journalist with the Dutch investigative platform Follow the Money. Van der Linden studied the monetary system for his PhD and is professor of New Finance at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. This project is the culmination of two years of close collaboration and joint research, as well as countless conversations and interviews with experts.

  • Carlijn Kingma

    Carlijn Kingma is an architect and cartographer. She visualises complex social, economical and political systems, using architectural designs and metaphors. Her maps show the hidden power structures that influence our society.

  • Thomas Bollen

    Thomas Bollen is a financial economist who follows the developments in the financial sector since the credit crunch of 2008. He works as a freelance journalist and writes for the Dutch investigative platform Follow the Money.

  • Martijn van der Linden

    Martijn Jeroen van der Linden applied design science on the monetary and financial system for his PhD and is professor of New Finance at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. He is a founding member of the Dutch movement for monetary reform ‘Ons Geld’.

THE MAKING OF

We started our research at the start of 2021. The first 14 months, we researched, interviewed more than 100 experts – ranging from central bank governors and board members of pension funds and banks to politicians and monetary activists, made hundreds of sketches and verified those sketches with all parties and companies involved in the money system. Thereafter, the drawing of the map started.

Drawing the map took over 2200 hours, and was done in a little less than five months. In this period, we also developed the stories for the video animations.

In the fall of 2022 , we started the making of the future scenarios in collaboration with experts and movements from around the globe.

SPONSORS

Stimuleringsfonds Creative Industries

Stichting BRAVE NEW WORKS

The Hague University of Applied Sciences

Deloitte. Website assistenceDloi

PARTNERS

Follow The Money. Platform for investigative journalism

Animation Studio Tiepes

Rijksmuseum Twente

Kunstmuseum Den Haag

Het Nieuwe Instituut

La Biennale di Venezia

Rabobank. In-depth research as Artist-in-residence

The Dutch Ministry of Finance

Springtij Festival

Lowlands Festival

Sounddesign: Studio Oorbit & Rob Peters

Translator: Erica Moore

Printing: Studio Oppa

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