The Art of Living Agency
You don’t know what to do with your life now that you have Universal Basic Income? Ask an artist.
On April 18th 2019 I was invited to explore the world of Universal Basic Income (UBI) through methods of Design Fiction with a group of art students at HEAD Genève as part of the series option (dé)construction.
“What would you do if your income were taken care of?“ This question stuck with many people at the latest since the Swiss referendum 2016 on Universal Basic Income. UBI is essentially the idea of free money for everyone, no strings attached. The question of what that would mean for an artist, students explored during the one-day workshop with the objective to inaugurate the first art exhibition in a world where basic income is universal.
1. Impulse jamming
Students explored the wild wide associations they had with the terms, exhibition and money with these questions: whom is art for? What is art? What does it mean to be an artist? Who are the people that are at every exhibition? What are the topics people talk about? What was the last story you told a friend about an exhibition? What is money? How does money feel like? What are alternatives to money? You won in the lottery, congrats! What are you gonna do?
2. UBI-world-building-cafe
After shooting in every possible direction of the intersections of arts and universal basic income, students got deeper into some questions in the UBI-world-building-cafe in the sunny courtyard of HEAD: Swiss government decided to implement a universal basic income. This means each citizen gets 2000 F each month no strings attached. What happens now?
In a world where UBI is the norm, many people decided to quit their breadwinning jobs and seeking more fulfilment. In recent years we saw an increase in nursing, teaching and philosophy. Further, many people decide to take a path in the arts. In a world where everybody is an artist, how will artists distinguish themselves and define their identity. Will it be a highly competitive or collaborative art scene?
Income and how to pay rent are so first-quarter-21st-century-worries. Artists today don’t struggle anymore to sell their art to make a living. This changed the approach of artists and their art itself. What will be topics artists reflect on in their works?
3. Prototyping
The students decided that in a world with UBI the role of artists will most likely not be anymore to create art exhibitions. Moreover: in a world where everybody has UBI, many people will face serious decision making of what to do with their spare time and what to do with their lives. Since artists have always been outstanding in how to live, their role has changed more into the one of a life coach, namely the agency for the art of living. However, they all represent different perspectives in UBI and live choices of what to do with it best. Dear reader, let me introduce you to the five characters:
Garance as the Recruitment-Sandwich
Since people often are desperate and confused in a world that leaves every decision a pure personal choice, Garance shows them the way to the art of living agency.
Fanny as the Savoir-Rien-Faire
She believes that with UBI the best way to live ones life is to do simply nothing. Since for most people that isn’t as easy as it sounds, so Fanny practices sleeping, smoking, and active time waste. Anyway the bots are doing all our jobs and with doing nothing at least humans are less harmful to the planet.
Nathan as the apocalypse fanatic
For Nathan UBI will bluntly lead to a collapse of human culture and the final apocalypse. Apart from mass inflation, migration waves and the crash of the welfare state, he fears the overwhelming influence of automation and the complete loss of human in humanity.
Marie as the self-optimizer
Since UBI gives people a lot of time. Time that can be used efficiently to finally realize the project you always wanted to do, or to reach new horizons and be your best self. Especially, in times where technology can enhance the human body and brain to perform at its optimum.
Annais as the humanity-lover
UBI sets people free to unfold the virtuous, spiritual and simply good human nature. Finally homo economics can be hurried and human values form collaboration, autonomous and trust. Where the machines takes over heavy work, there is more humanity in care work.
4. Contextualization
These fully equipped characters now had to face the real world. Several people from HEAD’s students body and faculty joined curiously the group in the greens. Garance exited the echo chamber art school and gathered two people from the street. They found a bid odd group of four students sitting under the trees: one with sunglasses relaxing in a beach chair, one wearing an aluminum had and wearing anxiously in a earth colored tunic, one energized and ready with some post-its, markers and a Flipchart, and one holding a flower in her hands with a kind view. Even though it was not easy to keep up the roles in front of the passionately debating guests, the discussion about various aspects of universal basic income definitely took off!
