The structure of our monetary system has a major impact on our economy, the distribution of wealth, and the way we live together. And yet, very few people truly understand how the system works. With her latest drawing The Waterworks of Our Money and the exhibition of the same name, Kingma maps out this system to make it accessible to a wide audience. Using the metaphor of “money as water,” she brings the world of big finance to life. She guides the viewer through a landscape of invisible money flows and hidden forces: a journey of discovery into the role of money in our society.
Long Tradition
With her latest map, Carlijn Kingma places herself in a long tradition of artists who draw attention to the influence of money and banking on our society. Alongside Kingma’s own works, the exhibition also features historical maps and old satirical prints about greed and pride. The messages in these works are just as relevant today as when they were first created. Kingma draws from this rich art historical context to map out the design of our current monetary system. Using humor and metaphor, she makes the world of big finance accessible.
About Carlijn Kingma and the Collaboration
Carlijn Kingma (1991) is a cartographer of society. She creates awe-inspiring maps of complex societal systems. Using architectural design, Kingma visualizes invisible social and political power structures and explores alternative futures through her work. For The Waterworks of Our Money, Kingma collaborated with Thomas Bollen and Martijn Jeroen van der Linden. Bollen is a financial economist and investigative journalist at the platform Follow the Money. Van der Linden is a professor of New Finance at The Hague University of Applied Sciences and holds a PhD on the monetary system. This exhibition is the result of two years of joint research, numerous conversations with experts, and intensive collaboration. Read more about this project on the Follow the Money website.
The Role of the Artist
With the historical prints featured in the exhibition, Kingma shows how artists have contributed to the public debate on the monetary system throughout history. For example, 16th-century engraver Jost Amman presents the banking system as a product of human agreements and ideologies—and above all, as a matter of trust. Kingma believes that artists today still have a crucial role to play in imagining compelling new futures. During the exhibition at Rijksmuseum Twenthe, she will engage in conversations with the public to gather input for visualizations of alternative financial systems. The results of this ongoing project will be on view at Kunstmuseum Den Haag from mid-April 2023.
