Mittwoch, 18. Juni 2025, 10:00 - 18:00 iCal

Theatricality of Global Markets: Art & Crypto

Keynotes by Prof. Dr. Amy Whitaker (NYU Steinhardt) and Prof. Dr. David Yermack (NYU Stern), Invited Speakers: Dr. Andrin Albrecht (University of Jena); Dr. Wessel Reijers (University of Paderborn); Prof. Dr. Sam Thomas (Durham University

Erika-Weinzierl Saal, Uni Hauptgebäude, 1. Stock
Universitätsring 1, 1010 Wien

Tagung

How have art and fiction prefigured future money, and cryptocurrencies specifically? And conversely, how do visions of the future of financial systems and decentralized finance impact artistic discourse?

This one-day symposium traces the intersections of cryptocurrencies, performance art, and origin stories of blockchain technologies, from the 1960s and 1970s to today’s crypto-markets and their theatricality. Topics range from art and investment, fractional ownership, and blockchain governance to galactic credits, memes and market opacity closing with an audiovisual intervention by Andrin Albrecht probing the dissonant, perhaps luminous sounds of capitalism, “Byte Moon.”

Program: Crypto, Theatricality, and the Humanities

10:00

David Yermack (NYU Stern): Creating Crypto Trust through the Humanities: Literature, Performance, and Memes

10:45

Amy Whitaker (NYU Steinhardt): NFTs, Fractional Ownership, and Shaping the Future

11:30

Sam Thomas (Durham University): Credit Values: The Materiality & Ephemerality of Star Wars Economics

Lunch-BREAK 12:30-14:00

Pirate Islands and Tech-Governance