Forkonomy()
How to buy/own one millilitre of the South China Sea?
👋 Who are we (subject position)?
Tzu Tung Lee(TW🇹🇼) & Winnie Soon (HKðŸ‡ðŸ‡°)
1.1 Winnie: Interested in Computational Culture
I am interested in the cultural implications of digital infrastructure that addresses wider power asymmetries with a particular interest in computational publishing, code and software. Their artistic and scholarly works engage with themes such as Free and Open Source Culture, Coding Otherwise, artistic/technical manuals, digital censorship and minor technology.
1.2 🥹 Hong Kong Political Movement
2014 - Umbrella Movement | 2019–2020 HK protests | 2020:National Security Law
- Freedom of speech, press, expression
- Increasing blurry red lines
- Digital/Self censorship
1.3 HKðŸ‡ðŸ‡° <–> TW🇹🇼
- Many HKers went to TW in 2020+
- Share same traditional chinese (written) language
- Threats & Concerns
1.4 TzuTung: Participatory Process
1.4 TzuTung: Indigenous Land Dispute
Many Indigenous movements occurred due to the injustice inheritance of colonial history as many governments had appropriated Indigenous traditional territory through its legal and contractual systems. The dispute between the government, the company, and the local communities has never ceased. For the recent case of Katratipur Solar Farm dispute and Asian Cement company are in such case.
1.5 TzuTung: Indigenous Land Dispute
Using the ocean as a subject to rethinking of such disputes
2 👀 Why Forknomy🌎🚢🌊
Land Acknowledgement
Forkonomy() is first created in Taipei, Taiwan, the traditional territory of the Kavalan people. We [I] would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather is the traditional territory of the Kataganan.Today, our meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work/present in this territory.
2.1 Forkonomy() Origins
How to buy/own/mint one millilitre of the ocean from the South China Sea? (guided by such a speculative question that takes the figurative and pirated material— the South China Sea as our object of study)
#geopolitics #F/LOSS #commons #ownership #transaction #water #queering #contracts #decentralizedprotocols #participatory
Image credit: Pete
2.2 South China Sea Geopolitics
- One of the world’s most heavily trafficked waterways for international trade
- Geopolitical site: one of the most disputable sea areas in the world over the territorial claims
- Multiple Asian governments assert sovereignty over rocks, reefs, as well as other geographic features and undersea natural resources.
boundaries are constructed only in relation to land: three-mile zone and the two 12 miles international boundaries follow the coast line (UNCLOS 10 December 1982).
South China Sea Politics
Why choosing South China Sea as a figurative and pirated object (of study) to think about forkonomy, digital commons and piracy?
- Geopolitical site & colonial power (not only about the sea but natural resources e.g huge oil and gas reserves, economic trade, international relations, space, rights/power struggles)
- the sea gives an enormous trade value, military value, and world power.
- Indigenous territory issues (land/Sea/rights/ownership/contract)
- Buying/Owning (contract/licensing)
- Commoning (beyond privatized and state-owned property)
- resource for the communities
- grassroots
- code of conduct: how to operate in a fair, open, diverse, and more equal fashion
3. Forkonomy() versions - ver. 5 @Technology Building
Pirated water
Components: pirated water, video, book, code contract, discussion space
Ver.1 @Taiwan C-Lab: Alternative Council
Ver.1 @Taiwan C-Lab: Ownership Discussion
Ver.1 @Taiwan C-Lab: Price Evaluation
0.05 EUR / 1.61 TWD per 1 ML
Ver.1 @Taiwan C-Lab: Code of Conduct
How to run a queer economy?
- Share any incidents of discrimination, unkindness or disrespect that you have experienced in other communities?
- Take a look at different codes of conduct (you may find some on your own)
- Highlight those you want to include them
- Are there any rules/terms that you want to propose/modify?
Ver.2 @Taiwan Solid Art Gallery: NFTs
What does it mean by mining and co-owning one millilitre of the ocean from the South China Sea (beyond Taiwan context)?
- NFT: Based upon ver 1's agreed price and co-owned type
- decentralized network and protocols
- selling 1 millilitre of water (ownership via contract)
- contract (EN, CN, Code)
- unlimited edition (vs limited edition) -> unlimited water owners (initial 10,000 edition)
- challenge the notion of privatized assets in the capitalistic economy
Ver.3 @South Korea: Contract
Ver.3 @South Korea: International Alliance
3. Forkonomy() Versioning
Forkonomy = Forking + Economy (ver 1 + 2 + 3)
In the project Forkonomy(), we are interested in rethinking the politics of our contemporary economic and technical-cultural systems. By employing free and open source software and decentralized protocols, we set the participatory project as a commoning ship for people of the pacific who want to queer and care the matters of hierarchies, ownership, gendered labour division, as well as to fight against the constant threats of maintaining a high degree of autonomy regarding the land and the sea. Forkonomy() shall sail the economy and autonomy into a queer ocean of freedom and the sea of commonwealth.
Goal: How can the South China Sea be co-managed by the people around the world(beyond nations)?
4. 💻Code contract/performance
codework - code poetry - code as contract - code as NFT
5. 💰🔨Sea Water ⚖Capitalism Time
💥 Buy One milliliter of the South China Sea 💥
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- join our committee by buying the 1 mililitre of the ocean (0.05 eur / 1.61 TWD per 1 ML)
Appendix
Despite the fact that the South China Sea is one of the world’s most heavily trafficked waterways for international trade, it is also one of the most disputable sea areas in the world over the territorial claims, spanning across Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, The Philippines and Vietnam. In addition, multiple Asian governments assert sovereignty over rocks, reefs, as well as other geographic features and undersea natural resources. This oceanic object is highly tangible and material, and yet significantly economical, military and political. If boundaries were not dotted lines on a map to compete for colonial power, but to think about them as making and maintaining kin connections to respect one another, including traditions and histories, then how might we queer the South China Sea otherwise? Building upon the first version of Forkonomy() in Lab Kill Lab exhibition in Taiwan, we gathered diverse participants, including policymakers, scholars, Marine life conservators, cultural workers, artists and activists, to queering the ownership of the one millilitre of Nan Hai through discussion, auction, contract making, as well as code certificate performance. The second version puts the agreed and the co-owned one millilitre of the Nan Hai as an NFT (non-fungible token) on the blockchain network, which is a decentralized and distributed protocol that facilitates recording transactions of assets. People participate in the South China Sea Cooperative Preparation committee, generating an endless participatory and a communing process beyond private ownership by having more water buyers as the co-owner of the Sea.
What does it mean by buying, mining and co-owning one millilitre of the ocean from the South China Sea? Our project is guided by such a speculative question that takes the figurative and pirated material as our object of study. We are interested in rethinking the politics of our contemporary economic and technical-cultural systems. By employing free and open source software and decentralized protocols, we set the participatory project as a commoning ship for people of the pacific who want to queer and care the matters of hierarchies, ownership, gendered labour division, as well as to fight against the constant threats of maintaining a high degree of autonomy regarding the land and the sea.
Instead of focusing on the land, we would like to pay attention to the sea with a combination of perspectives, such as indigenous studies, software studies, critical art, etc. The proposed intervention would be the format of presentation with a short code certificate performance. Specifically we want to address and share community-based participatory and creative methods to build solidarities based on the experience we had in Taiwan and South Korea.