This paper analyses the performativity of the sociotechnical imaginaries that the online communities interested in blockchain applications (e.g., cryptocurrencies) construct through the memes they share, in the context of a crisis of truth and amid pervasive precarity. These memes adopt a subcultural language that is a mix of financial jargon and blockchain slang, neither building on the established codes of the regulated financial sector nor belonging fully to the colloquial nature of internet banter. Through them, the community collectively constructs ways to overcome the fundamental uncertainty that traverses all aspects of contemporary life – housing, precaritisation of labour, political ruptures, etc – by doubling down on them. Financial speculation is no longer reserved to those with disposable income but becomes a tactic for survival in a scene that actively destabilizes information for competitive market advantage. Through the use of repeated memetic subcultural phrases, blockchain memes blur the difference between fact and fiction in an effort to reconcile the extreme volatility of cryptocurrencies with the neoliberal conviction that the market is always right. As a result, no one is trustworthy, individualism takes on a new dimension, and what Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou calls a “speculative community” arises. Ultimately, this case study highlights how the iterative and distributed character of memes supercharges the normative character of performativity.
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This article is a comment on the article “Decoupling Responsible Management Education” (Journal of Management Inquiry) by Andreas Rasche and Dirk Ulrich Gilbert. Based on a survey conducted in 2014 among Dutch MBA program managers from academic universities and universities of professional education and public and private institutions, it gives some additional color to their article by shedding some initial empirical light on the propositions. The findings allow for speculating on business school behavior in the context of engaging in the responsible management education (RME) agenda and identify several avenues for further empirical research and theoretical conceptualization. Although the larger part of this constructively intended comment focuses on RME and business schools, it also addresses aspects of decoupling more generally.
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Under the umbrella of artistic sustenance, I question the life of materials, subjective value structures, and working conditions underlying exhibition making through three interconnected areas of inquiry: Material Life and Ecological Impact — how to avoid the accumulation of physical materials/storage after exhibitions? I aim to highlight the provenance and afterlife of exhibition materials in my practice, seeking economic and ecological alternatives to traditional practices through sustainable solutions like borrowing, reselling, and alternative storage methods that could transform exhibition material handling and thoughts on material storage and circulation. Value Systems and Economic Conditions —what do we mean when we talk about 'value' in relation to art? By examining the flow of financial value in contemporary art and addressing the subjectivity of worth in art-making and artists' livelihoods, I question traditional notions of sculptural skill while advocating for recognition of conceptual labour. The research considers how artists might be compensated for the elegance of thought rather than just material output. Text as Archive and Speculation— how can text can store, speculate, and circulate the invisible labour and layers of exhibition making? Through titles, material lists, and exhibition texts, I explore writing's potential to uncover latent structures and document invisible labor, considering text both as an archiving method and a tool for speculating about future exhibitions. Using personal practice as a case study, ‘Conditions for Raw Materials’ seeks to question notions of value in contemporary art, develop alternative economic models, and make visible the material, financial, and relational flows within exhibitions. The research will manifest through international exhibitions, a book combining poetic auto-theoretical reflection with exhibition speculation, new teaching formats, and long-term investigations. Following “sticky relations," of intimacy, economy and conditions, each exhibition serves as a case study exploring exhibition making from emotional, ecological, and economic perspectives.
As climate change accelerates, rising sea levels pose challenges for low-lying nations like the Netherlands. Floating developments (such as homes, solar parks, and pavilions) are considered the most climate adaptative solution for the future, but the effects on the environment are unknown which is holding back this floating transformation. Since public and private partners are not able to answer questions on the effect of floating urbanisation on the environment and water quality based on speculations by models without field data, permits are given only after proof that ecological & water quality will not affected (also EU warnings ‘deteriorating’ water quality (UvW 2025, EU 2025). This proposal aims to develop an innovative autonomous docking station for aquatic drones, enhancing environmental monitoring of floating structures. Only a few monitoring campaigns measured the impact of small floating structures (small structures and only basic parameters). Traditional monitoring methods rely on manual sampling and static sensors, which are costly, labour-intensive, and provide delayed results. A new study, led by Hanze with Gemeente Rotterdam, Waternet (Gemeente Amsterdam) and Indymo, will assess the impact of new large-scale floating developments with a new method. Autonomous aquatic drones improve data resolution but face operational challenges such as battery life and data retrieval. An innovating docking station will address these issues by enabling drones to recharge, offload data, and perform continuous missions without human intervention. Advanced tools—including aquatic drones, 360-degree cameras, sonar imaging, and real-time sensors—will collect high-resolution environmental data also monitoring biodiversity and bathymetry. The proposed docking station will support real-time sensor networks, allowing for spatial and temporal data collection. It will improve the (cost) efficiency and quality of long-term environmental monitoring, providing insights into water quality dynamics and underwater ecosystems in Rotterdam and Amsterdam as an international example of floating development in the battle of climate change.
