Duration: June 2025 - ongoing
In collaboration with Rhythm Rastogi
Thanks:
Lagori Collective
Dhaval Kothari
︎︎︎Project Microsite
What if we reimagined currencies as values in flow/ as living agreements?
Experiential Participatory Futures
Speculative Design
Qualitative Design Research
A co-creation project to design shared currencies and value flows
Our transactions have never been quicker, and while money smoothens the experience, it also flattens interactions and creates fast-burn relationships. In the process, we lose track of what else is exchanged.
Let’s rethink transactions as relationships and explore the values behind how we give, receive, and relate. Through collective reflection, the idea is to imagine new 'living agreements' for shared systems of trust, service, and values in motion.
Our transactions have never been quicker, and while money smoothens the experience, it also flattens interactions and creates fast-burn relationships. In the process, we lose track of what else is exchanged.
Let’s rethink transactions as relationships and explore the values behind how we give, receive, and relate. Through collective reflection, the idea is to imagine new 'living agreements' for shared systems of trust, service, and values in motion.
Alternate Currencies
Outcomes from
the workshop
Glow Currency
The group imagined that in this currency, a type of light you pass and gain through acts of trust, and thoughtful recommendations. Their idea was a kind of emotional economy where ‘glow’ flows only when the connection is genuine and so sincerity is the real wealth :o.
A question I was left lingering with:
How do I cash in my aura at the glow bank?
Memes in Finance
This group thought of exchanging memes as tokens that can be used in unexpected places- like a finance minister explaining the budget using memes. This one was so pertinent since we already see social media instrumentalize memes for marketing and political messaging because of their high shareability and shitpost format.
Pets ‘n’ Slaps
This group created a feedback system using ‘slaps’ and ‘pets’ as symbols for negative and positive signals, based on values like belonging, community, and purpose. It was a bold and playful take on subverting power dynamics in everyday political spaces!
Silence Currency
This group centered their currency around silence as a pause and moment of thoughtful care. The core value was Jigra (!) which was so interesting as it reimagined courage to be totally different from the loud, aggressive bravery we’re used to seeing in movies. Their silence can be a way to de-escalate conflict, practice imagination, and hold space for emotional safety. Their currency didn’t have a physical form but was more symbolic based on mutually felt moments of care, attention