Monopoly Rules Iaşi
A project by Miklós Erhardt & Elske Rosenfeld.
Exhibited at the Periferic 7 Biennial in Iasi, Romania, May, 2006 (curated by Atilla Tordai-S).

Project description:

For Monopoly Rules Iaşi a number of workshops were held with local school kids aged between twelve and sixteen. Some of them had played Monopoly before, others had not, but all were encouraged to develop their own sets of rules incorporating and interpreting the different components of the original game, such as streets, houses, tokens, community and chance cards and, of course, money.

In some cases the resulting instructions reflect the teenagers interpretation of the original Monopoly Rules, staying close to their inherent ideas of monopolisation and individual profit maximisation and often making reference to and commenting on economic realities they observe in their everyday lives. Others take this reinterpretation a bit further arriving at a caricature of existing economic mechanisms and values (such as are represented in the original game). At the other end of the spectrum, some of the teenagers create utopian models for possible economies seen as fairer and more desirable than the existing ones. The resulting instructions are (more or less) playable as they develop their own, though at times somewhat absurd, logic.

A monitor set into the middle of the table shows the kids playing by and discussing their respective rules: how fair are the proposed systems? Do they work and why or why not? How realistic are they compared to 'real life'? Both the instruction sheets and the discussion show the pervasiveness of the global economic language and values, but also reveal the kids' capacity for critical reflection and utopian thinking as well as a defiant sense of humour.

About Iaşi:
Iaşi, an industrial and university city in Northern Romania, is undergoing a process of rapid and dramatic economic transformation as the country prepares for EU membership in 2007. Rising property prices and an exploding real estate market are a cause of great concern to many. Teenagers are among those who are most dramatically affected by these developments which will, after all, determine their economic future. As their parents and teachers are themselves struggling to come to terms with these changes, the kids are left to their own devices in trying to make sense of what is going on and how this will affect their lives. In the workshops the kids discussed these changes with a mixture of optimism and idealism concerning their own future, but also criticism of its underlying values and great scepticism towards the system's ability to provide good living conditions for the majority of Romanians.

Iasi Rules:
Andrea
Carina
Dani
Laura
Nina
Roxana

Installation and video:

Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Nina, Dani and Laura for literally taking us by the hand – showing us around Iasi, sharing their ideas, opinions, hopes and worries, for playing with Monopoly tokens, boards and ideas and generally giving so much of themselves, their time, energy and hearts to this project.

Thanks to Roxana, Andrea and Carina for contributing their Monopoly Rules.

Thanks to everyone at Vector.

Thanks to Georgeana, Diana and Radu for making fantastic tokens, to Cezarina for helping with the board and to Tatiana for translating the some of the rules. 

Thanks to Ciprian for his introduction to Iaşi.

Contact:
bighope [at] bighope [dot] hu