‘The future of money’

The debate series “Forlorn Hope – Avant-Garde in Society” offers additional insight into the avant-garde exhibitions on display at BOZAR until 2017 (The Power of the Avant-Garde, Picasso.Sculptures, A Ferverish Era in Japanese Art). Following ‘avant-garde and politics’, the series will focus on the issue of ‘avant-garde and economy’. Mark Blyth, a Scottish professor of international political economy and the man who coined the term 'helicopter money', will be presenting his views on the future of money. Etienne Verbist, Director of Crowdsourcing Week Europe, will be explaining how revolutionary currency systems such as 'bitcoin' and 'blockchain' have the potential to shake up the art world. Lastly, Marcia De Wachter, Director-Treasurer of the National Bank of Belgium, will discuss the euro and the growing success of local currencies.

Mark Blyth (1967) is a Scottish political scientist and Eastman Professor of Political Economy, Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs at Brown University in Rhode Island (USA).He is specialised in international and comparative political economy. In 2012 he published the book "Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea" in which he criticizes Europe's austerity policy. In 2014 he published with Eric Lonergan the article "Print Less but Transfer More: Why Central Banks Should Give Money Directly to the People" in Foreign Affairs. He then went on to defend ‘helicopter money’: the distribution of money to the people as an alternative to the present monetary policy of the European Central Bank.

Etienne Verbist is an authority in the field of crowdsourcing, disruptive business models and disruptive art. He has worked for companies such as GE and is now Europe and Africa manager of Crowdsourcing Week (CSW). He is advisor to a number of companies in the field of innovation and new technologies and curator of the Disruptive Art Museum, the world's smallest museum. He is also a columnist with Artdependence Magazine.

Marcia De Wachter (1953) is director of the National Bank of Belgium. She studied economics at the Universities of Chicago and Antwerp. She was appointed director of the National Bank of Belgium in 1999. She held a teaching position at the UIA and the UFSIA.