Collapse Finance
Workshop held at The New Institute Hamburg (Germany) on June 10-11, 2025, Stage Design, Publication, and Docu-Fiction Film.
2025
At a time when radical uncertainties are proliferating across social, political, and economic life, the long-standing authority of major economic narratives—such as globalization, free trade, and growth—is eroding. If volatility is now the defining feature of contemporary capitalism, and stability an increasingly illusory concept, what democratic responses can be envisioned to navigate this critical transition period?
Our Global Consortium for Re-thinking Capitalism reimagines the role of finance in responding to these challenges. We see finance not as immutable or inevitable, but as a dual force of destruction and creation permeating the crises of our time: while it has built infrastructures that thrive on uncertainty—exacerbating economic volatility and deepening climate crises—could it also inspire generative responses to the very crises it fuels? Rather than merely dismissing financial technologies for their role in high-risk environments, we ask how their mechanisms might be harnessed to cultivate new forms of stability, security and resilience.
By critically engaging with its tools and logics, can we repurpose finance to counteract its own destabilizing effects? Can its capacity for innovation be redirected towards more just, sustainable, and democratic futures?
The experimental Collapse Finance-workshop was the first step in playfully shaping the Global Consortium for Re-Thinking Capitalism and its agenda. The docu-fiction film is to be released in late 2025.
Read the accompanying publication here
Workshop Participants:
Jens Beckert, Kristian Bondo Hansen, Melinda Cooper, Giulia Dal Maso, Michel Feher, Maja Groff, Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Robert Meister, Rachel O'Dwyer, Felix Rohrbeck, Emily Rosamond, Brett Scott, Gillian Tett, Hendrik Wagenaar, Carola Westermeier, Till Wittwer, Natascha van der Zwan
The Workshop was co-organized by Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Giulia Dal Maso and Till Wittwer
Collapse Finance
Workshop held at The New Institute Hamburg (Germany) on June 10-11, 2025, Stage Design, Publication, and Docu-Fiction Film.
2025
At a time when radical uncertainties are proliferating across social, political, and economic life, the long-standing authority of major economic narratives—such as globalization, free trade, and growth—is eroding. If volatility is now the defining feature of contemporary capitalism, and stability an increasingly illusory concept, what democratic responses can be envisioned to navigate this critical transition period?
Our Global Consortium for Re-thinking Capitalism reimagines the role of finance in responding to these challenges. We see finance not as immutable or inevitable, but as a dual force of destruction and creation permeating the crises of our time: while it has built infrastructures that thrive on uncertainty—exacerbating economic volatility and deepening climate crises—could it also inspire generative responses to the very crises it fuels? Rather than merely dismissing financial technologies for their role in high-risk environments, we ask how their mechanisms might be harnessed to cultivate new forms of stability, security and resilience.
By critically engaging with its tools and logics, can we repurpose finance to counteract its own destabilizing effects? Can its capacity for innovation be redirected towards more just, sustainable, and democratic futures?
The experimental Collapse Finance-workshop was the first step in playfully shaping the Global Consortium for Re-Thinking Capitalism and its agenda. The docu-fiction film is to be released in late 2025.
Read the accompanying publication here
Workshop Participants:
Jens Beckert, Kristian Bondo Hansen, Melinda Cooper, Giulia Dal Maso, Michel Feher, Maja Groff, Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Robert Meister, Rachel O'Dwyer, Felix Rohrbeck, Emily Rosamond, Brett Scott, Gillian Tett, Hendrik Wagenaar, Carola Westermeier, Till Wittwer, Natascha van der Zwan
The Workshop was co-organized by Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Giulia Dal Maso and Till Wittwer