This workshop uses the immersive The Waterworks of Money art project—where money is mapped like a hydraulic system, showing how value flows and gets trapped—and pairs it with the corporate drama Other People’s Money (1991), a sharp, if incredibly sexist, narrative about the consequences of shareholder-first capitalism. Together with your students, you unpack how financial systems are designed to concentrate wealth, privilege short-term gains over community wellbeing, and widen inequality. By exploring both the hidden mechanics of modern money and the cultural stories we tell about profit, students will gain tools to critically question who benefits from the rules of finance and how alternative visions might redistribute economic power.
This workshop is part of the Mechanisms of Inequality: Dominance of Financial Gains and Lack of Responsibility series. It follows a “choose your own adventure” structure. There are activities that can be done in different orders, depending on the preferred learning outcomes and the teacher’s preference, as well as optional activities that can be done depending on the time available.
Depending on the activities you choose to do, there are different supporting materials you can use with your students. You'll find them all available for download here.