Timebanker on the spot

10 minutes with Jeroen Nooter

How would you define money? How would you define time?
I associate time with something positive, and money I associate with something negative.

They have a very interesting relationship, I work for money to pay for my house, for instance; time becomes a luxury then. Not everybody can afford it to work via Timebank.

When did you learn about Timebank?
I work weekly on the farmers market in The Hague, two years ago I got a colleague who started to work for Timebank hours. I think it is really logical to trade time for time. In fact I started bartering a long time before I knew Timebank.

Do you differ services you do for time and others for money?
No. If there is money available, I think it is fine, because I need money to pay my bills, but if there isn't money, I like to help out people anyway.

What do you offer for time?
Transport, help with building up exhibitions, handy works…. repair bikes.

What was your most memorable Timebank transaction?
A wood transportation for an artist in residence from Billytown. They contacted me to pick up wood in Groningen, I happened to have a wish to go to Friesland somewhere around the same time but never made time to make it actually happen. So I planned I could have a relaxing time in my family house in Friesland and at the same time help out somebody. I really believe that giving and taking have an unique balance in everybody's life. Lately I have been working a lot for time and actually have to spend my Timebank hours.

Interesting thought. maybe you can call out to people to help you for Timebank hours, you earned so much! What service do you really need?
(LAUGHS) Ironically enough I need more time to fix my truck. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have somebody to help me. Also I would really like to have somebody who can do my taxes.

ONE YEAR TIMEBANK.CC!

In July Timebank.cc existed one year. Our community has now over 1260 users. Users that traded past year exchanged 2321 Hours in total. The average transaction amount is around 3 hour, with peaks for some users to 12 hours.

DID YOU KNOW?

Adverts become much more effective when you add a picture to them!

When creating your advert simply tick the little box 'Add picture' at the bottom of your advertisement description.

Fire, iron, reproduction – A glow in the mass

On “Work That Stands in the Way of Work” by (among others) Gaby Felten

Current job: Visual Artist – Gaby's work questions the conundrum of having to make life choices based solely on the need to obtain economic security.
First job: Resident Advisor for her dorm in college (CCA), for free room and board and a small stipend for a landline phone :)
In between: Timebanker, some time ago she was offering to help people choose the perfect pair of trousers.

Last month more than 200 Bachelor and Master students presented their final proposals before the approval of the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. What's next? The gap between the current, market driven economy and the poetic-knowledge-explosion of young artists is challenging as ever.

The work of Timebanker Gaby Felten sparkled in the mass of works by standing in between this gap, she seemed to address questions that could be useful to most graduates; she should have actually been lecturing most of the students who were standing long hours in front of their projects waiting for collectors and gallerists.

Wake up! Artists have survived all ages through questioning the current times and making new constellations, not standing still or looking up.

In Gaby Felten's work a woman's voice dissects three elements of her installation. “Work That Stands in the Way of Work” takes place in a small dark room with a projection, a mirror and a complex iron structure. After your eyes are adjusted to the dark, the assembled elements gradually come to show; flickering fire reflecting on a mirror, a person in the video seems to construct the object that lays upon the floor, the smell of new carpet.

Her aesthetic choices are on first glance a mesmerizing poetic tale until the room-filling voice de-mystifies the elements. The words, spoken in an emotionless tone, express in detail that the artist named outside the room didn't make all the objects, she underlines the collective effort (a Timebank.cc transaction was also part of this whole). The installation is transformed to a mental assembly line when the woman starts to speak. The installation breaks with the notion of the lone genius presenting one unique product. It proposes contrasting forces to this idea. It pinpoints what is seen in the building up of the graduation show or any exhibition. Hurdles of students, teachers, artists, friends, family helping to put together what one voice tries to say in half asked questions, insecure thoughts, partly fullfilled dreams and razorsharp french kisses.

Gaby Felten is a performance, video, and installation artist. Labor, alienation and identity formation play a key role in her practice. Her work questions the conundrum of having to make life choices based solely on the need to obtain economic security. Using this inquiry as a springboard, Felten works to reveal the dynamics behind petty situations which arise at the time of making important life choices. http://www.gabyfelten.com