Knikkers & knaken, over de spelregels van ons geld

Dividing the marbles

Our financial system determines far more than you might think: which businesses grow, which homes get built, which natural areas are preserved, and which innovations get a chance. Sometimes that system can seem fixed and unchangeable, but the rules of our economy were designed by people and can therefore also be changed.

Commissioned by Triodos Bank, designer Manon van Hoeckel playfully brings, a system that often seems a world away, closer. That matters, because everyone is part of it, often without really realising it.

For many people, marbles were their first introduction to collecting, taking risks, winning and losing. Through play, we learned that the rules of the game decide how marbles are divided. The installation ‘Knikkers & knaken’ (‘Marbles & money’) makes that same logic visible in financial system.

The thousands of marbles used for this installation have been collected from attics across the Netherlands. Forgotten toys that once again tell a story about value.

Where do our marbles come from and where do they go? How much influence do you have over that? And what happens when the game rules change? Find out during Dutch Design Week.