A key defining characteristic of timebanking is that all activities are valued equally and in terms of time, with an hour contributed by a legal expert rendered equivalent to an hour of dog-walking. Leeds Creative Timebank (LCT) shares this principle, but is currently the only UK bank dedicated to the collaborative exchange of time among creative practitioners. This project takes the form of an experimental social design intervention that explores the practices of collaborative exchange as experienced by, and through a co-commissioned study undertaken with LCT, to investigate the value(s) of creative collaborative exchange in this emerging parallel economy. The team of investigators will employ methods that allow us to work within the ethos and economy of the LCT, with each investigator having an equal number of hour-long denominations deposited for them in the bank to enable participation in the bank on the same basis as other members. The assembled 'hours' will be invested in individuals' participation in two workshops and the co-production of two outputs: a research report and a creative publication. This experimental method assemblage will allow us to explore how collaboration supports the creation of multiple values from within LCT while also affording us a position from which to develop critical approaches to collaborative exchange from without.

Researchers

Sue Ball (MAAP)
Jo Briggs (PI) (Northumbria University, Newcastle)
Celia Lury
Graham Pullin (University of Dundee)
Sarah Teasley (Royal College of Art)
and the Leeds Creative Timebank

Supported by

AHRC

Publications

Research Report
Call for Artists