Esta página aún no está disponible en español.
Re/Simulate
Felipe Brugues, Economist; Juan Carlos León, Artist; Ana Rodríguez, Curator
A Mexico City collective turns speculative finance into 3D-printed ceramics, questioning the myth that wealth comes down to personal responsibility. A Future Money project
Re/Simulate
Listen to the full podcast here
Re/Simulate is an experimental, multidisciplinary installation created by a collective based in Mexico City, consisting of artist Juan Carlos León, curator Ana Rodríguez, and economist Felipe Brugues. The project integrates speculative finance, data visualization, and 3D-printed ceramics to challenge prevailing economic narratives and examine the ideologies embedded in financial systems.
Through interactive simulations and material sculptures, Re/Simulate interrogates how economic data is used not only to inform but also to manipulate and control. The collective critically engages with self-help business literature, financial media, and global policy frameworks to expose contradictions in popular financial thinking, particularly the myth of personal responsibility as the primary driver of wealth.
At its core, Re/Simulate transforms abstract economic models into tangible objects. Data simulations of imagined financial futures shape ceramic sculptures, using clay and 3D printing to symbolize the tension between tradition and technology, and between individual agency and systemic constraint. These materials, “totems,” serve as artifacts of speculative economies, each form molded by coded algorithms and real-world behavioral patterns.
The project was first showcased at the Interledger Summit in Costa Rica, where a hotel room was transformed into an immersive gallery space featuring video projections, soundscapes, and suspended ceramic pieces. The installation encouraged viewers to engage intuitively with economic concepts, rejecting the rigidity of charts and statistics in favor of emotional and conceptual resonance.
Central to the work is a critique of the hyper-capitalist mindset promoted by financial self-help literature, which often encourages individuals to emulate wealth, accumulate debt, and overlook systemic inequality. Re/Simulate directly confronts this narrative, emphasizing the limitations of individual financial literacy in a world influenced by entrenched power structures.
Looking forward, the collective plans to expand Re/Simulate through new exhibitions and research into alternative economic models, such as cooperative banking, micro-financing, and peer-to-peer systems. Their goal is not to offer prescriptive solutions but to invite ongoing, speculative inquiry into how financial systems can be reimagined to serve people rather than control them.
By fusing data, philosophy, and material form, Re/Simulate reframes financial inclusion as a dynamic, evolving question that demands critique and creativity to envision truly equitable futures.