Ptarmigan is no longer operating in Helsinki.

Ptarmigan existed as a project space in Vallila from 2009-2011 and a mobile curatorial/creative platform until 2014. We no longer exist as an organised collective, but this website will continue to serve as an archive of the activities produced as/at Ptarmigan during these years.

Wall Street Parasites: The Robin Hood cooperative
presentation : economics : seminar : workshop
02 February, 2013 00:00 14:30

After the economic collapse there seems to be nothing that holds Europe together any more besides opportunism, cynicism and indifference. This is now the means of survival; we are trapped in a system we cannot control, victims of a system that centralises power and spreads risk to the rest of us.

Robin Hood Minor Asset Management is a cooperative of artists, activists and researchers originating in Helsinki, Finland. Using their sophisticated 'parasite' system, Robin Hood uses the same tools of investment/exploitation to return capital to people and projects with contrary goals to those of eternally expanding Wall Street investors. The project, in an experimental beta phase, returns 50% of profit to the investor and the other 50% into a cooperative fund which will be used to support ideas normally outside the purview of investment banks.

At Ptarmigan, Akseli Virtanen, Ana Fradique and Karolina Kucia will present the Robin Hood project and offer a chance to join. We will then open up into a workshop that will explore the critical questions at the core of this project. Is a 'parasite' an effective scheme of action? Where do we draw the boundaries of collective activity - the boundaries of trust, risk, and sharing? How does one negotiate their core beliefs by participating in the stock market ?

Please come with ideas, questions, and an open mind.