Impunity Landscapes V, Mystic Monetary Theory
2025
Interactive digital art installation
MMT is an an interactive, speculative, self-contained universe where financial incantations become playable magical phenomena. At its core, Mystic Monetary Theory interrogates contemporary finances —playing with the concept of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)— as acts of faith deployed across a specific conception of time. This work functions as a theater of financial mysticism, blurring lines between authority and imagination.
This work is visually grounded in the 2019 Lebanon financial crisis, during which the Central Bank’s mismanagement —including fraud, theft, and criminal conspiracy— led to massive losses for citizens and a profound economic and social crisis. Visual elements such as bank logos and sonic cues, including interviews in English and Arabic as well as street soundscapes, are dispersed throughout the environment.
The player's interactivity is limited to roaming and exploring; no assets can be touched or modified. Additionally, there is no map, so while new areas may be discovered, previous locations cannot be returned to. These intentional mechanics mimic how people have very limited understanding of, and control over, central bank policies.
In this way, the environment becomes both archive and altar, resisting time and place while confronting the entanglement —anchored in fragile systems of trust and collapse— between modern finance and faith.