Dert Market // Trouble Market

The intricacies of today’s societal challenges can often be traced back to the deliberate actions of powerful entities – corporate businesses, state apparatuses, or other significant centers of influence – whose core function is to safeguard their economic and political systems, even if at the expense of human livelihoods. These constructed issues surpass routine human activity and have sown a pervasive sense of despair and resignation among communities, leading them to divest from their primary concerns and unwittingly succumb to the imposed conditions of external control.

A Monetary System Concept That Mocks Bitcoin and CryptoCurrencies.

(A Monetary System Concept That Mocks Bitcoin and CryptoCurrencies)

“Dert Pazarı”, or “Trouble Market”, is a conceptual intervention that leverages the approach of speculative design fiction to reorient attention towards the pressing dilemmas within one’s local society. This innovative idea seeks to commodify ‘dert’ – Turkish for ‘trouble’ – and market these troubles through a digital platform. In essence, it becomes a mirror to the systematic propagation of constructed issues, adopting the same techniques to draw individuals’ focus.

A Social Network Concept That Mocks Linkedin 
(means: get some trouble)

(A Social Network Concept That Mocks Linkedin)

The “Trouble Market” functions by co-opting the tools and strategies used by the very systems it critiques. The mechanisms of advertising, consumer attraction, and marketing are repurposed to sell ‘troubles’, thus compelling people to confront and potentially address the issues they would otherwise ignore or evade. The intention is not to further victimize or exploit, but to bring about a shared awareness and dialogue, thereby inducing change through collective action.

(A Marketing Strategy Concept That Mocks Direct Sales)

This project is situated in the broader discourse of post-digital ignorance, a phenomenon increasingly prevalent in societies where digital technology is ubiquitous. It refers to the deliberate or unconscious refusal to engage with the complexities and consequences of the digital realm. By fostering a marketplace for ‘troubles’, the design challenges the normative status quo of passive acceptance and invites active confrontation of societal issues.

(A Trouble Listener From Turkey, Who Charges A Price From Visitors To Listen Theirs Troubles. (A Mocking Idea))

“Dert Pazarı” is thus a metaphorical and literal representation of the problems that plague our societies. It pushes individuals to question the origin and the intent of the issues they grapple with, and it dares them to consider the roles they might play in addressing these issues. The paradox of purchasing ‘troubles’ functions as a critique of systemic structures, calling out the commodification of life’s difficulties and the potential complicity of the populace in sustaining the status quo. The market, while seemingly part of the system, offers a platform for dialogue, understanding, and ultimately, transformation.

(A Bank Concept For Trouble Exchange)

For the workshop video, please go to :

#translocalproblems #scoring #valueexchange #tactical #care #uncare

This event is part of a’21 – Post Digital Ignorance x Techno Utopia, #amberNetworkFestival

The project was financed by Berlin’s Hauptstadtkulturfonds.

a’21 amberNetworkFestival takes place between the 10th of March and 18th of May 2021 at Oyoun in Berlin and in the network nodes amberPlatform (İstanbul), Darağaç (Izmir), New Media society (Tehran), DAH Project (Shiraz), KounAktif (Casablanca), BAAB (Khartoum), Shahraban (Baalbek), Bishkek Contemporary (Bishkek) and ADEF (Cairo, Berlin) currently.

a’21 amberNetworkFestival is produced by Oyoun Berlin (oyoun.de)
and conceived by amberPlatform İstanbul

(www.ambernetworkfestival.org)