It must have been in the late-70s that one was able to sense the radical shift. The titles of minimalist composer, genius, performer, artist, and enfant terrible Julius Eastman’s pieces metamorphosed from such poetic titles as ‘The Moon’s Silent Modulation’ (1970), Wood in Time (1972), into more radically political works as ‘If You’re So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’ (1977), ‘Evil Nigger’ (1979), ‘Gay Guerilla’ (ca. 1980), or ‘Crazy Nigger’ (ca. 1980). It was about that time that Eastman’s reflections on and struggle with his own identity and position in civil society as a political, social and economic entity crystallized into sound. Of great interest is the title ‘If You Are So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’, which in these days of global crisis still reflects the perceived tug-of-war, the power contest and discrepancy between knowledge and economics in society. What is lamented in other words is the inability of some to translate wisdom into worldly success, and society’s hierarchical preference for wealth rather than knowledge. ‘If You Are So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’ is an exhibition project that first and foremost pays tribute to the artist Julius Eastman, who did not shy away from art as a means of political expression. It is also a project that questions, through artistic reflection, the respective positions and intersection of knowledge and wealth within society as a whole. For this project twelve international artists, who primarily work with sound and installations within the framework of artistic research, are invited to reflect upon and to position themselves within the current “Knowledge(able) Society” (Wissensgesellschaft). As we find ourselves in the middle of an economic crisis, widely seen as a consequence of the blind pursuit of profit, of avarice over wisdom, the distribution of wealth and intelligence, and how they relate to each other, seems to be front and center of debate within contemporary society. While we witness a gradual economic takeover by the so-called BRIC countries, ‘If You Are So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’ can be a starting point to deliberate on knowledge versus wealth or economics. Within the current trend towards a “Knowledge Society”, what is the price that one has to pay to attain, maintain, and propagate that model? It is important to mention in this context that knowledge is not limited to the narrow Western monoculture of scientific knowledge, but an “ecology of knowledges”, as described by Boaventura de Sousa Santos in the introduction of ‘Another Knowledge is Possible’. This means that “the promotion of non-relativistic dialogues among different forms of knowledge, grants equal opportunity to the different kinds of knowledge in ever broader epistemological disputes…”, i.e., it means an epistemological diversity and legacy. As Daniel Bell posited in his seminal 1973 publication ‘The Coming of Post-Industrial Society; A Venture in Social Forecasting’, theoretical knowledge is the most important resource for a post-industrial society, as opposed to raw materials, capital and labor, the pillars of industrial society. With the increased flow of information in an Internet-enabled global age the accrual and organization of individual and collective knowledge seem to be integral and fundamental to social and economic development. From the perspective of epistemology, where the nature, method, limitations and validity of knowledge is analyzed, the project ‘If You Are So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’ uses the exhibition format as a platform to reflect on the what, how, and who of knowledge with respect to economics in “Knowledge(able) Societies”. ‘If You Are So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’ also investigates the ‘material’ nature and the experience of sound beyond a mere transcription into the ‘materiality’ of language. The exhibition explores how sound takes shape, becomes tangible and acquires meaning in society, in politics and economics and more specifically as art. The question that arises from this junction is how can sound be perceived as a material thing, as an instigator and driving force behind the production of knowledge just like epistemic objects, with which sound shares the same virtues of opacity, abundance and transcendence? The complex mechanisms of knowledge production and propagation has been analyzed by Paul Rabinow in ‘Anthropologie der Vernunft, Studien zu Wissenschaft und Lebensführung’ with regard to the functioning of knowledge as an assembly that “emerges out of a corollary of small decisions; decisions that are all conditioned, but not completely predetermined”, thereby catalyzing the development of new forms and modes of existence. It is exactly such assemblies that have functioned as a precursor to, or catalyzed the development of information and communication technologies, which have decisively reshaped not only the global economy but social development as such. The exhibition aims to be a reading of the creation, positioning, dissemination, and application of knowledge in the broadest sense, reflecting on the competition between knowledge and wealth through the prism of art. ‘If You Are So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’ is hence a sound art and installation platform, reminiscent of Julius Eastman as well as debating the value of knowledge in the context of intellectual property and physical property. Artists: Gilles Aubry (CH) and Zouheir Atbane (MA), Younes Baba Ali (MA), Tal Isaac Hadad (FR), Anne Duk Hee Jordan (DE), Brandon LaBelle (US), Marco Montiel-Soto (VEN), Emeka Ogboh (NG), Lukas Truniger (CH) & Ali Tnani (TN) , Paolo Bottarelli (IT) and Evgenija Wassilew (FR/DE) Curators: Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (CM), Pauline Doutreluingne (BE) Collaboration The research and exhibition project ‘Giving Contours To Shadows’, initiated by SAVVY Contemporary and Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), embarks upon its first satellite project, a collaboration with the exhibition project ‘If You Are So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’ in the framework of the 5th Marrakech Biennale. Both projects are linked together, especially by dint of the intervention of Emeka Ogboh, whose work ‘Oshodi Stock Exchange’ links the satellite projects in Marrakech and Lagos. ‘Giving Contours To Shadows’ takes its cue from the Glissantian notion that history cannot be left in the hands of historians alone. In that sense, the project looks at ways in which artists, curators and thinkers relate to their own epoch, to times past and to the drawing of putative future trajectories, thus weaving alternatives to existing narratives – from embodiment practices to the pre-writing of history. It is to this end that the first satellite exhibition in Marrakech ‘If You Are So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich?’ will focus on sound as a medium for producing and transmitting epistemes, in an effort to establish a sonic history of the present, as seen through the prism of artistic engagement. If You’re So Smart, Why Ain’t You Rich? is supported by Goethe Institute Rabat, Goethe Institute Nigeria, Pro Helvetia, Berliner Senat, the Flemish authorities, Wallonie-Bruxelles International and crowdfunders. Giving Contours To Shadows is funded by the TURN Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and supported by Ernst Schering Foundation.