In their latest work, Vermeir & Heiremans investigate how current modes of financialisation can be move towards a more equitable model. Their proposal suggests, through the financialisation of public art collections and/or museum real estate and/or their symbolic capital, a cycle of wealth can be created to also benefit its original stakeholders: the artists and art workers. Streams of economic and social wealth can emerge, creating sustainable conditions and futures in which art can flourish as an ecology of practices.

A MODEST PROPOSAL is a site-specific intervention. Vermeir & Heiremans will elaborate on their financial concept, relating it to the Cottonian Collection, named after William Cotton III who gifted it to the city of Plymouth. Vermeir & Heiremans will relate a selection of images from the Cottonian Collection to the history of Plymouth, a port city from which many maritime explorations set forth. From Francis Drake's and James Cook's expeditions to the voyage of the Mayflower, these voyages needed new forms of finance to be realised.