Shoplift at Ancient House this week

Why it matters: Transactionland is a free, four-day pop-up that uses humour and play to tackle big economic questions – from the cost of living to the housing crisis – that organisers say are too often left to experts, academics and politicians.

The details: The project runs at The Ancient House from Thursday, 21 May to Sunday, 24 May, hosted by Ipswich-based arts charity SPILL and led by Bristol-based artist Rachael Clerke.

It is described as a hybrid of a shop, a community space and a venue for exploring ideas about the economy, labour and value. Actors play the role of shopkeepers in 1980s Woolworths-inspired red uniforms, and accepted currencies include cash, card, stock cubes, time and anecdotes.

The activities: Alongside Shoplift-o-clock, the daily schedule includes:

• The Stock Exchange – visitors swap something they have on their person for a stock cube, and can return another day to trade the cube for something else on the table.
• Doughnut Hour – a group conversation about doughnut economics, with doughnuts.

What they're saying: Caught shoplifters must "have a conversation about the ethics of theft and its impact on the local and national economy," organisers say, before having their portrait added to the Thieves Gallery.

Clerke's work "sits somewhere on the edge of live art and community infrastructure," according to SPILL, with the idea behind Transactionland emerging from "the housing crisis, low economic literacy, and a desire to look at the inside of the workings of the economy, perhaps even to remake it."

The bigger picture: SPILL says the project "challenges the idea that the economy is too complex a subject for everyone to understand" and is designed to welcome "people from all walks of life, encouraging involvement in economic discussions that are usually dominated by experts, academics and politicians."

For context: SPILL is an Ipswich arts charity based at Think Tank, next door to Ipswich Museum. It was founded by artist Robert Pacitti in 1999, with the first SPILL Festival taking place in 2007.

The bottom line: Free to access and suitable for adults and families with children, Transactionland offers Ipswich residents a chance to engage with serious economic questions through a playful pop-up shop where the rules of retail – and theft – have been rewritten.

Transactionland is free to attend at The Ancient House from Thursday, 21 May to Sunday, 24 May.

Don't forget: If you enjoy our content, please add Ipswich.co.uk as a "preferred source" on Google so you can easily find more of the content you value.

This article cost us ~£37 to produce

It's free for you to read thanks to the generous support of our partners. Please support us by supporting them.