Can you beat the rich? by Robin Hübscher

The motivation behind this project is to make it possible to experience wealth inequality interactively. Analog and unfiltered. To achieve this, I turned data on wealth deciles into ten table tennis rackets. The data is from the Global Wealth Databook 2021 from the Credit Suisse Research Institute. Taken together, the surface of the ten rackets corresponds to a normal sized table tennis racket. It can be read as a treemap. The rackets are handmade, using woodworking tools. One challenge was how to best represent the first two deciles, which have no wealth or even debt. I opted for the solution to show, what there is (not): no racket for no wealth and an outline of a racket, representing money that is owed.
When choosing a racket, players must consider which of the ten deciles they belong to. It is possible to choose any racket, which allows players to experience wealth inequality from different perspectives. Playing against each other, can be a starting point of a discussion. Is the current situation fair? What would an ideal distribution of wealth look like?
Since it is almost impossible to play with any other than the biggest racket, it is not really possible to play a real match. This can be seen as a metaphor for our struggle in tackling the many problems the world faces. It can also make players question the limits of our meritocracy. Not least, it should be an experience which makes you laugh. Because it’s all fun and games, right? Well, can YOU beat the rich?