jangled nerves

How important is money in society? What role does money play for the individual? Why do we spend so much time thinking about money? In fact, what is money anyway? Everybody thinks about money in a different way, with different expectations depending on whether you’re a child, an adolescent or an adult. The Erste Financial Life Park – or simply FLiP – is a free-to-enter, barrier-free and independent exhibition revolving around the topic of money and finance. Located opposite Vienna’s world-famous Belvedere Gardens, FliP is like an educational tour on the Erste Campus, itself situated within the new headquarters of Erste Group Bank, which is now one of the biggest banking groups in central and eastern Europe. Why there? So that people working at the bank can relax and meet up, but also for customers and curious visitors to explore and discover the world of money.

FLiP occupies 1500 square metres (16,000 sq ft) on three separate floors. Its installations include various interactive displays, but also themed stations, a library, and a special seminar and workshop room. Overall, this creates a place of playful exploration – a chance to ponder over sometimes complex issues. Visitors are given their own personal tablet to browse through more detailed information, take part in team games or solve quizzes all by themselves. There are three tours to choose from, each guiding the visitor through FLiP from a different angle, with specially adapted content and varying levels of detail. The overall FLiP experience revolves around separate modules: depending on the chosen tour, each station can be mixed and matched with any of the others. The stations may offer different ways of sharing information – each description is tailored to the theme – but the thread of continuity stays the same throughout: the world of finance, from people’s personal saving preferences to the banking system and global networks.

The aim of FLiP is to encourage people to think more consciously about how they use money, to enhance people’s personal money skills, and to bolster ‘financial literacy’. FLiP is therefore not only about sharing information – it turns complex topics into a personal experience, allowing you to actively discover things in an environment brimming with real or representative situations.