The Aesthetics
of Asymmetry
← All episodes·Episode 01 of 06·After James C. Scott

The Keyhole

Information asymmetry isn't a side-effect of the grant system. It is the system.

Scroll ↓ to widen the aperture
Community Grant · Round 26Q4

Application Form

Please frame your work using our theory of change, with reference to outcomes measured in our 2023–2028 strategic plan…
Word limit: 3,000 · Deadline: 30 days · Applicants will not be informed about competitors, the size of the pool, or what was funded last year.
The applicant's view
Grant round 2025-26-Q4 · Form 3A
Keyhole aperture: 0%
The funder's view
CivicGraph · live · … entities
01.02

The pool is not a secret.
It just isn't legible.

In Australia, every federal contract over $10,000 is published on AusTender. Every charity files an annual return to the ACNC. Every political donation above $16,300 appears on the AEC register. Every funded grant eventually lands in a state portal.

The data exists. It just isn't joined. It lives in 21 different systems that were never asked to speak to each other. Which means: if you are a community organisation applying for funding, you cannot see the pool. You can see the form.

Total Pool
$107B/yr
Gov → charitable sector
Federal Contracts
672K
AusTender
Political Donations
$312M
AEC
Grants Indexed
30,724
GrantConnect + state portals
01.03

140 organisations donate to both major parties
and hold government contracts.

Donated
$80M
AEC disclosures
Received
$4.7B
AusTender contracts
Return
58×
received ÷ donated

I don't know what to call that yet. It is a shape that keeps repeating. The community organisations applying for the same $10,000 grants cannot see it. Most funders cannot see it. It is not hidden. It just requires joining four public registries together, which is not something anyone is paid to do.

01.04 · The Human Layer

Nodes are not numbers.

A node on the right-hand graph is a legal entity. A charity. A foundation. A department. Every one of them exists because somewhere, someone decided the work needed doing. When you click a node, you find the people who decided.

Storyteller voices appear with explicit consent through Empathy Ledger. Names and quotes are published under a consent register that can be revoked at any time. Read the manifesto for more.

01Oonchiumpa

Kristy Bloomfield

Mparntwe / Alice Springs

Our young people are just collateral in a bigger issue. It sits with adults, not with children.
02Oonchiumpa

Laquisha, 16

Mparntwe / Alice Springs

I don't like going to Darwin because I have no family there. Oppression.
03Oonchiumpa

Nigel, 14

Mparntwe / Alice Springs

When I'm talking to the judge, I feel like I'm panicking.
Next
02 · Resolution →

Clarity can be care. Clarity can be capture. The pixel decides.

Shipping May 2026
After Hito Steyerl