The People's Bank of Govanhill — Social Art Library

By

Ailie Rutherford

A photograph of a child wearing a Currency Is Not Capital screen-printed T-shirt from The People's Bank of Govanhill. — A photograph of a child wearing a *Currency Is Not Capital* screen-printed T-shirt from The People's Bank of Govanhill.

The People’s Bank of Govanhill was intiated by artist Ailie Rutherford during a residency with Govanhill Baths in 2015.

What began as a series of currency experiments, ad-hoc exchanges, on-the-street discussions, performances and games has grown into a long term collaborative work. The People's Bank of Govanhill explores ways of putting feminist economic theory into practice in our communities. With one eye on global inequality and the urgent need for a radically different economic model, the project looks closely at the local context, thinking in practical terms about how we can work together to build the systems of a new future. In 2018 The People's Bank of Govanhill transformed a former pawn shop in Glasgow's Govanhill into "Swap Market" a space for swapping and sharing resources, skills and knowledge without the need for money.

More information: https://thepeoplesbankofgovanhill.wordpress.com

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Ailie Rutherford

Ailie Rutherford is a visual artist working at the intersection of community activism and creative practice. Her collaborative artworks bring people together in conversations about our social and economic landscape using print, performance, sci-fi visioning, games and technology as playful means to work through difficult questions and radically re-think our shared futures. Resulting works range from proposed new models for living and working together to the building of new infrastructure.

Recent projects include:

The People’s Bank of Govanhill a long term social art project in Govanhill (Glasgow) realising feminist economic theory in a community context. String Figures collaborative software for collective working centred on a principle of mutual care and co-operation, titled after techno-feminist Donna Haraway’s metaphor for the inextricable threads that connect us all.

Her feminist economic artworks have been shown at Unbox festival, (Bengaluru, India) MoneyLab at Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam, Netherlands), Supermarkt (Berlin, Germany) and for Tracing The Tracks//Work Affair at Rum 46 (Aarhus, Denmark). Ailie is currently working as curator for NEoN digital arts Wired Women festival

https://ailierutherford.com