Diverse Economies Iceberg and The People's Bank of Govanhill, Glasgow, Scotland

Artist Ailie Rutherford initiated The People’s Bank of Govanhill in Glasgow in 2015 after a residency at Govanhill Baths. The project takes Govanhill’s existing community economies as a starting point, using the iceberg metaphor to map the local economy, expanding ideas of community currency and looking at how we can put feminist economics into practice in our local community.

In a series of public performance works, in Iceberg costume, the artist instigated conversations about the local economy below the water-line in unlikely venues such as chip shops, kebab houses and outside shops. People were invited to add information about their everyday economic practices that supported their lives but so often go unacknowledged.

The People’s Bank of Govanhill is now a long-term collaborative project, run collectively by a committee of women with a growing membership of local residents and interested citizens. The Crypto-Knitting-Circles project by Ailie Rutherford and Bettina Nissen explores potential applications of new and emerging technologies within feminist and community currency.

The Economy As An Iceberg performance at Tina's Chip Shop for The People's Bank of Govanhill. Artist Ailie Rutherford. Photographed by Bob Moyler