Bank Job Wreaks Havoc on Capitalism

In the world today, many consider capitalism a fraught economic system. Some believe it the cause of the latest international trade wars, accelerating student debt, the bankruptcy of entire countries, the growth of virtual currencies and the reason for coded security systems.

Artist Hilary Powell and filmmaker Dan Edelstyn, an inventive couple based in London, have decided to wreak a bit of havoc on the capitalist system in their home country by opening their own bank. Hoe Street Central Bank, AKA HSCB, is now open in the former Co-Op Bank on Hoe Street in the London suburb of Walthamstow.

Powell and Edelstyn have been printing their own bank notes and selling them to buy up debt in their community. This fall, they begin producing and selling bonds—a new initiative in the orchestration of their collectively owned and distributed debt explosion. They’ve created the Optimistic Foundation and they’re documenting the process in a film titled Bank Job to demonstrate what Powell refers to as “pessimism of the intellect, but optimism of the will.” In the communal act of abolishing local debt, they’re staging a timely intervention in the name of economic justice.

Sound Editor: Anamnesis Audio | Special Sound: Bank Job/Optimistic Foundation | Photography courtesy Optimistic Foundation; Photo credits: Tony O’Brien, Peter Searle, Dan Edelstyn noted in descriptions

Related Episodes: The Art of Capitalism, Occupy Museums on Artists and Debt

Related Links: Bank Job, Optimistic Foundation