This is one section of a two part Street Project by Mexican artist Minerva Cuevas. She has also created an ice-cream parlour on Toynbee Street.

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Cuevas explores links between the nearby Petticoat Lane Market which has been selling clothes since the 18th century - and early British cooperative movements. Developed since the 1800s, they were founded on the principle that communities should meet their needs through jointly owned enterprise. Some ‘co-ops’ introduced their own currency intended to rival legal state tender. Whenever a member bought something – typically groceries - they would be given a token. At the end of the year these were redeemed in the form of shares in the Co-operative Society. People could also buy tokens for bread, milk or coal with the amount spent registered for dividend payments.

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Inspired by this alternative economic model, Cuevas displays historic co-operative tokens and literature as well as archive images of the local area. She has also designed the S.COOP coin, produced by the Mexican Mint, for circulation by Petticoat Lane traders as change for purchases. The S.COOP can be redeemed at the bookshop – or for an ice-cream at her specially designed parlour, Monochrome.

 In this installation, Cuevas makes formal and historical links between the cooperativemovement, Petticoat Lane Market and the Whitechapel Gallery’s 100 year oldarchive.

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