TEMPORARY MONUMENT FOR THE VICTIMS OF MODERN DAY HIGHSTREET ROBBERY: A BUS CONDUCTOR KIOSK ON DENMARK HILL WAS REINCARNATED AS THE PAYDAY LOAN CENOTAPH, A SCULPTURE COMMEMORATING THE UNKNOWN VICTIMS OF FINANCIAL PROFITEERING.
On Saturday the 15th June 2013, the bus conductor kiosk on Denmark Hill was reincarnated as the Payday Loan Cenotaph, a sculpture commemorating the unknown victims of financial profiteering. A modern-day monument for Camberwell, complete with wreaths, the Cenotaph – meaning literally, ’empty tomb’ – bore memorial inscriptions to the unknown debtor and flew white flags signifying innocence and surrender. In an appropriate additional narrative of despair, attack, collapse and the hope for redemption, the opening ceremony was accompanied by a local citizen directing a casual tirade of verbal abuse and aggressive posturing at passers-by, and the simultaneous collapse and eventual recovery of his companion, both residents of the pavement adjacent to the Cenotaph. For 48 hours this monument served the people of Camberwell and the passers-by on their buses, before going the way of all material things.
