Page - 70 - in Siting Futurity - The “Feel Good” Tactical Radicalism of Contemporary Culture in and around Vienna

70 siting futurity 3n6), was founded to counteract the effects of the interwar de- pression. Unlike the Tyrolian case to be discussed below, the WIR was not shut down but, on the contrary, granted a banking license in 1936, two years after its founding. It continues to exist as an electronic complementary currency, and the private cur- rency it manages, the WIR franc, is mobilized to help the Swiss franc and stabilize the Swiss economy during periods of finan- cial downturns and turmoil (Stodder 2000). The WIR is refer- enced in the award-winning Demain [Tomorrow] (2015, dirs. Cyril Lion and Mélanie Laurent), a documentary in the positive spirit of Planet Ottakring, which identifies concrete initiatives that have proven to be successful responses to the economic, political, and social challenges of the twenty-first century. Riegl’s interest in and knowledge of alternative currencies reaches into the Austrian countryside as well as into the past: [a]uch im Waldviertel gibt’s jetzt irgendwas, glaube ich, wo sie sich mit Arbeitseinheiten bezahlen. Wo der eine sei- ne Marmelade macht und der andere sein Schweinevieh schlachtet, der andere wo putzen geht oder dem Kind Ge- sangsunterricht gibt. So etwas gibt es immer wieder, um sich unabhängig zu machen von den Banken und der großen Konsumindustrie. [In the Waldviertel as well I think there is now something where they pay with work units. Where one makes jam and the other slaughters pigs, another cleans or gives children singing lessons. There keep being these things that help peo- ple from being dependent on banks and the whole consumer industry.] (“Presseheft” 2015) Other references he could have mentioned include the open- access International Journal of Community Currency Research and the Independent Money Alliance, created in 2014 by Bristol Pound CIC to lend others looking to set up their own curren- cies the benefit of their experience. As it is, Riegl’s comments, which were made for the express purpose of being circulated