May 2009
"The Financial Crisis is Real"
Posted May 31, 2009 by k_c_ in In the News
Bogside Artists Collective - Northern Ireland
Posted May 30, 2009 by colin_matthes in Inspiration
Riffing off Kevin's post about art and resistance in Northern Ireland, I thought I would post some photos of murals by the Bogside Artists' in Derry, Northern Ireland. I took these photos in 2006, when I was in Ireland for a few months. These photos blew me away and had a major impact on the whole spirit of Derry. I cannot image how my walk through Derry would have changed if these murals were gone. These murals are attributed to the Bogside Artists' collective.
Culture Production About Resistance-Bobby Sands
Posted May 30, 2009 by k_c_ in Inspiration
I was looking thru old posts from the C-monster blog and came across a link to the Magnum photography site. The link led me to a set of images titled Bobby Sands dies of Hunger.
Irish Republican Bobby Sands died on his 66th day of hunger striking in Maze Prison. He was trying to get the British government to recognize IRA members as political prisoners and allow them to wear civilian clothes.
There are some incredible images of the street battles that occurred the day he died, others of the army response, and many of the popularly attended funeral of Sands.
One current photograph depicts a memorial mural of Sands. Murals in Northern Ireland were very common symbols of resistance to the British, allegiance to the IRA struggle, and solidarity with other struggles of self-determination. The Drawing Support photo book series documents some, of the supposed 2000+, murals of Northern Ireland.
Steve McQueen's Hunger is an incredible film about Sands' last days in prison. The visual composition of the film is totally beautiful and allowed me to make it through the brutality of the political prisoners' treatment and the conditions that humans are incarcerated in. Definitely check it out if you get the chance!
La Entrada Walls 2 & 3
Posted May 30, 2009 by jmacphee in Street Art & Graffiti
My friends in San Diego have finished 2 more amazing walls on their La Entrada Project. Check out the videos below, and the project here.
La Entrada Project - Wall2 from LaEntradaProject on Vimeo.
La Entrada Project - Wall3 from LaEntradaProject on Vimeo.
Defining Anarchist Art
Posted May 29, 2009 by k_c_ in Justseeds & Member Projects
I wanted to draw attention to AK Press' blog Revolution by the Book
there is a post about Josh MacPhee & Erik Ruin's book Realizing the Impossible called
Defining Anarchist Art:Gleanings from a Roundtable on Realizing the Impossible. There's a handful of links leading to some interesting stuff, if you like art, or anarchism.
Howling Mob Society at "Class Matters" conference
Posted May 29, 2009 by shaun in Justseeds & Member Projects
The Howling Mob Society will be presenting in Pittsburgh on Thursday, June 4, during the Working Class Studies Association's annual "Class Matters" conference. The conference will take place on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Details from the conference program:
Session C—2:30-3:45 p.m. - Thursday, June 4
Pitt Cathedral of Learning, 2nd Floor, room 252
C3. "Contested Markers: Two Views on Historical Commemoration"
Chair: Joel Woller, History, Carlow University
Howling Mob Society, Independent, “The Howling Mob Society Reclaims the Historical Marker”
Kenneth C. Wolensky, Penn State University and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,
“Preserving and Interpreting Industrial and Working Class History Sites”
Sydney Anarchist Film Festival
Posted May 29, 2009 by jmacphee in Film & Video
The two anarchist bookstores and infoshops in Sydney Australia, Jura and Black Rose Books, have put together the first Sydney Anarchist Film Festival. They are showing 14 great films over June 5th-8th. The films include tasty rarities as well as anarchist smash hits.
Film Festival Program
Friday 5th June:
-> 6pm: An evening of local short films (at Black Rose)
Saturday 6th June:
-> 12pm: Manufacturing Consent (Jura); Living Utopia (Black Rose)
-> 3pm: Angry Brigade (Jura); Viva Zapata (Black Rose)
-> 6pm: Born in Flames (Jura); Panther (Black Rose)
Sunday 7th June:
-> 12pm: Paris is Burning (Jura); This Revolution (Black Rose)
-> 3pm: Libertarias (Jura); Land and Freedom (Black Rose)
-> 6pm: Free Voice of Labour (Jura); The Weather Underground (Black Rose)
Monday 8th June:
-> 6pm: Lucio Anarquista (Jura)
For full details and descriptions of each film go to: http://www.jura.org.au/filmfestival
Tickets are only $8 per film ($5 concession) or get a gold pass to the entire festival for $30 ($25 concession).
LAWCHA in Chicago
Posted May 28, 2009 by dylan_miner
Labor and Working-Class History Association and the Fund for Labor Culture and History
are holding their annual conference this weekend in Chicago. The theme for the conference is 'Race, Labor and the City: Crises Old and New.' The conference will be held at Roosevelt University.
If around Chicago, I present Saturday afternoon. Download the program.
Saturday, May 30, 3:15pm-4:45pm
Chinese, Mexican, and "Indigenous" Workers: Navigating Nationalized Boundaries (Auditorium Building, Room 326)
Shanshan Lan, Northwestern University, Chinese immigrant workers navigating Mexican Chicago
Leon Fink, University of Illinois-Chicago, How Chicago's Mexican Community Saved May Day
Dylan Miner, Michigan State University, Class, Nationhood, and Indigeneity in Post-1968 Chicana/o Cultural Practice
Lilia Fernandez, Ohio State University, chair
Gilbert Gonzalez, University of California, Irvine, comment
Richard Porton/Arena in NYC
Posted May 28, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
Richard Porton, editor of the recently published Arena: On Anarchist Cinema, will be presenting in New York City on Friday. Anarchist cinema is a difficult idea, but Porton will unravel this history - from film collectives formed in the early twentieth century to contemporary video activism. Join Porton for discussion and showing of movies made by anarchist or having anarchist impetus. Porton is also the author of the great book Film and the Anarchist Imagination.
Friday, May 29th @ 7pm
Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington
Arena can be found in our store here.
Meshed Histories: The Influence of Screen Printing on Social Movements
Posted May 28, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters & Prints
Lincoln Cushing has just published a new short article entitled "Meshed Histories: The Influence of Screen Printing on Social Movements" on the AIGA site. Here's the first couple paragraphs, and click on the link at the bottom to read the rest.
Just like clothes or cars, media can come in and out of fashion. Screen printing—or serigraphy, as it’s called in finer art circles—has been a standard commercial process for more than a century. As a reproduction technique, it has many wonderful qualities. It requires very little in terms of equipment, and even that can be easily made by hand; it is easy to teach and to learn; and it’s very well suited to very short runs of large format objects. It seems like an obvious choice when looking for ways to create prints for the public. Yet there have been at least two periods in history when screen printing was “discovered” by artists—the first was in the United States during the mid-1930s, under the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration (FAP/WPA), and the second time during the 1960s.When Public Art Ruled
Between 1935 and 1943 the FAP/WPA was the first, and so far, the last, great effort to put public funding into the arts. It was primarily designed to provide jobs for unemployed artists—at the beginning, 90 percent of the artists had to come from the relief rolls. As an important secondary impact it brought art and artists to the breadth of America. Teaching how to make art was a national priority, and printmaking was an obvious approach. However, conventional art techniques such as lithography or engraving posted pedagogical and technical challenges, and screen printing quickly emerged as a productive choice.
read the rest here.
Tonight: Susan Greene in SF
Posted May 27, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
Talk Tonight!
Art & Politics: Susan Greene
Susan Greene is a public artist, activist, educator and clinical psychologist. Her practice straddles a range of cultural arenas, focusing on borders, migrations, decolonization and memory. Greene is one of four Jewish American women artists who in 1989 founded the ongoing “Break the Silence Mural Project” in solidarity with Palestine.
Wednesday May 27, 7:30 pm
CounterPULSE
1310 Mission at 9th, San Francisco
Free!
Emma and Sylvia Back in Stock!
Posted May 27, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters & Prints
After years of being out of stock, and people continually asking for them, I've started to reprint some of the older Celebrate People's History posters. I'm excited to announce that two of the most popular are now reprinted and available again, Ben Rubin's Emma Goldman poster, and John Gerken's Sylvia Ray Rivera!
My original hope was to reprint an old poster every other month for 2009, but two things have gotten in the way. On the downside, sales have dropped a little, so I don't have the cash flow to stick to that schedule. On the upside, I have been getting lots of great proposals for new posters, to the extent that for the first time ever I have a backlog of designs waiting to print. Given limited cash, and lots of new posters on the ready, I think I'll be focusing on getting the new ones out for the rest of the year. If there is an old People's History poster you would like to see back in stock, let me know, and I'll see about reprinting it in 2010. If you are an artist/designer and have an idea for a new poster, let me know as well!
Stain & Mode busy last weekend
Posted May 27, 2009 by k_c_ in Street Art & Graffiti
Chris Stain just sent me this photo of a mural he painted with his long-time pal Billy Mode. They took advantage of the nice weather in Brooklyn to put up this piece on the side of our favorite Mexican Restaurant in Bushwick.
Chris has a nice set of flicks on the blog of his website chrisstain.com
Dispatch from LaLaLand: Zoobomb Bike Rack Opening: Portland
Posted May 25, 2009 by icky in Events
Zoobombing is a recent local tradition where people take little-kids bikes on the light rail under the West Hills in Portland. They get off in the station in the tunnel, take the elevator up the hill, and then ride a nice, fairly depopulated, stretch of road past the zoo through Washington Park and into downtown Portland. It's a weird local spectacle, pissing off cops and drivers, but somehow gathering support of other people in power so that it hasn't been outright criminalized. One issue that became a sore spot is that the zoobombers leave all the kids bikes (like 20 of them) locked up to a single bike rack across the street from Powell's books downtown.
Be Well! Benefit
Posted May 21, 2009 by mary_tremonte in Events
This Saturday there is a benefit for Be Well!: Healthcare Options for the Uninsured, a guide, online and in print to free and cheap healthcare in Pittsburgh. I did the cover artwork and will also be DJ-ing. It looks like a well-rounded evening of music and such a good cause!
Take care of ourselves!!!
Be Well! Benefit
Saturday May 23rd
7pm-2am
Brillobox
David Vachon
Slim Forsythe
Weird Paul medically-themed song video
Marvin Dioxide
Jon Brodsky
DJ's Mary Mack & Edgar Um
$5 at door
We'll have lil Be Well! mini booklets to pass out as well as medically-themed coloring books.
Leonard Crowdog speaking, Portland
Posted May 20, 2009 by icky in Events
This just in over the wire:
"Leonard Crowdog is a legend. He served as spiritual advisor to the American Indian Movement (AIM) and played a pivotal role at Wounded Knee during its 71-day siege in 1973. He will be speaking in defense of American Indian activist Leonard Peltier, next Wednesday, May 20 at 7PM, at the Native American Student and Community Center at Portland State University (on the corner of SW Broadway and Jackson Streets)."
The event is free.
Poster by Paul Davis, 1977
History is written by the winners.
Posted May 20, 2009 by roger_peet in Culture Jamming / Ads & Adbusting
I ran into this over on the Information Clearinghouse site, a place I often go for news. This is part of an ad campaign being run in South Africa for the History Channel; other images in the series feature the war in Iraq and, perhaps most poignantly, demographic changes in Britain. Since I seldom post art-related material on this blog, I thought I'd take this opportunity. 
Click here to go to the article.
Mural of Police Surveillance Cameras Erased by Bridgeport Alderman in Chicago
Posted May 19, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in In the News
Chicago has a long, sad history of buffing graffiti brown, but now it seems that political murals are getting the same treatment. Last week, Alderman James Balcer (Ward 11) ordered that a mural in Bridgeport that that he disliked be painted over in the early morning without warning.
The mural had been painted by Gabriel Villa who had worked on it for the duration of the Version Festival and was shocked to discover that the Graffiti Blasters had painted it brown this past Thursday morning. The Bridgeport Alderman did not contact the property owner, nor the artist before ordering the Blasters to erase what they even recognized and called public art. More so, the wall that the mural was painted upon was owned by the mother of Ed Marszewski, a festival organizer.
After being grilled by the press today Alderman Balcer came up with several reasons for his decision -- including that the artist did not have a permit to make the mural. Yet, permits are not needed for private buildings.
The real reason for his decision likely resided in the content of the mural which featured police surveillance cameras that are omnipresent in the neighborhood.
Ald. James Balcer was quoted saying, "You know I don't know if there was hidden gang meaning behind it with the cross, with the skull, with the deer, with the police camera's. Was there something anti-police about it? I don't know what's in his mind. That's how I viewed it."
Feel free to contact him and express your disgust with his decision:
3659 S. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60609
jbalcer@cityofchicago.org
(773) 254-6677
Check out the news video to hear more quotes from the artists and Alderman Balcer.
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=58715@wbbm.dayport.com
Before:
After:
Our Lenin: kid's book from the USA, 1934
Posted May 19, 2009 by icky in Books & Zines
I can't remember where I found this book, but this is a children's biography of Lenin published in 1934 by the CPUSA press. The writing is a basic heroic summary of his life, translated and adapted from a Russian book by Ruth Shaw and Alan Potamkim. The illustrations are by William Siegel, who I can find no reliable information about off a quick search. But I like his drawings, they're nicely done and simple, good for kids books. His composition is really good too.
This book is heavy on the propaganda (no surprise there) and there's something slightly creepy, comforting and hopeful in this art. The book itself is handsome: big bold red lines at the top and bottom of each page, the drawings fit in nicely with the text. Here's a selection of images:
April showers brought May flowers!
Posted May 16, 2009 by meredith_stern in Environment
Check out these garden photos -- 1 month later from "Ridin Dirty" blog...
anakseribupulau
Posted May 16, 2009 by jmacphee in Art & Politics
Here's a relatively new site for an Indonesian project called Anakseribupulau, which seems to be a coalition of political art groups, including Taring Padi. Check out the site here. They have descriptions of the organizations involved, as well as posters, comics, poetry, songs, etc... Check it out.
Leave Home group show at Death by Audio, Brooklyn
Posted May 15, 2009 by kristine_virsis in Events
May 15
LEAVE HOME Group Show.
Original works and collaborative installation by ladies in Punk Rock:
Cristy C. Road (Croadcore Illustration/Writing/etc, The Homewreckers), Lauren Denitzio (The Measure, Red and Black Eye), Tamara Waite-Santibanez (No Guts No Glory, Zombie Dogs) & Kate Wadkins (Cheeky, For the Birds). LEAVE HOME Binds varying linear structures with the sparkling connections between our souls and our soil.
Home is dissected. As Brooklyn slowly transgresses into a development landmine, we hold on to the purity of bricks, concrete, our soil, our urban breeding ground, and the spurts of nature which trickle inbetween. Our identities, and our connections to our home, vary as much as our artistic renderings; but in the end converge into a collective act of visual chaos.
And MUSIC By LITTLE LUNGS, LAURA STEVENSON + MORE TBA
"I Murdered 2 Young Men"
Posted May 15, 2009 by jmacphee in Street Art & Graffiti
Marc Fischer from Temporary Services just sent along this amazing flyer he found in Chicago!:
Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
Posted May 14, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
This weekend Jesse, Erik, Kevin and Josh will be tabling at:
MONTREAL'S 10th ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR
Saturday, MAY 16, 10am to 6pm
CEDA, 2515 rue Delisle
(near the Lionel-Groulx metro)
-> Part of the month-long Festival of Anarchy (May 2009).
-> Followed by a full day of Anarchist Presentations and Workshops (May 17, 2009).
-> Bring your kids! Kids activities and free childcare on-site.
-> For anarchists, allies, and those who are interested or curious about anarchism.
-> Free! Welcome to all!
[The main space is wheelchair accessible. For more information or to inquire about other accessibility needs, see our accessibility policy: http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/en/node/6 or contact the collective.]
No gods, no masters; no bosses, no borders!
Curious about anarchism? Come check us out!
Signs of Change-Inspired Teens in PGH
Posted May 13, 2009 by mary_tremonte in Inspiration
Sex Education for All by Shira Rascoe
More radical teen printmaking totally!
Pittsburgh's CAPA (Creative and Performing Arts) High School students in Shannon Pultz's printmaking class visited the Signs of Change exhibition at the Miller Gallery in February. Students designed images inspired by the show on issues they are personally passionate about (sound familiar?) and learned relief printing to create these posters.
Some of them were particularly timely, as Shira Rascoe says of her print: "When I was creating my poster, many people in Pittsburgh were in the process of convincing the Pittsburgh Public Schools to adopt a comprehensive sex education curriculum, meaning not just abstinence. I feel that it is crucial for the safety of my peers to teach teenagers about contraception. The peeled banana with the condom on the bottom symbolizes exposure versus protection. Luckily, the PPS has now adopted an Abstinence Plus policy."
Here are a few more examples.
Fed Up with the Crisis in BCN
Posted May 13, 2009 by jmacphee in In the News
Some friends in Barcelona decided they were "fed up with the crisis, were tired of the fear that mass media communicate everyday, and sick of suffering in silence at home, [so they] decided... to go dancing at an unemployment office.":
Their statement (rough translation):
Today, Thursday April 30, we held the party Inem (Unemployment Office).
We had been preparing since the last few weeks. It was truly enjoyable! 40 people appeared at 12:00 on the Inem branch located in the street Sepúlveda de Barcelona. There we waited in the usual atmosphere of these places at this time: a mixture of stationary people (local and foreign), tired of waiting and wasting time, bored, angry and disgusted faces, full of fear created by the crisis. Less than five minutes of messing around and dancing have been required to change their crisis faces into smiling and cheerful faces. Some joined with us in the dance, and others applauded. All, without exception, have appreciated this wave of light and color, this outburst of joy and enjoy places where you least expect it: in an office job in crisis.
Demilitarized U
Posted May 12, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Events
This arrived in the inbox from Aaron Hughes. This series of events taking place in Chicago looks incredibly inspiring and important. Details below.
The intertwining of the military with industry is no longer new to the American experience. In fact it is widely accepted as the way things are. Less considered is the military’s insertion into research, technology, entertainment, education, and the wider American culture. At a point in history when the threat level is constantly orange, what would it mean to demilitarize American culture?
Demilitarized U consists of a series of teach-ins and workshops that endeavors to imagine and investigate what it means to create a demilitarized university; and ask what is a demilitarized physical and psychological space and what are the strategies and tactics needed to achieve demilitarization.
The Demilitarized U. will bring together Iraqis, veterans, community organizers, community leaders, activists, educators, and artists to lead and participate in a series of two-day teach-ins and workshops.
The series is free and open to the wider Chicago community. Please come and contribute to the discussion and production of a Demilitarized University.
Contact the DU with questions: demilitarizedu@gmail.com
click continue for schedule...
Street Art etc... Europe last summer
Posted May 12, 2009 by icky in Street Art & Graffiti
These are pictures Katie B. took while on tour with my band last summer in Europe, some highlights of street art, graf. and alternative spaces.
Stencil on left from Hamburg, the right from Germany somewhere.
Billboard Gets Silly in Pittsburgh...
Posted May 12, 2009 by shaun in Culture Jamming / Ads & Adbusting
Dozens of these poorly designed McDonalds billboards have been popping up all over Pittsburgh this spring. I was surprised to come upon this decidedly ridiculous alteration at a busy intersection on my morning commute! In thinking about the billboard prior to the hand-rendered improvement, I'm starting to wonder if McDonalds uses computers to randomly generate graphics for their ad campaigns?
Agit-Prop Overload
Posted May 12, 2009 by jmacphee in Justseeds & Member Projects
AGIT-PROP OVERLOAD
A month long exhibition of over 100 socially engaged print works by Justseeds radical artists cooperative and the Celebrate Peoples History poster series.
May 5th to May 31st, 2009
Le Cagibi
5490 St. Laurent
Montreal
Events:
May 10th - vernissage 8pm, followed by a dance party
May 16th - print sale at the MTL Anarchist Bookfair (2515 rue Delisle)
May 18th - slide presentation and artist talk by Justseeds' artists Josh MacPhee and Erik Ruin, 7:30pm
brought to you by:
The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
Justseeds
Mayday Berlin!
Posted May 12, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters & Prints
Our friend Sandy K. from Image-Shift sent us a communique of links and images to their recent poster project for Mayday Berlin. The project consisted of two sets of posters. The first set consisted of 6 posters, each one with a single large pink letter on white background, the letters: K, R, I, S, E, !, spell out CRISIS! in German. Each letter also has another word it stands for, K for Kapitalismus, S for Solidarität, etc. I've roughly translated the text from each poster below (with online translators, so sorry it is a little rugged!). The second set are all white text on blue background, and are specific information about the Mayday events in Berlin.
There are more photos of the posters pasted up around Berlin here and here.
Portraiture
Posted May 11, 2009 by icky in Justseeds & Member Projects
Everyone in Justseeds has been cranking out illustrations for a collaboration with Microcosm to do a series of books about influential radical people/groups in the Americas. I had to make an image of Yuri Kochiyama (long time ally of liberation struggles and political prisoners).
It's interesting to think about how to approach illustrations like this, you want it to represent the person, you want it to look like the person and maybe capture some of what you consider interesting or inspiring (their spirit). I didn't want it to look like the weird 'portraits in history' that were in the Sunday comics when I was a kid.
Rebellion and Graphic Art in Oaxaca
Posted May 11, 2009 by k_c_ in Street Art & Graffiti
I came a cross some really beautiful images while looking for some visual references for a comment I wanted to post on Josh's review of Protest Graffiti Mexico: Oaxaca. Photographer, Aaron Tukey, shoots some really incredible images and writes about graffiti and the government attempts to erase political messages of the APPO. You can check out the slide show War of the Walls: Rebellion and Graphic Art in Oaxaca on his website.
Aaron compares the erasure of "street art" and the more political graffiti
in his images and essay (attached below). You may recognize a paper cut-out by Swoon in one of the images. This was installed in Oaxaca during the teacher's strike, yet before the APPO uprising. Its existence after the repression of the movement seems to support Aarons observation of selective buffing by Oaxacan authorities.
Friendly Fire: Afghanistan
Posted May 11, 2009 by jmacphee in Art & Politics
The Friendly Fire Collective in the Bay Area have been churning out some cool propaganda of late, most recently the Afghanistan poster seen below. You can download a high res pdf of the poster here. They have a ton more graphics here.
Disappearing
Posted May 10, 2009 by icky in Events
There's a great art show at Reading Frenzy right now, containing images from an upcoming book by Thistle Press. The show is about "attempts to address the marvelous nature of some of the many things that are disappearing from the world', eg- endangered species. Includes work from Justseeds' ally Vanessa Renwick and my favorite local illustrator Carson Ellis. If you're in Portland you should head down and check it (and buy some zines while you're there too).
If not the show is available online here.
Think Galactic Poster
Posted May 10, 2009 by jmacphee in Justseeds & Member Projects
I just finished up the poster for Think Galacticon 2009, a radical political Sci-Fi convention held bi-annually in Chicago. This year it's going to be the weekend of June 26-28 at Roosevelt University. You can find out all about it here.
Anti-Police Brutality Show LA
Posted May 9, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
A handful of Justseeds artists (and tons of other good folks) are in this show coming up in LA:
Stop the Armed Forces
An Exhibition of Conscious Art and Music Against Police Brutality
Friday May 15th
8pm - 2am
2323 East Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, 90021
Open Gallery May 16th, Noon - 6pm
Artists include:
Jon-Paul Bail, Brianna Lengel-Bail, Alison Smith, Tim Holgerson, Louis Hennings, Jesus Barraza, Melanie Cervantes, Ryan J. Saari, Taarna R. Grimsley, Paul Barron, Favianna Rodriguez, Frank Zio, Chuck Sperry, Ron Donovan, Emory Douglas, Contra, Yem, Ritzy Periwinkle, John Carr, Karen Fiorito, Hit+Run, 2Cents, 2Rabbits, ABCNT, David Kietzman, Josh MacPhee, Mear One, Vyal, and more...
RNC 8 Benefit in Pittsburgh
Posted May 8, 2009 by mary_tremonte in Events
This saturday evening, two of the folks in the radical marching band that I used to play with have organized a benefit for the RNC 8, who were arrested on conspiracy charges for their work helping to prepare for the protests of the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. These folks are facing serious jail time for some pretty basic organizing work. The case threatens to set a precedent that could hurt all kinds of political organizing efforts. The benefit will feature speakers (who will talk about what happened and the civil liberties issues involved), photos from the RNC, and food and drink.
It will also feature a performance by the Breakway Marching Band, which is somewhat special because our awesome and talented baritone player Charlie is moving out of town two days later. We'll also have a guest sousaphone player - some of you may know Matt Toups, he'll be back in town visiting for a bit and I'm sure he'd love to see some old friends.
Hope to see you all there! Please spread the word.
WHERE: Friends Meeting House, 4836 Ellsworth Avenue in Shadyside/Oakland.
WHEN: 7-10 PM
7:30 pm - Breakaway Marching Band
8:30 pm - Speakers and discussion
DONATION - pay what you can. All proceeds go to the legal fees of the RNC 8.
Artists Run Chicago
Posted May 8, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
A bunch of artist-run spaces and projects multiple Justseeders have connections to are part of this exhibition opening up on Sunday in Chicago:
Artists Run Chicago
May 10 – July 5, 2009, Gallery 1
Hyde Park Art Center
5020 S. Cornell Avenue
Chicago, IL 60615
Opening: Sunday, May 10
3-5pm, FREE
Featuring 1/Quarterly, 65GRAND, Alogon, Antena, artLedge, Butchershop, Co-Prosperity Sphere, devening projects + editions, Deluxe Projects, Dogmatic, Fraction Workspace, Fucking Good Art (FGA), Green Lantern, He Said-She Said, HungryMan, joymore, Julius Caesar, Law Office, LiveBox, Margin Gallery, Medicine Cabinet/Second Bedroom Project Space, mini dutch, Modest Contemporary Art Projects, NFA Space, Normal Projects, Old Gold, Polvo, Roots & Culture, Scott Projects, Standard, Suitable, Swimming Pool Projects, Teti, The Suburban, and VONZWECK.
With special contributions by Imperfect Articles, INCUBATE, Mess Hall, Seven Three Split, and ThreeWalls.
Artists Run Chicago is an exhibition showcasing the energy and audacity of some of the most noteworthy artist-run spaces that have influenced the Chicago contemporary art scene over the past decade. Chicago has long been known for cultivating a strong entrepreneurial/Do-It-Yourself spirit in business and the arts. The participating artist-run venues have transformed storefronts, sheds, apartments, lofts, industrial warehouses, garages and roving spaces into contemporary art galleries testing the notion of “exhibition” while complicating the definition of art. Coinciding with the Hyde Park Art Center’s 70th anniversary, Artists Run Chicago reconnects the Art Center to its beginnings as an artist-run space by showcasing spaces that continue the legacy.
CPH in London
Posted May 8, 2009 by jmacphee in Justseeds & Member Projects
The Celebrate People's History Poster Series is currently on display at the 56a Infoshop in London. 56A is one of the longest running anarchist social centers in London, I first visited back in 1994(!!), and it's still kicking. They have a bookshop, archive, food coop and bike fix-it space. If you're in London, stop by and check it out: 56A Infoshop, 56 Crampton St., London SE17 3AE UK.
Montreal Anarchist Theatre Festival
Posted May 7, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
Also in the inbox. Justseeds will be at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair which is on May 16th:
MONTREAL’S 4th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST THEATRE FESTIVAL
MAY 13 + 14, 2009, D.B. Clarke Theatre
with NEW YORK’s LEGENDARY ‘THE LIVING THEATRE’
The fourth annual Montreal International Anarchist Theatre Festival (MIATF) proudly presents two nights with New York’s legendary ‘The Living Theatre,’ Wednesday, May 13 + Thursday, May 14, 2009 at Concordia University’s D.B. Clarke Theatre, 1455 de Maisonneuve West (Metro Guy-Concordia), 7:30pm.
Tickets are $15 at the door or in advance from AT the Montreal anarchist bookstore L’Insoumise, 2033 boul St-Laurent (tel: 514- 313-3489), starting april 15, 2009.
The Living Theatre - North America’s premiere avant-garde theatre project founded in 1947 by two non-violent anarchists, Judith Malina (student of Erwin Piscator) and the late Julian Beck (from the New York School) - will perform a new piece for their two night run called ‘The Beautiful Non-Violent Anarchist Revolution: A combination of Living Theatre Plays.’ The world famous troupe is renowned for their aesthetics emphasizing improvisation and their plays about revolutionary issues. Their work has influenced generations of radical playwrights, actors and artists, and they have won four prestigious Obie awards. They continue to produce and tour anti-war plays from New York. Judith Malina will perform as part of the troupe.
Opening for The Living Theatre May 13th, is Maikan, an Innu giant puppet theatre troupe from the Mali-Utenam reserve near Sept-Iles. For their Montreal debut, they will stage ‘Tshakapesh’ – an enchanting, mythical piece based on an Innu legend addressing contemporary social issues.
Free Xero: A Re-discovered Inspiration
Posted May 6, 2009 by erik_ruin in Inspiration
I was flipping through various comics anthologies the other day (looking for wordless comics for a friend's thesis project) when i rediscovered the work of Carol Moiseiwitsch. I remembered her bold scratchboard imagery & dark sardonic wit always standing out in comics collections like Twisted Sisters, but had never seen much of her work beyond that. So imagine my delight when i discovered a whole site of her images- comics, paintings, posters etc., all available for non-profit use! I was also impressed to see Carol continuing to create relevant, charged graphics in reaction to current struggles in Palestine, Oaxaca and elsewhere.
I highly encourage everyone to check out the striking work of this dedicated and under-appreciated radical artist!
UNC Stencil Attack
Posted May 6, 2009 by jmacphee in Street Art & Graffiti
Bernard Herman receently sent these photos over of a nice set of stencils that showed up one morning on the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill campus. Not sure who EC (or ECCE, but not to be confused with the Australian ECCE) is, but nice work! Here's a page with other stencils from North Carolina tagged EC, but it is unclear if they are the same artist....
Friday-Justseeds at Books Through Bars event!
Posted May 6, 2009 by k_c_ in Events
Benefit for NYC's Books Through Bars
Friday May 8th, 8pm
Art & Resistance: Slideshows and Discussion
Seth Tobocman: Author of "Disaster and Resistance: Comics and Landscapes for the 21st Century"
Peter Kuper: "Stop Forgetting to Remember: The Autobiography of Walter Kurtz"
Kevin Caplicki & Molly Fair from JUST SEEDS: Creators of the "Prison Portfolio Project"
Vikki Law: Author of "Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women"
Red (Pedal) Power
Posted May 5, 2009 by dylan_miner in Bikes
I thought some of y'all may be interested in what is happening in the Native arts community, particularly from an anti-colonial perspective. This summer, I am one of a handful of invited Indigenous art historians participating in a symposium at the Insitute for American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Alongside other young intellectuals, we'll be writing some of the history of contemporary Native art. Once we meet and get some stuff written, I'll post my writings up here. In the mean time, scope this older essay from Do Not Park Bicycles!: Aboriginal Bike Culture, a rad exhibtion held two years ago in Manitoba.
The show, organized by aboriginal curator Jenny Western, addressed the relationship between contemporary Native artists and bike culture. I was one of the five artists in the show, which included America Meredith (Cherokee), Tania Willard (Secwepemc), Terri Saul (Choctaw), and Yatik Fields (Cherokee, Creek and Osage). It was a pretty dope show, based on an amazing curatorial proposition. In addition to having work in the show, I also wrote an essay in the catalogue called “Red (Pedal) Power: Natives, Bikes, and Anti-Colonial Art." Here is the essay as a PDF.
REVIEW: Protest Graffiti Mexico
Posted May 5, 2009 by jmacphee in Reviews
Louis E.V. Nevaer & Elaine Sendyk
Protest Graffiti Mexico: Oaxaca
Mark Batty Publishers, 2009
As far as I know, this is the first book out that exclusively focuses on the political street art produced during the uprising in Oaxaca in 2006. Normally one might ask why we should embrace a book on the graffiti of a political rebellion when we barely have any books that deal with the actions of the period or the politics behind them. But as our world becomes more and more media saturated, how people that reject the status quo represent themselves publicly becomes increasingly important. If most people in the US saw anything about the Oaxaca rebellion, it was likely photos of the graffiti it produced on yahoo news. The popular and mass occupation of Oaxaca City lasted longer than the Paris Commune, and all we got were a couple lousy internet slideshows?!?
Thankfully Nevaer and Sendyk give us a much more in-depth look at the streets of Oaxaca than any web news outlet. Sendyk took the bulk of the photos included (over 150), and Nevaer narrates our trip through the images. Unlike most graffiti books coming out these days, this one actually attempts to provide context for the images included. The book begins with a reprinting of an Open Letter in Support of the People of Oaxaca, signed by an international collection of Left public intellectuals, and leads right into a chronology of events in Oaxaca. Nevaer tries to give us the information we need to understand the images, including a history of the PRI Party in Mexico, context for teachers strikes in Oaxaca, background on the Mexican Revolution, as well as the development of the strike in 2006, the formation of the Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO), and the role of women in the struggle. The information provided is generally solid, if a little to liberal and repetitive for my taste.
New Atenco Poster
Posted May 4, 2009 by jmacphee in Art & Politics
Our friends at La Furia de las Calles in Mexico City just sent along this intense new Atenco poster. Click continue below the poster for a letter by Atenco political prisoner Gloria Arenas Agis:
Subversive Practices
Posted May 4, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
A couple friends have passed along links to this upcoming show in Stuttgart Germany. It looks extremely interesting:
Subversive Practices:
Art under Conditions of Political Repression
60s–80s / South America / Europe
May 30 – August 2, 2009
Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart
Schlossplatz 2, D – 70173 Stuttgart
Subversive Practices:
From May 30 to August 2, 2009 the Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart devotes itself to experimental and conceptual art practices that had become established between the nineteen-sixties and eighties in Europe and South America under the influence of military dictatorships and communist regimes.
The exhibition’s nine sections will be focused on various contexts and strategies of artistic production along with their positioning vis-à-vis political and cultural repression in the GDR, Hungary, Romania, the Soviet Union, Spain, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. Of equal concern here are both the particularities of and the relations between the different temporal and local environments.
(image: Luis Pazos, Transformations of living masses, 1973)
Breaking the Siege:Justice for Atenco
Posted May 3, 2009 by k_c_ in Events
Film Screening of Romper el Cerco-"Breaking the Siege" a film by Canal Sies de Julio and Promedios in NYC
May 4, 2009 1:30-4:30pm Martin E. Segal Theatre CUNY Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue
"Breaking the Siege" documednts the repression of Atenco's social movement (Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra -FPDT). This is a simultaneous projection on Brasil, México and NY as part of Libertad Y Justicia para Atenco-Campaña Nacional y Internacional(The national and international campain for justice and freedom for political prisioners of Atenco)
a film about the events in Atenco / Mexico 2006San Salvador Atenco, May 2006. A small town in the suburbs of Mexico City. Two months before the presidential elections, a conflict for land and rights escalates between the population of Atenco and the Mexican government. Unbelievable events take place: the police attack a marketplace, the inhabitants block the highways leading to the city, and confrontations between an outraged population and police forces break out. The state of emergency goes on for several days and culminates in the death of a 14 year old boy.
This video analyzes the events in San Salvador Atenco during the first days of May and denounces the violation of the civilian population’s human rights by state and federal police forces. The documentary deconstructs the mass media’s operating methods, which were responsible for creating a climate of fear and an information blockade on the events in San Salvador Atenco, in the midst of an especially delicate situation: the 2006 process of presidential succession in Mexico.
Freedom and Justice for Atenco!!
Posted May 3, 2009 by jmacphee in In the News
Our comrades in Mexico City just sent this along:
FREEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR ATENCO!!
By Heriberto Salas and Salvador Díaz
(Spanish Translation at the bottom)
On May 3, 2006, the sun rose with a dark stain around the Belisario
Dominguez market in Texcoco: the state and local police had posted a guard
around the spot where flower growers had sold their flowers for as long as
we can remember. The Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT), which
had participated in a dialogue with Enrique Peña Nieto’s government had
counseled and defended the flower growers. The day
before, the state government had promised them and the FPDT that they
would withdraw their police forces.
At 6 o’clock in the morning, when we met up with men, women, and
children carrying baby’s breath, chrysanthemums, and spikenards, joined in
their chants, and helped them set up their stands on the curb, we never
imagined that we would go through some of the cruelest, most ferocious and
heartless repression unleashed in the contemporary history of Mexico.
Yet the flower growers, the FPDT, and the people fell into a shameless
trap of the so-called “golden boy,” who in fact is a true Caligula or
“golden tyrant,” Enrique Peña Nieto, supported by then prosti-president
Vicente Fox Quezada, and the complicity of the PRD lapdogs of Texcoco, all
defenders of a barbarous State whose enemies are the most
defenseless people.
Oakland youth prepare for May Day march and rally
Posted May 2, 2009 by Jesus_Barraza in Inspiration
May Day: Youth Prepare from Betty Bastidas on Vimeo.
In preparation for May 1st Immigrant Rights mobilization in Oakland youth gathered for a banner making party to paint graffiti banners, screen print bandanas, posters, and t-shirts. It was great to see so many black, brown and red youth gravitate to the two screen printing stations we set up. They quickly learned the process and took over, teaching each other how to screen print. The youth painted three banners, screen printed about 50 posters, cut a stencil and sprayed 20 posters and made about a dozen shirts. Betty Bastidas and some youth from Huaxtec helped document the event, you can see the video below.
The workshop came a week after a conversation with Lincoln Cushing, we talked about the re-emergence of screen printing as a social movement medium. I think it is important to help spread the medium to as many youth as we can as well as other printmaking mediums. It was great seeing all the art produced by youth at the May 1st march in Oakland and I hope that this trend continues and we have more youth making art in the community.
Morel of the Story
Posted May 2, 2009 by meredith_stern in Environment
We left the house today to go for a walk and close by our apple tree were a few beautiful morels!
So psyched for our free food foraging! We are going to eat them with pesto we made from arugula we grew last year and froze. It has lasted all winter. It is amazing how much food we grew and were able to store and eat all winter!
Disclaimer: never ever eat any mushrooms you find without properly identifying them first!!! You need more information than this picture since there are look alikes that are poison!
Talk to a local mycologist before eating.
Hot Off the Presses #3
Posted May 2, 2009 by jmacphee in In the News
Inkworks, one of our favorite worker-owned print shops, has just release issue #3 of their Hot Off the Presses newsletter. And this issue's artists of the month are Justseeds own Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes!! You can see the entire issue here, jump straight to Melanie and Jesus here, or check out a small write up on Mayday and Mayday posters here.
Agitate! Educate! Organize! Book Release
Posted May 1, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters & Prints
Lincoln Cushing's new book on American labor posters is finally out!:
Agitate! Educate! Organize!
American Labor Posters
Lincoln Cushing and Timothy W. Drescher
$24.95, Cornell University Press, 2009
East Bay book release premiere
Thursday, May 7, 2009 6:30-9:00 PM
Alliance Graphics, 1101 8th St, Berkeley, CA (510) 845-8835
Hosted by Alliance Graphics / Middle East Children’s Alliance
San Francisco release premiere
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 7:00 PM
Modern Times Bookstore, 888 Valencia St.
This is a fundraiser for Modern Times -
all proceeds to support the store
Here's the copy for the book:
Despite the existence of labor images going back to some of the earliest examples of representational art, very little has been done in this country to acknowledge the contribution labor posters have made to our national culture. Other countries, including Germany, England, and Australia, take this genre seriously, but ironically it has been up to foreign scholars to produce some of the best research and successful publications on our own culture. The few books that treat these posters are either broader art exhibit catalogs or illustrated sections of books on specific labor themes, such as the history of the Industrial Workers of the World. No single U.S.-published title exists which offers a broad survey of this specific art form. The graphics themselves have experienced the general fate of other “oppositional” cultural documents, where low social status has resulted in public neglect.
Printing with Pittsburgh Teens!
Posted May 1, 2009 by shaun in Justseeds & Member Projects
This week saw the culmination of a project I've been working on the last couple of months alongside Mary Tremonte (also of Justseeds), Pittsburgh artist (and beekeeper) Ashley Brickman, and Jenn Knops from University of Pittsburgh's Street Law program. As agents of the Warhol Museum's Education Department, we worked with three "Theory of Knowledge" classes at Schenley High to create posters about current social justice issues.
We started by taking the classes on a field trip in late February to see the "Signs of Change" exhibit while it was on display at the Miller Gallery in town. The students had to pick images from the show to discuss with the group, and began thinking about how to communicate through poster design. Over the course of the next several weeks we held discussions about current events, helping the kids focus on problems they saw in the world and researching them to gain a better understanding of the issues they felt were important. Jenn brought in a lot of information on international human rights for the students to chew on, and once they broke into groups we started going over some design fundamentals, using imagery from some Justseeds artists along with the "how to" design chapter at the beginning of Josh and Favianna's "Reproduce and Revolt" (a great, encompassing primer on fundamentals of clear graphic design). The kids set to work collaborating on their designs, combining their experience at "Signs of Change" with their own knowledge and opinions. The best part, of course, is the actual printing of the posters, which happens in a day-long field trip for each class to Artist Image Resource (AIR)! There they screen print their poster designs and learn the whole process firsthand! Besides getting some amazing posters printed and having fun doing it, I'm really proud of how this project worked out, and it's amazing watching the kids' eyes open to the possibilities of printing! In the coming weeks the students must find places in the city to hang their posters (storefronts, schools, etc) in order to spread their messages. Check out our Flickr album for more images of the students making their posters...
