Political Art
Mother Stonewall and the Golden Rats
Posted July 2, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
I'm getting this up a little late for celebrating Pride, but my friend Sam sent me this great flyer/story made by one of the Stonewall veterans. It's an amazing narrative of the Stonewall Riot from someone who was there that night. Hopefully it'll be readable here:
Mountop Removal Banner Drop
Posted July 1, 2009 by jmacphee in In the News
Rising Tide activists dropped a 25 ft high banner off the Environmental Protection Agency in Boston. Image below, and the rest of the story here.
more mud....
Posted June 28, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Political Art
Hard to resist not doing more mud stencils after the energy that came out of the Tamms Year Ten mud stencil action in early June in Chicago. Here's some new images and new themes, not connected to the campaign, but in the same spirit of using eco-art to put up messages in public space.
one by Jesse:
one by Nicolas:
more info:
mudstencils.com/
Aberdeen Poster Collective
Posted June 27, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters
The Aberdeen Poster Collective is another UK poster group I've stumbled across online. This crew is from Aberdeen, Scotland, and appears to have had their heyday in the early 2000s. They have about 50 posters up online which you can download and reproduce. Some of them are quite simple and effective. Check them all out, and their manifesto, on their website.
Spoof International Herald
Posted June 26, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
The Yes Men were involved in another spoof paper last week, this one is an edition of the International Herald, and the re-made paper focuses on climate change and the upcoming COP15 conference in Copenhagen in December. You can check out the whole paper and download a PDF of it here.
What If? online
Posted June 26, 2009 by jmacphee in Books & Zines
What If? A Journal of Radical Possibilities was a short running journal that started coming out soon after the WTO protests in Seattle 1999, and ran for a number of years, putting out 3 or 4 issues. I was always generally impressed with it, in terms of being well put together, well designed, using quality artwork (Rini Templeton, Erik Drooker) and featuring the intersection of art and politics. What If? founder/editor Christy Rodgers has put the journal online, and plans on using this new web version to continue the goals of the print edition. Check it out here. (It also looks like Justseeds artist Fernando Marti will soon have a nice image gallery up on the site as well.)
Dyke Rights = Human Rights
Posted June 24, 2009 by Melanie_Cervantes in Political Art
I am so happy to share the 2009 San Francisco Dyke march poster design. Since I met Ani Rivera my contact for the Dyke March committee, a few years ago, I wanted to do the design.She was a pleasure tot work with and I am really happy about being able to visually interpret this year's theme: Dyke Rights = Human Rights, Human Rights = Dyke Rights. The best part of the experience was one day when I sent a version of the poster for feed back and I could hear all the women in the background jubilantly yelling "make her fat, make her old, make her a leather butch!"Never had I heard women embrace aspects of a woman that mainstream society marginalizes so happily. It was the best feedback session I ever had.
The 17th Annual San Francisco Dyke March 2009
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
Starting from Dolores Park, at 18th and Dolores
Rally and Stage Begins @ 3:00 p.m.
March Takes Off @ 7:00 p.m.
Dyke Rights = Human Rights
Human Rights = Dyke Rights
"At the San Francisco Dyke March, we gather to experience and celebrate our collected energies, to acknowledge our many communities, to learn from our incredible diversity, to respect each other, and to create new ways to share our resources. We have pride for good reason: Dykes participate in every aspect of political, social and artistic institutions, illuminating issues of social justice wherever we are. . . "
Art Front
Posted June 23, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
Marc Moscato just sent me a link to a great post he put up on his blog Whittlin' Away. It's on Art Front, a 1930s radical art publication from the US. Check it out (and go to Marc's blog to see more images and read other good stuff!):
In my research for the Art for the Millions bike ride, I came across an amazing little-remembered publication, Art Front (1934-1937). This magazine provided a fantastic resource and community sounding board for issues surrounding art and politics during the Works Progress Administration (WPA) period. Based in New York City, the magazine was the official organ of the Artists’ Union and served as a main organizing tool. Contributors included Fernand Leger, Harold Rosenberg, Louis Bunin, and Stuart Davis, among numerous others.Art Front’s mission was “as wide as art itself.” Stated its editor, H.S. Baron, “Many art magazines are being published in America today. Without one exception, however, these periodicals support outworn economic concepts as a basis for the support of art which victimize and destroy art. The urgent need for a publication which speaks for the artist, battles for his economic security and guides him in his artistic efforts is self-evident.”
Within the pages of Art Front are things you would expect from a union paper — arguments for higher wages and more jobs in the arts. But also found are a marvelous assortment of manifestos for the creation of public art centers, tracts on revolutionary art vs. art for the bourgeoisie, reviews of (then) contemporary artists and reports on censorship and red-baiting (many WPA artists came under attack for political activity and leftist organizing).
One interview with Thomas Benton struck me as particularly insightful. How would we answer these questions today?
1. Is provincial isolation compatible with modern civilization?
2. Is your art free of foreign influence?
3. What American art influences are manifest in your work?
4. Was any art form created without meaning or purpose?
5. What is the social function of a mural?
6. Can art be created without direct personal contact with the subject?
7. What is your political viewpoint?
8. Is the manifestation of social understanding in art detrimental to it?
9. Is there any revolutionary tradition for the American artist?
10. Do you believe that the future of American Art lies in the Midwest?Fascinating read if you can track it down (I inter-library loaned a microfilm copy).
Testure: Animal Torture, Skinny Puppy video edit
Posted June 20, 2009 by roger_peet in Environment
All the talk of waterboarding, stress positions, walling, psychological assault etcetera, has put me in the mood for a little perspective. Bush endorsed "enhanced" techniques, Obama hasn't put a stop to them, oh! The wringing of hands. Folks, torture is normal. Waterboarding is for the weak. Let's have a look at some REAL torture, of the sort that culture demands. This is some of the worst shit ever.
Click here to have an unpleasant experience.
Red Lines exhibition
Posted June 17, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
Red Lines
Housing Crisis Learning Center
Queens Museum of Art
New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Queens, NY
7 to Shea Stadium
opens Saturday, June 20
Red Lines is a large-scale installation that explores how we finance our living environments, and will remain on view through September 27, 2009. Opening day events include: a 3–5 pm screening and discussion of Primetime: Fighting Back Against Foreclosure, a documentary by Jennifer Fasulo and Manauvaskar Kublall looking at predatory loan practices and their aftermath, and a blow-out 5–7 pm reception. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Queens Museum Panorama of New York City has been used to map the pattern of 2008 foreclosures across the city. Red Lines is curated by Larissa Harris, and is a project of the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies and the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP). More information at
http://www.queensmuseum.org/exhibitions/redlines.htm
new Tamms Year Ten mud stencil video
Posted June 16, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Political Art
Check out the latest video about the Tamms Year Ten mud stencil action in Chicago that took place on June 6th.
More info:
www.yearten.org/
mudstencils.com/
Art, Archives and Activism: Martin Wong's Downtown Crossings
Posted June 16, 2009 by molly_fair in Art exhibits/shows
The Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University is proud to present the exhibition “Art, Archives, and Activism: Martin Wong’s Downtown Crossings” from March 6-December 18, 2009. From the mid ’80s through the early ’90s, artist Martin Wong and other downtown New York artists were affected by an intersection of major historic events spanning the AIDS epidemic, urban renewal and attacks on graffiti in the city, to Tiananmen Square abroad. The exhibition explores artists who crossed paths during this particular time, influencing and inspiring discussions, art works, and activism.The exhibition winds a story through the voices of his closest friends and peers during Wong’s time in New York City from the early 1980s through the mid-1990s. As Wong would come to portray his friends, fellow artists such as Miguel (Mikey) Pinero, Sharp, Chris “Daze” Ellis, among others within his paintings, bringing them into a world of a Lower East Side re-imagined with the fantasies of escapism and romanticism of a barren land amid towering walls of crumbling brick where they dwelt, in this exhibition, the archival materials and lasting influences of Wong’s legacy and his friendships in turn shape a portrait of the artist—re-imagined and remembered.
The artist’s work shown in “Art, Archives, and Activism” range from the early ’80s through the ’90s and have been loaned from his estate at PPOW Gallery and the collections of his closest friends. Some photos, paintings and drawings have never been shown to the public before. Working with and drawing materials from the Fales Library and Special Collections at New York University along with personal collections, “Art, Archives, and Activism” presents a story of a time and the interconnectedness of the artists with the world around them through the artwork, letters, photographs, videos, postcards, posters, and flyers of participant artists. The exhibition traverses the artificial borders of these two decades, and instead is spread through the moment delineated by artists’ lives and the issues that engulfed them — their personal influences, artistic production and activism that were catalyzed from these connections and overlapping paths. The opening reception is also the reception and book celebration for the Asian American Art Symposium 2009 at NYU presented by A/P/A Institute and co-sponsored by The Noguchi Museum; The Japan Foundation, New York; The Asia Society; NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; and Museum of Chinese in America.
May 68 — May 08
Posted June 15, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters
I don't think I ever posted this project here, and it just popped back up in my head, so I thought I'd share it. Back in early 2008 designer Brian Ponto asked a number of artists and designers to create posters inspired by the Atelier Populaire posters from France in May 68, but relevant to the realities of 2008. Among those invited to work on the project were Chris Stain and myself, as well as Jody Barton, Scott Boylston, Seymour Chwast, Sun Dawang, Gwenaëlle Gobé, Finn Nygaard, UG Sato, James Victore, Brett Yasko, and John Yates. The project culminated in a newspaper collection of black and white posters which also included an essay on the form of the political poster by Carol Wells, director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. You can learn more about the project and read Carol's essay here and here. And since the posters were reproduced in black & white in the paper, I've posted a color version of mine below:
Video from the Tamms Year Ten mud stencil action in Chicago on June 6th
Posted June 11, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Political Art
Mud stencil video by Gretchen Hasse.
New City Chicago article on Tamms Year Ten mud stencil action
Posted June 9, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Political Art
Lori Waxman wrote an insightful article about the recent June 6th mud stencil event in Chicago for the online and print publication New City Chicago. Below is her text and a link to her website and the New City website.
Mud Slinging
by Lori Waxman
Dirt, water, whisk, sponge, bucket, box cutter, tar paper—these are not your typical artist’s materials. Mix the water and dirt in the bucket, lay the cut-out paper against a cement surface, and sponge on the mud, however, and the result is a handsome work of environmentally friendly graffiti.
Street artists often work with stencils, using them to shape spray-painted statements. But a chemical medium dispensed through an aerosol container reeks of toxicity, so Milwaukee-based Jesse Graves, intent on finding a more compatible way to apply his environmentally and politically conscious messages, evolved an alternate means of tagging: mud. The technique is nothing short of ingenious. Simple, cheap, graphically effective and not necessarily illegal, mud stencils, if protected from the elements, can last up to ten years; or, like all dirt, they can be washed off with water. Consistency is key, however, to achieving a bold visual with sharp edges: the mud mixture must be carefully controlled so that it achieves a viscosity akin to peanut butter or feces.
Yes, feces—like the feces sometimes smeared by inmates at Tamms prison on the walls of their cells. Cells where they are held in permanent solitary confinement, bereft of all human contact, for up to twenty-three hours a day, with breaks only for showers and individual exercise. It’s a supermax jail in Southern Illinois originally designed for the short-term punishment of violent inmates from other facilities, but one-third of whose occupants have now been locked up in extreme isolation for over a decade, with no clearly defined standards for transfer in or out. Widely believed to cause permanent physiological and psychological damage, these conditions contravene the Geneva Convention, two United Nations treaties and various other international human-rights accords. Conditions which have led inmates not only to paint their walls with shit in desperate attempts for attention, but also to mutilate themselves, to attempt suicide, and to require—for one in every ten men at Tamms—regular doses of psychotropic medication. All this for up to $90,000 a year per inmate, three to four times the cost of incarceration at other prisons in Illinois.
Chomsky Event Poster Designed by Josh Macphee & Kevin Caplicki
Posted June 9, 2009 by k_c_ in Posters
Josh Macphee and Kevin Caplicki collaborated on a 5-color handprinted poster for an upcoming benefit for the Brecht Forum.
The event features Noam Chomsky who will deliver a lecture called Crisis and Hope:Theirs and ours. He'll be introduced by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, and features music by Earthdriver and Mahina Movement
The event will be held
Friday, June 12
7:00 pm
At Riverside Church
490 Riverside Drive (Btn 120 & 121 St)
NYC, NY
Sliding scale for talk: $20/$25/$30
Reception with Noam Chomsky (includes reserved seating for the talk): $50/$100/$250/$500
Special Benefit for the Brecht Forum,
Please contribute what you can afford.
The poster, a signed and numbered edition of 60, will be available for sale at the event, and tickets can be purchased through the Brecht Forum website.
I shold also mention that Justseeds will be tabling the event along with others, like our comrades from Bluestockings Bookstore
Profane Relics: Early Research
Posted June 9, 2009 by roger_peet in Environment
My colleague Ryan Burns has been hard at work on an ambitious project of late. It's to be a massive reliquary of the Congo mineral wars; a huge slab of excavated central African soil, displayed as if it were an archaeological find shipped to a research center in a massive crate. The dig reveals layer upon layer of exploitation and devastation, destroyed forests, rent cultures, annihilated wildlife, and gruesome paramilitary struggle for control of the stream of minerals.... 
These minerals, hacked by hand from beneath the Congolese subsoil by teams of preteen miners, make their way through unscrupulous chains of corporate commerce into all our modern high-tech devices, our computers, our cellphones, blackberries, i-phones, x-boxes, playstations, anti-lock brakes, and so on, and so on.
We are all complicit in this, and the fact that I'm blogging about it is the ultimate irony. None of this dissemination of information is possible without the grim calculus of total destruction that has been wrought on the lands, life and people of the Democratic Republic of Congo during the past twenty years. Blood is on our hands.
Profane Relics will be on display at the Sea Change gallery in downtown Portland, Oregon, starting in July. More details coming soon.
Illinois Torture Publicized with Ecological Art: Chicago and Milwaukee artists boost Tamms Year Ten message with mud stencils
Posted June 7, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Political Art
On Saturday, June 6th in Chicago, local artists partnered with the Tamms Year Ten coalition to protest state-sanctioned torture at the supermax prison in Southern Illinois. And they did it with mud.
The medium:
The method:
Artists from Chicago and Milwaukee engaged in a non-destructive type of public messaging called “mud-stenciling.” More than 30 volunteers stenciled their message “End Torture in Illinois” in the afternoon on walls and sidewalks around the city offering fact-sheets about TAMMS supermax prison to curious pedestrians. The teams hit spots such as Navy Pier, The Chicago Art Institute, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Jane Adams Hull House, Hyde Park Art Center, the Logan Square skate park, the Chicago Zoo, DePaul University, as well as sidewalks, underpass walls, and numerous other locations.
Mud as a medium is especially sensible for artists and activists who want to work outdoors with a non-toxic substance to reach a large public audience. Moreover, city governments and law enforcement agencies have little precedence in dealing with mud stencils so there is a gray area on whether it is legal or not. For if it is illegal, is it also illegal for kids to write with chalk on the sidewalk? Is it illegal to build a snowman in a park or for dirt from ones garden to touch the sidewalk? And, is it illegal to stencil with mud when the rain will wash it off?
That said, none of the 30 volunteers who mud stenciled on June 6th in Chicago were arrested or even questioned by the police.
Jesse Graves, a Milwaukee based artist who is gaining international attention for his street art, developed the mud stenciling technique and took part in the Chicago action. “I started stenciling with mud because I wanted to put environmental messages in public spaces, so it would not make sense to use a toxic material like spray paint,” said Graves. “I am using the earth, the most basic substance, to express my concerns regarding the state of the environment I am living in. I am using what sustains us to offer ideas on how we can sustain ourselves.”
Nicolas Lampert, a member of the Justseeds Radical Artists cooperative (www.justseeds.org), who helped coordinate the effort, views it as a tactical media campaign. “People first will be drawn to the stencils themselves, the medium, but it is our hope that a larger conversation evolves about Tamms and how people can get involved,” said Lampert, who helped cut the 6 foot by 9 foot stencils out of rolls of roofing paper. He feels the partnership with the Tamms Year Ten campaign is a needed collaboration: “In my view, activist movements need art, and artists need to be part of activist movements. A lot of artists do political art, but this is actually a case where artists can be part of a social justice movement itself.”
The action was designed to draw attention to the supermax prison in Illinois. Which has become the target of scrutiny by press, legislators, and even Governor Quinn, who appointed a new IDOC director last month with the top priority of reviewing the conditions at Tamms.
Prisoners at the supermax are held in permanent solitary confinement, and never leave their cell except to shower or exercise alone in a concrete pen. Their is no communal activity, no contact visits, no phone calls, an no educational or rehabilitative programming. Suicide attempts, self-mutilation, and other psychotic symptoms are common at Tamms, and are an expected consequence of long-term isolation, which can induce or worsen mental illness. Prisoners often hear nothing but constant screaming or banging and complain about the smell of feces, smeared on cells by mentally ill prisoners. The supermax was designed to be a short-term shock-treatment, but one-third of prisoners have been held indefinitely since the prison opened over ten years ago.
Tamms Year Ten, a coalition of over 70 groups throughout Illinois, initiated the campaign to end torture at the supermax last year and worked with Illinois lawmakers to introduce HB2633 that would establish accountability at the prison and prohibit mentally ill people from being held there. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on the Illinois Department of Corrections and Governor Quinn to alleviate conditions at the prison immediately.
Laurie Jo Reynolds a Tamms Year Ten organizer, who participated in the mud stencil action said, “The mud-stencils help facilitate dialogues about Tamms with people all over the city.” She reported that people were surprised to see the word torture being used in connection with the state of Illinois. “Many people don’t realize that our supermax is more isolating than Guantanamo Bay, where identical treatment has been judged by Attorney General Eric Holder to be too isolating for prisoner safety,” Reynolds explained. All prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are now provided social interaction and phone calls, in compliance with the humane-treatment requirements of the Geneva Convention. She added, “Most people agree that psychological torture can’t be justified for American prisoners of war, or for detainees at Guantanamo, and it can’t be justified for people in custody in Illinois.”
Nationally, supermaxes are on the decline with some closing or converting to regular maximum security prisons due to the unwanted consequences of long-term isolation, as well as the high cost of supermax prisons. According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, the average annual cost of housing a prisoner at Tamms is about $60,000, two to three times as much as any other adult prison on Illinois.
More information:
Tamms Year Ten: http://www.yearten.org/
Mud stencils:
Jesse Graves: http://mudstencils.com/
More photos, video, and articles will be posted over the coming weeks.
MasterPeaces: High Art for Higher Purpose
Posted June 4, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
This just in from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics out in Los Angeles:
MasterPeaces:
High Art for Higher Purpose
June 6 - 27, 2009
DaVinci Gallery
Los Angeles City College
855 N. Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90029
323.953.4000
Gallery Hours: Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 12 – 4 pm
From Dada to Punk, from anti-war movements to feminism and ecology, high art has been repeatedly incorporated into a visual language that ranges from the iconoclastic to overt protest. MasterPeaces shows how works by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Picasso, Warhol and many others have been parodied, appropriated or altered to make statements about a variety of contemporary issues.
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 6 12 – 4 pm
Symposium: Saturday, June 20, 2009 2-4 pm
The Center for the Study of Political Graphics, students and faculty in the Designing the Political course at Otis College of Art and Design, will discuss the dialogue between the original art and the contemporary protest poster.
TAMMS Year 10 Campaign - mud stencil event
Posted June 4, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Political Art
Quick update on a project taking place this weekend in Chicago. The Tamms Year Ten coalition is partnering with Milwaukee artist Jesse Graves to publicize state-sanctioned torture at the Tamms supermax prison in southern Illinois. The prison watchdog group and local artists will engage in a unique project this weekend called “mud stenciling.”
Mud stencils are a non-toxic ecologically-safe, non-destructive public messaging technique developed by Graves, a Milwaukee-based artist, who is gaining international recognition for his work. Mud stencils wash off in the rain, yet while they are up, they dry to a dark brown color and have a three-dimensional texture.
Below are photos of the stencils being made (the majority are 6' x 8' with one being 9' x 11'). I'll post more photos, press, and reflections on the event early next week.
Center for Urban Pedagogy call for Advocates
Posted June 3, 2009 by k_c_ in Political Art
The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is looking for advocates, organizations, and researchers with complex policy issues that need visual explanation. We seek advocates with a constituency who would directly benefit from an issue of Making Policy Public.
Making Policy Public is a program that pairs advocacy and policy organizations with graphic and information designers to produce foldout publications that make complicated policy issues accessible. The goal is to find organizations with issues that will advance a worthy advocacy effort but that will also engage and educate a broader public. Advocates chosen through the juried process get 1000 copies of the color publication to distribute directly to their constituents and an honorarium of $1000
Look at the Making Policy Public site for how it works
2009 Schedule
June 26 Deadline for proposals from organizations
July 16 Policy briefs posted and call for graphic designers posted
August 17 Deadline for applications from graphic designers
September 3 Publication collaborations announced
¡Vivan las Guerreras de Oaxaca!
Posted June 1, 2009 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
A look behind Tim Simon's new Celebrate People's History Poster (taken from his blog Some News, Mostly Propaganda):
I recently completed a two color poster for the awesome Celebrate People's History poster series distributed by Justseeds. The CPH posters are a venue for radical artists to highlight social movements and examples of popular resistance that are often left out of most historical narratives. Below is the finished version of the poster I created and I want to use this post to go into a little more depth about where the imagery comes from and why I chose it. Links for more info and where to purchase the poster follow.
CONCEPT BACKGROUND
As I began work on this project at the end of 2007, I chose to focus on the uprising in the Mexican state of Oaxaca during the second half of 2006 that took control of the state capital for six months. It has since been compared in scale and importance to the Paris Commune. The uprising began when state police attempted to violently evict an encampment of the teachers' union in the center of the city that had been protesting the corrupt and repressive regime of Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz. When the people of the city rallied in defense of the teachers and drove the police and state government out of the city, the demonstration quickly exploded into a full on uprising against neoliberalism and the traditional power structure of Mexican politics. More specifically, I chose to highlight the crucial role that women –many of them self-identified 'housewives'– played in sustaining the rebellion and opening up new possibilities for radical liberation.
A close friend of mine, Barucha Calamity Peller, was one of the few independent journalists in Oaxaca during the uprising and she spent much of her time documenting the rebellion from the front line barricades that protected the liberated city from attack by the state. At the height of the uprising there were upwards of 3000 active barricades in Oaxaca city and many towns and municipalities in the surrounding countryside had joined the movement to kick out Ulises Ruiz. After the movement was brutally crushed by the federal government at the end of November, she returned to the states with an amazing collection of photos and testimonials from participants in the movement. Barucha and I worked together on the concept for the CPH poster and we used her images and interviews as inspiration.
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.
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.
Meshed Histories: The Influence of Screen Printing on Social Movements
Posted May 28, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters
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.
Emma and Sylvia Back in Stock!
Posted May 27, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters
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!
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:
anakseribupulau
Posted May 16, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
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.
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.
Mayday Berlin!
Posted May 12, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters
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 Political Art
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.
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...
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.
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!
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"
REVIEW: Protest Graffiti Mexico
Posted May 5, 2009 by jmacphee in Review
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 Political Art
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)
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.
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...
Capitalism Breaks My Heart
Posted April 30, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
I just got this great poster image from Sue Simensky Bietila in Milwaukee, check it out. This is a high res file, so download and use in your town!:
Favianna in Toronto
Posted April 29, 2009 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
Here's a really nice write up on Favianna's recent trip to Toronto, from the Rabble website. Click here.
Built For Collapse
Posted April 29, 2009 by k_c_ in Justseeds/Member Projects
I created this image in the last few hours of the Justseeds installation, at UW-Milwaukee. I'm kind of obsessed with current economic events. So I decided to make a poster about it. The text came out of some discussions that Roger and I were having during the collaboration. Condos and high-end development projects have been a high priority for NYC's current mayor Michael Bloomberg, one that I reference in this image is the Atlantic Yards.
The Atlantic Yards is a mega-development project designed by Forest City Ratner a company with close relationships to powerful NY politicians as well as the NY Times. The company wishes to build a basketball arena and 13 towers, mostly residential, near downtown Brooklyn. There are so many problematic factors to this project like traffic congestion, desire to use eminent domain, community displacement, request of
"Federal Stimulus" money, and so much more. You can find a ton of information on blogs like NoLandGrab.com and Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn and Atlantic Yards Report to name a few.
I felt like referencing the renderings of this development project was appropriate in highlighting how overdevelopment of cities, like Brooklyn, has led to economic crisis. Construction combined with predator lending and stretching potential homeowners beyond their means has brought us to the stage of crisis that we are experiencing.
One hope of mine is to make this into stickers, for the front door of every new condo in NYC. If you are interested in using this image, gimme a holler, I can pass along a high-res file.
In thinking about my next image, maybe it will be about the wealth extraction from the majority of the populace to a small percentage of bankers, er, the ruling class?
Here's a flick of my friends loft, where I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow and use as a printing studio for this run. Thanks Jesse!
Paper Politics Syracuse
Posted April 25, 2009 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
Back in December the Paper Politics exhibition I curated was hung at the Red House in Syracuse. I got a bunch of photos from the show, but realized I had never posted them here. So below are some flicks of the show. I'm working out the details for a couple more showings of the exhibition now, and I'm definitely look for more venues. If you know of a good space for the show in your town or city, let me know!
Also, I'm working on a new catalog/book of all the work in the show. The first edition of the catalog has been sold out for a couple years. This new book will be published by PM Press and should be out in the Fall.
Diego Rivera in Detroit
Posted April 23, 2009 by dylan_miner in Political Art
Last evening I presented with Bec Young at The NorthStar Center in Lansing, MI. In the discussion following our presentation, one of the women in the audience (who happens to be my good friend María) asked an interesting question about archival work and the role that radical graphics play in the visual history of movements. She was interested in discussing the lack of movement ephemera being saved or archived within mainstream institutions. As radicals, she noted, we rarely do a thorough job documenting ourselves and our histories. Moreover, she was disappointed by the absence of material written about radical art and culture.
In response, I noted that this is, in fact, quite a large problem. However, as some of know (or actively participating in) there are some folks out there doing amazing things to change these absences. For instance, I mentioned the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in LA. The director, Carol Wells, does an excellent job documenting radical graphics, both inside and outside the US, with Justseeds contributing one impression of each print to the Center.
Additionally, I began to think about the various curatorial and writing projects that JustSeeds members are engaged in. It is striking that JustSeeds is not simply producing art and participating in various radical social movements, but many of us are also actively writing texts about the history of radical. Although serendipitously happening on the very night that I posted my first writing on the blog, this discussion concretized my desire to post blogs of my writing.
With that said, here is my second attempt at offering my academic writings to the JustSeeds community. These two articles are a little older (2005). The first is an article I wrote about Diego Rivera's labor activism in Detroit. The second is an essay by Mexican philosopher Alberto Híjar Serrano that I translated into English for Third Text. They were published alongside one-another and function as a unit.
Feel free to post comments or responses!
Signs of Change Reception Friday
Posted April 22, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
SIGNS OF CHANGE:
SOCIAL MOVEMENT CULTURES 1960s TO NOW
April 5, 2009 - June 5, 2009
Troy Night Out Reception: April 24 5pm - 9pm
at The Arts Center of the Capital Region
265 River Street, Troy NY, 518-273-0552
In Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, hundreds of posters, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and ephemera bring to life over forty years of activism, political protest, and campaigns for social justice. Curated by Dara Greenwald and Josh MacPhee as part of Exit Art's Curatorial Incubator, this important and timely exhibition surveys the creative work of dozens of international social movements.
Organized thematically, the exhibition presents the creative outpourings of social movements, such as those for Civil Rights and Black Power in the United States; democracy in China; anti-apartheid in Africa; squatting in Europe; environmental activism and women's rights internationally; and the global AIDS crisis, as well as uprisings and protests, such as those for indigenous control of lands; against airport construction in Japan; and student and worker revolution in France. The exhibition also explores the development of powerful counter-cultures that evolve beyond traditional politics and create distinct aesthetics, life-styles, and social organization.
Although histories of political groups and counter-cultures have been written, and political and activist shows have been held, this exhibition is a groundbreaking attempt to chronicle the artistic and cultural production of these movements. Signs of Change offers a chance to see relatively unknown or rarely seen works, and is intended to not only provide a historical framework for contemporary activism, but also to serve as an inspiration for the present and the future.
Sponsored by iEAR Presents! and Humanities@Rensselaer
Here is some more info on the show:
The Miller Gallery
Exit Art
Victory for SDS Milwaukee: University Apparel to be Sweatshop Free
Posted April 19, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in In the News
SDS Milwaukee continues to amaze. Below is a post detailing a recent victory to make UWM clothing apparel sweatshop free and how creative resistance and perseverance aided the campaign.
"The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee recently signed on to the Worker Rights Consortium, pledging to participate in the Designated Suppliers Program, a set of standards which intends to guarantee living wages and the right to organize to the garment workers who make university apparel. The University's letter was the culmination of over two years of student organizing, and it made UWM the 46th university to sign such a pledge.
Getting UWM signed on to the program was one of the initial projects adopted by the Milwaukee SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) when it formed in Fall of 2006. Since then, SDS members have met with reluctant administrators, organized petition drives, held protest rallies, expanded membership, and chalked the sidewalks of the campus on an almost weekly basis – even in freezing weather.
In the week before the victory, SDS sponsored a traveling workers’ tour, a sweat-free fashion show, a student/labor rally, and a sweatshop clothesline display outside the Chancellors office window.
The rally, held outside of the chancellor’s office, was initially expected to be a protest. However, a few hours after the sweatshop clothesline was installed, the administration called group members promising to sign the DSP pledge, turning the protest into a celebration.
Members of labor rights groups, and local unions joined university administrators, and student activists in celebrating the victory, while also focusing on the many battles ahead, which include Milwaukee’s Paid Sick Days initiative, the DREAM Act, and Employee Free Choice Act."
Serigrafía 26 - a silkscreen workshop for la revolución
Posted April 18, 2009 by bec_young in Political Art
While in Buenos Aires last fall, I met and talked with Flor of Serigrafía 26, a silkscreen workshop that is part of the Frente Popular Darío Santillán (FPDS). The FPDS is social and political movement that consists of many autonomous groups of people including unemployed workers unions. It is named after a young piquetero striker named Darío Santillán who, along with another compañero named Maximilano Kosteki, was killed by police in 2002. The silkscreen workshop is a small part of this huge movement. They design and print graphics according to their ideals, and also operate as a worker-owned print shop, printing designs for customers. Flor showed me some of her wonderful paintings and her graphic designs, many of which have been turned into prints sold by the Serigrafía 26. Some of her work also appears in Reproduce and Revolt. The last image reads, "Revolution in the streets, in the house, and in the bed!"
Signs of the Times
Posted April 16, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Political Art
The recent Justseeds install in Milwaukee included a public art component. Here are examples...
Da Town Graphics: Oakland Youth on the Move
Posted April 15, 2009 by Melanie_Cervantes in Political Art
"We strongly believe that our future is in the hands of the young folks."-Mutulu Shakur
Last week Jesus and I worked at Oakland's Spanish Speaking Citizen's Foundation with several Raza youth ages 12 to 17 to conduct five workshops on how to develop political posters. The weeklong series of workshops acted as an alternative Spring Break. During this period the students met and worked with us, Xican@ community artists, to learn about the history of political posters as developed within the context of social justice movements, learned the steps in developing a poster and created posters of their own that reflect their values and interests.
We gave a slideshow presentation on people of color graphic artists who have used the medium of poster as part of their movement building work. We included our work as part of this trajectory. After this presentation of a history of political posters we taught students how to create thumbnail sketches. This was interesting and challenging because we were giving all the workshops in English and Spanish. We worked diligently to make sure anyone who was monolingual in either Spanish or English always understood. It was so great to know the young people were down to translate what they said to make sure everyone was included.
Each of the students learned how to create a thumbnail sketches for their poster layout as well as brainstorming ideas for our group design. We used Josh MacPhee and Favianna Rodriguez's book Reproduce and Revolt to show the students examples of existing graphics. Collectively the class created designs for a poster that they will distribute for the May (im)migration mobilizations. We did daily group critiques as we continued to develop the collective poster.There are various distribution plans-some students will give the posters out at their schools and post them in classrooms, others will work with community organizations to distribute picket signs and others will approach store fronts to post them in their windows. They chose the name Da Town Graphics for their group after much deliberation and discussion.
We had a very focused group that was determined to finish their posters and put as much thought and time into them as possible. The youth also designed individual posters on topics that they felt passionate about.The poster topics ranged from calls for universal health care, demands to stop ICE raids, a declaration of Indigenaity and a call to end racism.
We look forward to the students coming by the Taller to help us produce the prints for the mobilizations.
Video of "Which Side Are You On?" Installation at UWM
Posted April 15, 2009 by k_c_ in Justseeds/Member Projects
A short video by Ross Nugent documenting the Justseeds installation Which Side Are You On? at the Union Art Gallery in Milwaukee.
Art Nouveau Magazine Interview
Posted April 15, 2009 by jmacphee in Interviews
Art Nouveau Magazine just published an interview I did with them a couple weeks back about Justseeds and what makes art political. You can read it here.
Graphics Page for Defend the RNC8
Posted April 14, 2009 by k_c_ in Political Art
Its good to find a support capaign webpage that has downloadable graphics available.
Check out the Freinds of the RNC8 propaganda page. And learn about the RNC8's struggle for charges against them to be dropped at RNC8.org, get inspired create a new image and send it to them at Friends of the RNC8.
Justseeds Prison Portfolio graphics in Use
Posted April 12, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Justseeds/Member Projects
Good to see that some of the graphics from the Justseeds Prison Portfolio project are finding their way onto fliers and the covers of periodicals. The portfolios that were donated to groups organizing against the prison industrial complex each came with a cdr of all the images from the portfolio - plus prison justice related images from Reproduce and Revolt (a book of copy-right free graphics available through Justseeds / co-edited by Josh and Favianna.)
Here are examples of three. If you know of more, send us an email. Additionally, there are a few remaining copies of the portfolio left for sale on our site that help us recover the cost of creating 100 portfolios.
Stain in Ultra de la Rue
Posted April 9, 2009 by k_c_ in Justseeds/Member Projects
Chris went to Amsterdam recently for the festival Utra de la rue celebrating the, now, 400 year relationship
of the Dutch to NYC. This was Chris's take on that.
photo nicked from Mather Life
Antiretrovirals and Water Refugees: A Living Newspaper on Haiti
Posted April 8, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
Antiretrovirals and Water Refugees: A Living Newspaper on Haiti
Performances and Post-Show Discussions on Haiti, Political Theater, and Global Healthcare
Thursday through Saturday, April 9 – 11; and Wednesday through Friday, April 15 -17
General Admission: $8, Students $6.
All shows at 8 p.m. Post-show discussions April 9, 10, 15, and 16 at 9:30 p.m.
Kresge Little Theater, 48 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139
Tickets will be available 45 minutes before showtime at the Kresge Little Theater box office.
For advance tickets: http://dramashop.mit.edu/tickets/
Further ticket information email: ds_tickets@mit.edu
A new puppet, object, and music spectacle about the politics of global healthcare in Haiti premieres at MIT’s Kresge Little Theater for a two-week run from April 9 to 17. "Antiretrovirals and Water Refugees: A Living Newspaper on Haiti" looks at the past, present, and future of Haiti in terms of the politics of global healthcare, as refracted through the work of Paul Farmer's Partners in Health organization and its fight against AIDS.
Carnell Hunnicutt, Sr.
Posted April 8, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
The Real Cost of Prisons site has recently put up a large collection of art by prisoner artist Carnell Hunnicutt, Sr. It's pretty interesting stuff, Hunnicutt mostly takes existing texts such as reports by criminal justice organizations or other watchdog groups and brings them to life with his unique comics style. Mixing simple background images and characters that would fit comfortably in the newspaper funnies, he illustrates and even sometimes brings a little humor to these fairly dry and statistical documents. He seems to always we fighting with the texts, struggling to force them into the boxes of a basic 6 or 8 panel comic, to tame them into an more easily read and understand form. Sometimes it works, but sometimes the text takes over, literally pushing the images out of the frame. To me it's this struggle that makes the comics compelling...
Check them all out here.
Signs of Change Troy
Posted April 7, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
I just got back to NYC from installing Signs of Change upstate in Troy. Here's the info for the show (please stop by if you're in the area!), and below are some photos from the install.
Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now
Reception: April 24, 2009 5:00-9:00 PM
Exhibition runs from April 5, 2009 - June 5, 2009
The Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street, Troy NY, 518.273.0552,
Sponsored by iEAR Presents! and Humanities at Rensselaer
In Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, hundreds of posters, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and ephemera bring to life over forty years of activism, political protest, and campaigns for social justice. Curated by Dara Greenwald and Josh MacPhee as part of Exit Art's Curatorial Incubator, this important and timely exhibition surveys the creative work of dozens of international social movements. Organized thematically, the exhibition presents the creative outpourings of social movements, such as those for Civil Rights and Black Power in the United States; democracy in China; anti-apartheid in Africa; squatting in Europe; environmental activism and women's rights internationally; and the global AIDS crisis, as well as uprisings and protests, such as those for indigenous control of lands; against airport construction in Japan; and student and worker revolution in France. The exhibition also explores the development of powerful counter-cultures that evolve beyond traditional politics and create distinct aesthetics, life-styles, and social organization. Although histories of political groups and counter-cultures have been written, and political and activist shows have been held, this exhibition is a groundbreaking attempt to chronicle the artistic and cultural production of these movements. Signs of Change offers a chance to see relatively unknown or rarely seen works, and is intended to not only provide a historical framework for contemporary activism, but also to serve as an inspiration for the present and the future.
WRAP Art
Posted April 6, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
I can't remember if I posted something about this before, but either way, this is cool:
The Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP), a San Francisco-based homeless advocacy group, has posted a large collection of copyright free graphics on their website, free to download and use for housing and homeless activists and organizations. Most of the graphics focus on issues of housing, but there is also bleed into other interesting and important areas. Here's a list of artists whose work is available, click on their names for links to the download pages:
Art Hazelwood
Eric Drooker
Gato
Ed Gould
Christine Hanlon
Roberta Loach
Josh MacPhee
Doug Minkler
Claude Moller
Favianna Rodriguez
Jos Sances
San Francisco Print Collective
Nili Yosha
Prison Nation Exhibition in San Marcos
Posted April 5, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
Prison Nation:
Posters on the Prison Industrial Complex
America has more than 2 million people in prison, more than any other country in the world. Prison Nation addresses many critical issues: the prison-industrial complex, the death penalty, Three Strikes, racism, privatization, torture, and re-entry into the community.
Prison Nation: Posters on the Prison Industrial Complex was produced by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Los Angeles, CA. The CSPG collects, preserves, and exhibits posters relating to historical and contemporary movements for social change. Political posters inspire discussion and action through provocative imagery and language. On display at the Kellogg Library 3rd floor gallery February 9 - April 30, 2009, free and open to the public during all library hours.
Kellogg Library 3rd Floor
California State - San Marcos
333 S Twin Oaks Valley Road
San Marcos, CA 92096
760.750.4378
(image by John Jennings)
Hugh D'Andre
Posted March 28, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters
Inkworks Press has just put up a nice write-up on Bay Area artist Hugh D'Andre, with a number of nice images of his work, including a half dozen posters he has done for the San Francisco Anarchist Bookfair. Check it out here. You can see more of Hugh's work here. A large percentage of Hugh's work is Creative Commons licensed and free for people to download, remix and reuse.
OakBook Interview: Favianna Rodriguez
Posted March 27, 2009 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
Justseeds member Favianna Rodriguez recently did a long, in-depth interview with on the OakBook Blog. Read an excerpt below, and the whole thing here. Check it out:
The stories of immigrants, of working class folks of color, of single mothers, of young black and brown men being locked up day after day at alarming rates – those stories are left out of the “art world,” and yet, these are the majority of the stories in the country, in the world. This demonstrates to me that the art world continues to be an elitist body and that it caters mostly to the needs of white men. When I make work, I talk about the things I see in my own community, in the lives of the people around me. My work addresses themes of globalization, war, immigration, women, sexuality, and prisons. When I talk about those themes, my work gets labeled as political. It actually also gets labeled as women’s art, Latino art, Chicano art, propaganda art, and a host of other terms.Those terms don’t really bother me.. My intention is to change the conditions of the communities I represent. I have been given a tool to do that and it’s through art. I view art as a tool for education, agitation, and social critique. Through an artistic practice, it is possible to confront the multitude of images of disempowerment fed to us by mainstream media.
Up Against the Wall - Berkeley Posters from the 1960s
Posted March 26, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
This show looks like it's going to be great, mark your calendars!:
Up Against the Wall - Berkeley Posters from the 1960s
Exhibition 4/19 through 9/26, 2009
the Berkeley Historical Society
1931 Center St.
Berkeley, California (510) 848-0181
Opening April 19, 3:00-5:00 PM
As 1950s America woke up from the deep chill of McCarthyism and the Cold War, a new genre of popular culture blossomed in the streets of Berkeley during the mid-1960s. Spurred by the success of local rock and counterculture posters, political posters were vibrant public documents that promoted a wide range of social issues. This exhibition documents Berkeley's unique role in the evolution of this medium, and includes examples of works on such diverse issues as gay liberation, people's health care, opposition to the Viet Nam war, support for political prisoners, demand for alternative educational models, and community control of police. The show covers the "long 1960s" (1964-1974) and explores the complex interaction between local activists, artists, publishers, and distributors that made this cultural explosion possible.
Curated by archivist and poster scholar Lincoln Cushing, this exhibition is drawn from a unique private Berkeley collection of over 25,000 political posters assembled by Free Speech Movement activist Michael Rossman.
Exile Infoshop: Prison Justice Week
Posted March 24, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
I'm a little late to catch this, as the week is half over, but friends in Ottawa at the Exile Infoshop are hosting a great week of prison activist events, including an exhibition of our Voices from the Outside portfolio.
Prison Justice Week
March 20 to 27, 2009
Exile Infoshop
256 Bank St. (second floor), Ottawa, ON.
reg. hours: Wednesday-Saturday, noon-8pm; Sunday noon-5pm
Featuring the Justseeds art exhibit “Voices from Outside: Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex” and nightly events!
All Events @ 7PM,
Free, but regrettably not wheelchair accessible
* Friday March 20th - Kick-off Prison Justice Art exhibit w/DJ
* Saturday March 21st - Panel Discussion: From Prisons to Colonialism : Global Apartheid w/ Jaggi Singh, Abdullah Al-Malki, Yavar Hameed (representing Abousfian Abdelrazik). Abdullah Almalki is a Canadian citizen who was detained, interrogated and torture in Syria because of information that could have only originated from Canadian government agencies.Yavar Hameed is a lawyer representing Abousfian Abdelrazik. Mr. Abdelrazik was abducted, illegally detained and held in captivity by Sudanese authorities for approximately two years at the recommendation of CSIS. While in detention, Mr. Abdelrazik was subjected to coercive interrogation and torture by Sudanese officials with direct Canadian involvement. For the past five years, the Canadian government has been illegally blocking Mr. Abdelrazik’s right to return to Canada. Jaggi Singh is a no borders, anti-capitalist, migrant and indigenous solidarity organizer based in Montreal. He is currently active with No One Is Illegal-Montreal, Solidarity Across Borders and other groups.
* Sunday March 22nd - Prisoner Letter Writing and Crafts Night
* Monday March 23rd - Film Night - Life Inside Out, NFB production, a vérité-style documentary that takes us inside the walls of Grand Valley Institution for Women.
* Tuesday March 24th - Panel Discussion: Indigenous People and the Criminal Injustice System featuring: Kim Pate - Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies; Sheila Grantham - Researcher on The Aboriginal Women and Stigma Project
* Wednesday March 25th - Prisoner Letter Writing and Crafts Night
* Thursday March 26th - Speaker Event and Journal for Prisoners on Prisons Issue 17 Release w/ Sophie Harkat, Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee
* Friday March 27th - Fundraiser Costume Dance Party.
Stencilada
Posted March 23, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
Stencil Archive and CELLspace present:
Opening Grill Out
Saturday, March 28
1 to 5 pm
2050 Bryant St.
b/t 18th and 19th Sts.
SF, CA 94110
FREE (one day only, inside if raining)
Food on the grill, bevs in the cooler, music on the boombox, and art on the walls
(some food and beverages will be provided while supplies last)
Featuring eight panels of art by:
Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza
Russell Howze with Hugh D’Andrade
John Koleszar (AZ)
James S.
Crystal Townsend
Scott Williams
Peat Wollaeger (MO)
with special stencils on paper by Tiago DeJerk (OR)
Bring your own cut out stencils to add to the ongoing collection of stencil art at CELLspace (some paint provided)
Landfill from the studios of Brian Ponto
Posted March 20, 2009 by k_c_ in Political Art
I got this from Brian Ponto today:
On this first day of spring we are proud to launch LANDFILL--an annual publication made in collaboration with our friend, the environmental printer, Greg Barber Co. Each issue explores a conceptual approach to its printed components. Second Chance's theme, 100% post-consumer papers and non-toxic toners, was made in partnership with Mohawk Fine Papers and the vendor Digital Connection.After the interviews, our stories of second chances were printed using non-toxic toner onto paper containing flower seeds and buried throughout New York City. Brooklyn Photographer Luke Barber-Smith photographed these burials. As the sprouts reach the topsoil, the first lives push through the earth and grow into real wild flowers for the spring.
Printed copies begin to mail next week from both Mohawk Fine Papers and Brian Ponto. Thanks for your time reading, and here's to new beginnings in a hopeful new year.
Tea: A performance. A discussion. Thoughts from a veteran’s return voyage to Iraq
Posted March 17, 2009 by molly_fair in Events
A friend of a friend, IVAW member Aaron Hughes will be performing in Tea, part of the benefit exhibition 2,191 Days and Counting at Powerhouse Arena for Iraq Veterans Against the War.
March 19, 2009 1-4 PM
Powerhouse Arena 37 Main St. Dumbo Brooklyn, NY
TEA - chai - الشايtea |tē| noun • a hot drink made by infusing the dried, crushed leaves of the tea plant in boiling water.
Tea: A performance. A discussion. Thoughts from a veteran’s return voyage to Iraq
243 detainees left in Guantánamo
243 Styrofoam flowers
Tea is an ongoing dialogue that traverses a variety of landscapes. From the tea sipped on in this instillation, to a quaint coffee shop in the Lower Eastside, to a cage in Guantanamo Bay, to a motor pool in Iraq; tea is not only a favored drink but a shared moment that transcends cultural divides and systems of oppression. That is not meant as a clichéd utopian statement, but as a reminder of a shared humanity that is so often overlooked.
The project consists of three parts the installation, the performance, and an ongoing growing dialog. The installation is composed of all the needed materials to make, sit, enjoy, and commune over strong black tea. The performances consist of a series of monologues/stories shared by activists, Iraqis, veterans, and myself that reflect on the traumas of war. These monologues and the ephemera of the installation are designed to foster and grow the dialogue the third element aspect of the project.
Aaron Hughes served in the Illinois Army National Guard and in 2003 he was involuntarily deployed to Kuwait and Iraq with the belief he would provide humanitarian relief for the Iraqi people. As a truck driver he traveled throughout much of Iraq and quickly came to the realization that he was not providing any type of humanitarian relief, but in stead was contributing to the oppression, destruction, and dehumanization of the Iraqi people. Following a fifteen-month deployment Aaron returned home guilt stricken and committed to end the occupation.
This March Aaron, as a representative for Iraq Veterans Against the War, returned to Iraq in an important step in focusing more attention on the rights and needs of the Iraqi people. Since the U.S. occupation began, Iraqi unions have resisted oppression by organizing for worker rights and the creation of new unions. But under occupation, Iraqi workers have been targeted in an attempt to suppress the population and control Iraq’s natural resources. Independent labor unions are banned; labor leaders have been killed, tortured, beaten, and imprisoned; worker’s wages have been suppressed and their rights have been routinely violated; and union bank accounts have been frozen. Iraqi labor unions and workers have been among the leading non-sectarian forces defending Iraqi sovereignty and democracy by exercising their collective power through strikes to increase wages, resist privatization of Iraq’s oil industry, and stand up to foreign contractors who threaten their livelihoods.
So please sit and have tea with me…
Torture/Impeach
Posted March 15, 2009 by jmacphee in Street Art / Graffiti
More Midwest political freight graffiti! One of my favorite things about doing thi blog is when cool art like this flys into the mailbox, makes me feel like people are fighting out there:
Right Wing Street Art?
Posted March 14, 2009 by jmacphee in Street Art / Graffiti
I recently was asked a series of questions by about why there is so little right-wing street art by Paul Schmelzer (editor for the Minnesota Independent) for his Eyeteeth Blog. He crafted a post around my answers, and here it is:
At the 2009 Conservative Political Action (CPAC) conference this weekend, The Daily Beast's Max Blumenthal found a rare kind of artist: a conservative hip hop musician. Self-defined "Republican rapper" Hi-Caliber says he takes inspiration from the likes of Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh to lay down lyrics like: "A socialist in the White House / what have we done? / You think Bush was bad? / Now the real fun has begun / The Democrats want to take my gun..."But what Blumenthal found at CPAC, I haven't had much luck in finding in the visual arts: interesting street art coming from a right-of-center perspective. In my search, raised in my Thursday post, "Where's all the rightwing street art?," I got in touch with artist Josh MacPhee, who founded Justseeds, an artists' cooperative, online store, and blog. He couldn't offer examples of artists, but he shared his thoughts on the topic of why they're so hard to find.
He says the American political Left draws from a long history of visual agit-prop, whereas conservatives have used other vehicles. "When [the Right] is marginalized, it has built itself through local radio broadcasts, direct mailings, election to local office, etc.—channels that appear to be legal, mainstream, and legitimate," he says. "The Left has no problem appearing to be speaking from the margins (even if they are speaking from a position generally held by the vast majority, i.e. the anti-war position right now), but the Right always wants to speak from the center, to claim they are being marginalized, but simultaneously appear to be legitimate and supported by the majority."
He posits that illegal or guerrilla art has long been a way for people whose voices aren't represented by corporate media channels to be heard. "For most of the history of this country, and more specifically for the past eight years, the ideas and opinions of the right wing, and even the extreme right wing, have been common currency. They are seen in daily newspapers, heard on the radio, even spread across billboards," he says. "There is much less of a need for right-wing graffiti, when the right wing speaks to the hundreds of millions from TV screens and evangelical church pulpits."
May ’68 in Paris and the Student Movement in Ljubljana, 1968–1972
Posted March 13, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
For our far flung friends in Eastern Europe, if you can, a trip out to Ljubljana for this exhibition seems well worth it!:
May ’68 in Paris and the Student Movement in Ljubljana, 1968–1972
Posters, Film, and Photographs
29 January – 22 March 2009
International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC)
Grad Tivoli, Pod turnom 3
1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
The protests and strikes by students and workers in Paris and other French cities in May and June of 1968, which challenged the traditional values of society and destabilized the regime of Charles de Gaulle, left an indelible mark on the history of the second half of the twentieth century. The protests, which soon spread across the world, encompassed Yugoslavia as well, including Ljubljana. French artists, some inspired by Guy Debord, acted as a kind of propaganda machine for the uprising. They occupied universities, established people’s studios, became agitators and activists, and exhibited their work on the streets and in factories.
The exhibition will present around eighty posters, loaned by the Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image imprimée in La Louvière, Belgium. They were created for the events in Paris, and their image has become synonymous with the urban struggle. The student movement in Ljubljana, from 1968 to 1972, will be documented by a film by Majda Širca, as well as the student newspapers Tribuna and SP (standing for slovensko podzemlje – “the Slovene underground”), leaflets and announcements, and photographs by Tone Stojko, Edi Šelhaus, and Žare Veselič, from the Museum and Galleries of the City of Ljubljana and Slovenia’s National Museum of Contemporary History.
'In the Name of the Blood Shed' Exhibition Fotos
Posted March 9, 2009 by dylan_miner in Political Art
After the Just Seeds install, I took off for Mérida, Yucatan. I just got in yesterday, but I haven't seen any exciting (street) art, yet. Send me a shout out if anyone knows some artists or areas to check out here in the Yucatan.
In the mean time, here are a couple of flics from the show I curated, 'In the Name of the Blood Shed.' Photographers Antonio Turok and Edith Sánchez Morales were in the house. Street Art collectives Lapiztola and Zzierra Rrezzia will hopefully be in Michigan conducting workshops for the closing. Stop by if in Michigan before the end of the month.
Origins of the Peace Sign Fist
Posted March 9, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters
I'm sure there are more political graphics nerds like me out there, as well as people smart enough to know that the history of our images gives us great insight into how people organize, visualize and make social change. Thankfully we have Lincoln Cushing, political poster archivist extraordinaire. His Docs Populi site is chock full of amazing bits of graphic history and knowledge, including a new piece on the history of the Peace Sign Fist, as developed in connections to the 1970 US Student Strike. Check it out here!
Red Feds CPH Poster Released
Posted March 8, 2009 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
Jared Davidson, the artist behind the Garage Collective in Christchurch, New Zealand, has designed the latest Celebrate People's History Poster. His poster, Red Feds, is a celebration of early labor union organizing in New Zealand, and discusses the connections between New Zealand radical labor and the Industrial Workers of the World. I asked Jared to write up a bit about the inspiration behind the poster, and he sent along this text, which was also published in the New Zealand Labor History Project. Give it a read and check out the poster:
I never wanted to be a graphic designer — at least not in the traditional sense. An important part of my artistic practice has been to explicitly avoid the design industry and all that it encompasses — advertising, profitability, marketing, consumption, and ultimately, the advancement of our current exploitative and illogical system: capitalism. By setting myself up independent of this mainstream conception of design, I've been lucky enough to participate in projects which have been far more worthwhile and productive than encouraging profit margins, consumer culture and an elitist design minority. Work for the Labour History Project — in the form of the Blackball '08 and May '68 posters — as well my recent poster for the 'Celebrate People's History' project initiated by Justseeds (a collective of USA-based printmakers and illustrators) relects the sort of artistic endeavours I see particular value in.
As my interest in the role graphic and cultural work can play in political agitation and education has grown, I've come into contact with other like-minded practitioners at home and abroad. Justseeds Visual Resistance Artists' Co-Operative, like myself, realise that cultural production plays an integral role in the continuation of the values and systems that prevail today — including our sense of identity, and equally important, our understanding of history. Hence the 'Celebrate People's History' project — an ongoing collection of educational and agitational posters designed to illustrate aspects of our past which are often marginalised, overlooked and outright ignored.
When I was asked to contribute to the project I immediately knew that I wanted to concentrate on an aspect of Aotearoa's past, or more specifically, our vibrant labour history. A poster on the 'Red Feds' and the influence of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) in Aotearoa seemed a natural choice.
Photos: Day Three of the Justseeds Install in Milwaukee
Posted March 4, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Justseeds/Member Projects
Here's some photos of day three of the Justseeds install "Which Side Are You On" that opens at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Thursday, March 5th. Slowly but surely it is all coming together. Much thanks to everyone who is assisting us with this project-our friends, the students who are helping out, and all at the Union Art Gallery who have been so amazing to work with. We're excited to see what the next two days bring forth.
More Photos from Day Two of the Justseeds Install in Milwaukee
Posted March 2, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Justseeds/Member Projects
...stay tuned..three more days of work until the show opens on Thursday, March 5th...
Photos from the Justseeds Install in Milwaukee: Day 1 and 2
Posted March 1, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Justseeds/Member Projects
The Justseeds install in Milwaukee is off to a roaring start. 15 plus members from the collective and a host of Milwaukee friends are busy working on the six day installation from Friday, Feb. 28th-March 5th. If your in Milwaukee or nearby, stop by the exhibition preview (Tuesday, March 3rd 5:00-8:00) the opening (Thursday, March 5th 5:00-8:00), and a presentation by Josh MacPhee (Monday, March 2nd, 7:00-9:00) on political printmaking. Details are posted below and more photos of the install will be posted soon!
Which Side Are You On?
Exhibition featuring work from the Justseeds Radical Artists’ Cooperative
MILWAUKEE, WI — From March 5 through April 3 the UWM Union Art Gallery will present Which Side Are You On?, featuring the work of 20 plus artists who are part of the Justseeds Radical Artists’ Cooperative. The exhibition reception is on Thursday, March 5 from 5-8pm. An exhibition preview will take place on March 3 at 5pm. All events are free and open to the public.
Justseeds (www.justseeds.org) is a decentralized radical art cooperative consisting of 20 plus artists who live in Brooklyn, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Portland, Milwaukee, and other cities across North America. Together they work on a myriad of projects where art is used as a tool to serve social justice movements. Justseeds is best known for their political prints, a blog that serves as a home for socially engaged street art and news, their group installations, and a recent portfolio project in honor of the 10-year Anniversary of Critical Resistance (a grass roots organization committed to opposing the prison-industrial complex.)
In early March, the Justseeds Radical Artists’ Cooperative will create a massive floor-to-ceiling, all encompassing installation that combines elements of street art, sculpture, video, and other mediums. Which Side Are You On? examines the use of walls as physical and mental barriers that create de-facto segregation, whether it is the walls that divide nation states, the streets that separate one side of town from the other, or the barriers that separate humans from the environment. Which Side Are You On? challenges these barriers while envisioning a more just and sustainable future.
At 5pm on Tuesday, March 3, an exhibition preview will take place at the Union Art Gallery. Stop by for a chance to see the Justseeds installation in progress. During the walk through, meet and talk with the artists involved in the installation.
In conjunction with this exhibition, Union Programming is hosting an evening with Justseeds founder, Josh MacPhee, on Monday, March 2 at 7pm in the Union Fireside Lounge. In his talk, The Walls Are Talking: Street Art and Social Movements, MacPhee will present an in-depth discussion about street art and graffiti and their role at four historical times, between 1968 and 2003. The lecture is free and open to the public. Josh will also lead a printmaking workshop in the Union Studio Arts and Craft Centre on Saturday, March 7 from 12:30-3:30pm. Call 229-5535 for information on the fee and to register.
Which Side Are You On? is cosponsored by UWM Students for a Democratic Society.
Gallery hours are Monday thru Wednesday 12-5pm, Thursday 12-7pm and Friday thru Saturday 12-5pm. The Gallery is located in room W199 on the Campus Level of the Union, 2200 E. Kenwood Boulevard.
UCB third world Liberation Front
Posted February 27, 2009 by Jesus_Barraza in Political Art
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the third world Liberation Front Hunger Strike, where seven college students camped outside of California Hall and fasted for what they believed in. I was at Chicana/o Studies conference in Texas when the strike started. I was there with friends that attended UC Berkeley) and we were spreading the word of the upcoming strike and the struggle to keep the Ethnic Studies Department alive and keep it from getting folded into the Cultural Studies department.
I was a student at SF State where I was in the Raza Studies Department. Sf State is where the Third World College was established in 1969 after its own student struggle won it. I lived in Berkeley and had been a part of MEXA and Layout Editor of La Voz de Berkeley since 1994 and had been making flyers for organizations on campus since. Starting with the the third world College action in 1997 to the Crossing Over Conference in 1999 and the Hunger Strike I made flyers to promote the work that was being done.
I returned from the conference 4 days into the strike and I went to meet up with friends who were camped out in front of California Hall. I was going to leave before if got dark but people started talking about something going down because all the cops were getting together at their Sproul Hall office. It wasn't until 3 or 4 am that the police came down to the encampment and issued their order for people for protestors to disperse. At that point there were people who had decided to get arrested as a strategy and they gathered in front of California Hall and prepared to have their camp to be ripped apart by the cops. My friend and roommate Sean O'shea was going around taking pictures with his digital camera and we stayed around protesting as the cops started hauling people away.
La Entrada
Posted February 20, 2009 by jmacphee in Street Art / Graffiti
My friends WERC and Geraldine (who I went to Mexico with back in October), have been working with a great team of artists on an exciting new project in San Diego: La Entrada. The basic core of the project is an attempt to infuse art into a low income housing project as it is being built. WERC has been painting some amazing murals on the outside. They are also organizing a barrage of workshops for community residents. You can check it out in this short video:
La Entrada Project - Wall1 from geraluzlove on Vimeo.
Review: Illustrations from the Inside & The Real Cost of Prisons
Posted February 18, 2009 by jmacphee in Review
Review:
Illustrations from the Inside: The Beat Within
edited by Louis E.V. Nevaer
Mark Batty Publisher, 2007
The Real Cost of Prisons
edited by Lois Ahrens
PM Press, 2008
Back in 1997, I was living in Boulder, CO and working with the Prisoners Rights Project, a group dedicated to improving the conditions of Colorado's prisoners. We were mostly collecting and tabulating data and anecdotes from men trapped in the Colorado State Penitentiary, a super maximimum security prison and the ugly little brother of the Federal Florence AdMax prison down the street (there is something like a dozen prisons all on the same drag in Canyon City). I had been working on prison injustice issues for a number of years, first in Washington, DC, then Ohio, and then Colorado. One thing that was constant throughout my time doing prison activism were the envelopes from prisoners, tattooed with ball point pen dragons, big-breasted women, and low riders. These were some of the smallest, most intense and photo-realistic drawings I had ever seen; I had no idea the depth and detail one could extract from a Bic pen.
Illustrations from the Inside isn't exactly a collection of prison envelope art, but it has all the best qualities of that art form and more. The book is an amazing collection of images created by juvenile prisoners that are part of The Beat Within, a long running weekly magazine and writing program for youth in juvenile detention and prison. The pages here are a rush of imagery, from Chicano clown faces to Black super heroes, prison bars to indigenous spirituality. In many ways this is a tour through the mind of most teenage boys, but with a darker twist, as even the most banal images begin to feel infected by fear, control, domination and violence. The quality of the art jumps from childish to some of the most intense social realism I've ever seen. Cartoon Tupac scribbles share space with detailed drawings of riot cops beating Black youth. In some ways Illustrations reads like an American youth version of that popular Russian Criminal Tattoos book, not as esoteric or x-rated, but a serious window into the mindset of 11-25 year old prisoners (yes, some of the images are from imprisoned youth as young as 11!).
Activist Print Open Studio at Signs of Change
Posted February 18, 2009 by mary_tremonte in Critical Mass Art
Images from Signs of Change Winter Harvest Reception, January 23, 2009
Join local printmakers and activists at a special Activist Print Open Studio, this Thursday, 5-8pm, at the Signs of Change exhibition at the Miller Gallery in Pittsburgh.
ACTIVIST PRINT OPEN STUDIO >>>
Thursday, Feb. 19, 5-8pm
@ Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh
Free and open to the public
Screenprinting open studio provided by Artists Image Resource + The Andy Warhol Museum. Observe printers in action, roll up your sleeves and print posters promoting local issues, or bring $5 and create a screenprint from images that you provide.
The Cherokee Writing System
Posted February 18, 2009 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
I wanted to announce the release of a new Celebrate People's History poster! The Cherokee Writing System was designed by Frank Brannon, Jr., who runs his own letterpress studio SpeakEasy Press in Dillsboro, NC.
The Cherokee Writing System was developed in 1821 by Sequoyah. Frank was interested in doing a poster about Sequoyah's syllabary after researching the Cherokee Pheonix, the first newspaper that used the writing system, as well as the first Native American newspaper. After studying and giving talks on the subject, Frank realized how few knew about Sequoyah and his work. Frank says, "I felt the Celebrate People's History poster series was the perfect way to get out the word to the people on his story. That's what compelled me to write." He also says letterpress printing normally means a small audience. Making a CPH poster was a way to translate few copies of a poster on Sequoyah to a larger audience.
You can learn more about Frank and SpeakEasy Press at www.speakeasypress.com.
Street Art and Social Movements
Posted February 17, 2009 by jmacphee in Street Art / Graffiti
So, here is the English version of the article I had published in Zapruder magazine. This is a much longer version, very much still in process. I'd love to hear what people think, so please comment if you read it!
Street Art and Social Movements
Josh MacPhee
In most societies, very few people have access to the mechanisms of mainstream media creation and distribution. Most of us have little to no input into the barrage of headlines, advertisements, news briefs and billboards we consume everyday. As such, this visual landscape often feels more like a system of control than a source of useful information. When these "legitimate" systems of communication fail individuals or groups in a society, people often turn to illegal ways of communicating with both each other and the system attempting to control them. Graffiti and street art have long existed as a safety valve for individuals to vent their anger and frustration, whether in the form of scrawling angry messages on bathroom stalls or pasting posters on the windows of government buildings. But it is when the vast majority of people begin to feel that they have no other outlet to communicate, that the media channels open to them are uni-directional and they are on the receiving end of a string of lies and half truths, that street art can act as an antidote to our visual space being used as a social control mechanism. There have been many of these moments, when street art becomes truly democratic and hundreds, or thousands, of people flood the streets with their messages in the form of posters and graffiti. It is at these times that people begin to look to the streets, and to their peers, to find explanations for their condition, not corporate television, state radio, or ruling class newspapers. I'm going to discuss four historical examples here; Paris in May 1968, Nicaragua in the late 1970s, South Africa in the early 1980s, and finally Argentina from 2001-04.
Part I: France
In Paris, in May and June of 1968, there was a student and worker revolt that brought France to the brink of revolution. Accompanying this revolt was a groundswell of creative street expression, especially in the form of graffiti'd poems and slogans and rapidly mass-produced silkscreened political posters. The posters often responded to the direct material reality of what was happening on the streets and in the factories, while the graffiti was largely more poetic and metaphysical, speaking to its readers on a much more emotional level. This counter-narrative written on the street not only attracted people because of it's graphic power or sense of humor, but also because there were days at a time when the workers in French TV, radio and press were on strike. The walls were literally the only place to get the news.[1]
Hobos to Street People
Posted February 15, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
Hobos to Street People:
Artists' Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present
February 19 - August 15, 2009
The California Historical Society
678 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA
Reception: February 19, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Hobos to Street People is a traveling exhibition organized by the California Exhibition Resources Alliance.
Curated by Art Hazelwood.
Charles Wollenberg advised on historical matters.
Paul Boden advised on contemporary issues.
A preview the exhibition can be seen at the Western Regional Advocacy Project website.
Rome Travel Notes Pt. 3
Posted February 14, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
Here's the last bit I want to share about Rome for now. One of the last days we were in Rome we got to take a trip out to the edge of the city to one of the longest running squatted social centers, Forte Prenestino. Set within a public park, Prenestino is literally an old military fort, surrounded by a moat and sitting on top of 100 centuries old jail cells. It was originally squatted in 1985, and is one of, if not the oldest, social center in Rome. It is still a squat, but is involved in some sort of legalization scheme, so sits in a semi-legal zone. We weren't able to get the whole story about this, but it seems pretty controversial.
The fort itself is split into 3 major areas. First, a central indoor corridor, with rooms and paths off to the sides, that lead to rooms on ground level and above, as well as to the jail cells below. Off this main corridor are a restaurant, a bar, a cafe, a movie theater, an infoshop, a long running pirate radio station and a wine bar! They are all run by people involved in Prenestino, and appear to be cheap and not for profit. Second, the corridor opens up onto two huge courtyards, one on each side. These are half-football field sized open areas which hold huge concerts (all the classic punk bands of played here, from the Dead Kennedys to Fugazi), encampments of trailers, buses, and RVs, and a monthly farmer's market. The walls were covered with graffiti and wheatpasted posters, with one whole side dominated by a giant mural by Blu. Off to the sides of each courtyard are additional rooms, which hold things like a Yoga studio and a musical instrument workshop. Third, ringing above the whole thing is a raised trail and a bunch of green space. Built into the earth are a number of small houses and private dwellings. The trails are all marked with super professional signs which clarify and distinguish all of the native plants that live in the Forte. All in all it is pretty overwhelming, just an immense amount of space and activity. There's simply nothing comparable in the US.
Come Celebrate the Five-Year Anniversary of Mess Hall in Chicago this Sunday
Posted February 13, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Events
If your in Chicago or close by, come celebrate Mess Hall’s 5-Yr. anniversary this Sunday, Feb. 15th!
Mess Hall is an experimental cultural space. Located in the Roger’s Park in Chicago, Mess Hall is a place for visual culture, creative urbanism, sustainable ecology, food democracy, radical politics, and cultural experimentation. Mess Hall runs on the generosity of those who use it. This allows us to provide everything for free - from food and drinks to workshops and events.
Over the past five years, hundreds of events have taken place from art shows, film screenings, discussions, meetings, potlucks, sewing rebellions, performances, and everything in between.
So join us Sunday, February 15, 2009, 7:00pm to celebrate the past 5 years and make your mark on the space for future events.
What you can expect:
-An exhibit of Mess Hall archives & proposals for our next 5 years.
-The Justseeds Prison Portfolio Project
-Art by Burtonwood and Holmes (http://www.burtonwoodandholmes.com)
-This Is Not A Truck (http://www.blocartiststudios.com/index.html)
-PHOTOBOOTH
-ART SWAP!
-talent share
-piñatas
-kick-ass music with Mess Hall’s own Aay Preston-Myint DJing.
Mess Hall links:
Mess Hall website:
http://www.messhall.org/
(BRAND NEW!) Mess Hall blog:
http://messhallarchive.wordpress.com/
Links to some recent press...
News Star article on Mess Hall
http://chicagojournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=142&ArticleID=7015&TM=50481.14
Loyola Phoenix article on Mess Hall
Mess Hall's Ten-Point Statement:
Rome Travel Notes Pt. 2
Posted February 13, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
While in Rome we took a couple trips to San Lorenzo, a working class neighborhood which is both the locus of current student activism, and the historical center of the Autonomia movement in Rome. We saw a lot of evidence of both. The graffiti seemed to call out from the past, with slogans from the height of the autonomous workers' movements in the 1970s:
The neighborhood was also covered with posters announcing episodes in the recent student general strike:
Shepard Fairey: Sideshow; Shibboleth
Posted February 12, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
My friend Eric Triantafillou, a teacher, artist and designer in Chicago, has been following all the dialogue around the Shepard Fairey controversies, and wrote up the below piece in response. Check it out:
Shepard Fairey: Sideshow; Shibboleth
Eric Triantafillou
I’ve been following the debates around Shepard Fairey for the past couple years and finally decided to respond with some of my own thoughts. I want to start by briefly mentioning an encounter I had with Fairey in San Francisco back in 2000.
It was during the height of the dot-com induced housing crisis that was forcing thousands of (mostly Latino) residents out of the Mission District. One night some friends and I were out pasting up posters for an anti-gentrification rally at City Hall. On the vertical supports of the Highway 101 overpass were Fairey’s long red banners with the Andre/Obey/star motif in a circle. The circle was the same size as the round black posters we were putting up, so we pasted one on each banner. They looked really tight together. I didn’t realize it at the time, but a lone Shepard Fairey was working just few steps ahead of us. He must have seen our handy work because minutes later he pulled up alongside us in his SUV, honking and yelling “Hey! What the fuck?!” I was thrilled. I had always thought Fairey was a sellout and now was my chance to confront him on common ground. I detested him less because he “steals” other people’s images and more because he seemed to have no regard for the spaces and places he puts his stuff up. Here he was, obliviously working away in the middle of a neighborhood that was socially hemorrhaging. To him it was just another space, an empty canvas on which to point out what advertising had long since proven. So add to the gripes that his work whitewashes history (time) by unhitching social struggle from its representational forms, the fact that it also has no relation, except on a purely formal level, to the space it occupies. Space for Fairey is simply a backdrop. When we pressed him about this he said that all the space around us is there for the taking and that we, as fellow street artists, should know better than to paste over someone else’s work; that we all know how much time and labor goes into making and putting it up. Aside from his idea of street art as a kind of Manifest Destiny, we agreed that it’s hard work but said that it also requires a degree of mental labor, and maybe his work would really take root if it reflected something about it’s environment, like a connection to an existing social movement; a commitment to something greater than himself. He didn’t get it. Instead of haranguing him further, we left to finish our work.
My interest in recounting this moment is not as a window into Shepard Fairey’s self-understanding but my own at the time and how it’s changed since. So much of what has been said by Fairey’s detractors is about questioning his intentions or about holding him personally accountable. It’s been said in various ways, and it sounds like many of us agree, that Shepard Fairey is a symptom of a far deeper malady. I think if we look at Fairey as a symptom rather than a cause, as Josh did in his post, it helps reveal how our discontent with the system, this includes the histories of struggle that Fairey poaches from, is made part of the dominant ideology. I think these discussions would benefit from addressing how the socio-economic system we all live under is able to reproduce the Shepard Faireys of the world AND his dissenters (us: Left artists), generation after generation, without a serious challenge to its hegemony. Here’s how Josh finishes his post:
“His work will only be successful (at more than making money) when he cites his source materials and tries to cut through the amnesiac haze of our society instead of adding to it. When a Fairey wheatpaste on the street becomes not an advertisement for his clothing line but a site for arguing over how we fight and struggle in this world today, I'll be the first one to send people out to look at it and argue about it.”
As far as I can tell, Shepard Fairey’s practices have managed to generate a pretty vibrant conversation on this site and elsewhere. It remains to be seen if these arguments stay mired in issues of fair-use, theft, and Fairey’s self-promotional motivations, or develop into more fundamental questions about “how we fight and struggle in this world today.” I would add that a big part of “fighting” and “struggling” is thinking. I can only hope these conversations expand to include questions about our own political consciousness.
In that spirit…
Rome Travel Notes Pt. 1
Posted February 12, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
I've been meaning to write down some thoughts on my trip to Rome since I got back over a month ago, but time has been crunched and re-crunched with other commitments. So, the basic story is that Favianna and I (and Dara) got to head off to Rome for a week back in mid-December to have a Reproduce & Revolt book release and a print show at the House of Love & Dissent in Rome. And it was awesome. Marco, Domizia, Luca, Pado and everyone at the gallery were awesome. Love & Dissent is in the neighborhood of Monti, which is pretty tourist-y because it is literally down the street from the Coliseum.
There's not too much to say about the show itself, we hung it, it opened, and people seemed really into it! Upstairs we put a mix of our prints, images from Reproduce & Revolt, and in the basement I installed a ton of Celebrate People's History posters. I'm just going to let the photos speak for themselves (all show install photos by Favi):
Poster Critique + Discussion of Visual Strategies for Resisting the Prison Industrial Complex
Posted February 5, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
Tamms Year Ten and Mess Hall are holding another event related to the Justseeds Prison Portfolio, a poster critique and discussion of aesthetic strategies! I wish I was in Chicago, because this is exactly what I'm into, trying to discuss and suss out how to improve the effectiveness of our visual propaganda. If you are in Chicago, check this out:
Poster Critique + Discussion of Visual Strategies for Resisting the Prison Industrial Complex with Dan S. Wang & Laurie Jo Reynolds
Saturday, February 7 at 6:30pm
Mess Hall
6932 North Glenwood Avenue
Chicago, IL 60626
Tamms Year Ten is hosting an open discussion of the prints in the Justseeds poster portfolio — each which critiques the "prison industrial complex." Let's talk about which images are effective for you--and use this as a basis for considering the visual and rhetorical strategies in the movement. We want to learn from the decisions made by these artists, and then we want to work with you to consider the very real representational problems we face as a movement!
- How do we depict the experience of long-term isolation? Or communicate the experience of long-term incarceration?
- What visual language will help us to imagine the abolition of prisons? To urge rehabilitation over punishment?
- Can commonly used motifs—fists through prison bars/broken chains/doves/barbed wire/slave ships/prison stripes—still work? Are new metaphors required?
We'll be talking about prison-related issues, but we hope that this event will be of interest to all artist-activists bedeviled and/or charmed by the problem of producing movement art which translates our political passions into visual form, renders visible the (often unacknowledged) problems of the present, and/or serves as an irresistible invitation to join us in our efforts to get free. We also invite you to bring other anti-prison movement ephemera (t-shirts, posters, stickers) for discussion!
http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/visual-arts/node/19026
Political Art Action in Moscow
Posted February 4, 2009 by dara_g in Political Art
This is a re-post from: http://boryana-rossa.livejournal.com/17089.html
My friend Boryana, an artist from Bulgaria, keeps me informed about the political art scene in Russia and Eastern Europe. I took a long time to re-post this (it's from November) but I think it is still worth learning about what's happening with political art in Russia and with this case specifically. The full essay is below:
CSPG: Call for Masterpeaces posters
Posted February 3, 2009 by mary_tremonte in Artwork Needed
MasterPeaces: High Art for Higher Purpose
June 6 - 27, 2009
Da Vinci Gallery
Los Angeles City College
855 N. Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90029
323.953.4000
In conjunction with Otis College of Art & Design- Integrated Learning Project
The Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) is asking artists, organizations, and activists for poster submissions for our next exhibition, Masterpeaces: High Art for Higher Purpose. From Dada to Punk, from anti-war movements to feminism and ecology, high art has been repeatedly incorporated into a visual language that ranges from the iconoclastic to overt protest. MasterPeaces will show how works by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Munch, Ingres, Delacroix, Picasso, Lichtenstein, Warhol and many others have been parodied, appropriated or altered to make statements about a variety of contemporary issues including censorship, disabled rights, ecology, HIV/AIDS, homophobia, war, and women's rights. Through annotations it will also introduce the viewers to the historical context of the original work, thus expanding viewers' visual literacy. Masterpeaces will premiere June 2009 in Los Angeles. Your posters will impact and educate a large audience of artists, community activists, university and high school faculty and students.
Submission deadline: March 20, 2009
By donating your posters, they will become a part of CSPG's unique archive that will be accessible to the general public and researchers for years to come.
Criteria for Posters:
1. Must be produced in multiples such as silkscreen, offset, stencil, litho, digital output etc.
2. Must have overt political content.
Photos from “TAMMS YEAR TEN CAMPAIGN / Justseeds Prison Portfolio” exhibition in Chicago
Posted February 2, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Events
Above are photos from an important event that took place at Mess Hall in Chicago on Feb. 1, 2009. The TAMMS YEAR TEN CAMPAIGN organized a show of posters, flyers, letters, poetry, postcards, banners, photos, videos, and ephemera from their multifaceted campaign. Included in the show was the Justseeds Portfolio Project: Voices from Outside - Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex.
The event focused attention on the current campaign against TAMMS (a super max prison in southern Illinois) and urged more people in Illinois and beyond to get involved in speaking out and contacting legislators about the horrid conditions and the methods of psychological torture that take place at TAMMS.
If you are outraged by Guantánamo Bay and encouraged by the Obama Administration’s call to close it down, learn more about TAMMS and speak out against torture in Illinois prisons.
About TAMMS YEAR TEN CAMPAIGN:
In 1998, the first prisoners were transferred from prisons across the state to Tamms CMAX, in Southern Illinois. This new “supermax” prison, designed to keep men in permanent solitary confinement, was intended for short-term incarceration. The IDOC called it a one-year “shock treatment.” Now, ten years later, over one-third of the original prisoners have been there for a decade. They have lived in long-term isolation—no phone calls, no communal activity, no ocntact visits. They only leave the cell to exercise alone in a concrete box 2-5 times per week. They are fed through a slot in the door.
Year Ten is a coalition of prisoners, ex-prisoners, families, artists and other concerned citizens who have come together to protest the misguided and inhumane policies at Tamms C-MAX, and to call for an end to psychological torture. We have initiated a program of cultural, educational and political events to publicize Tamms after ten years of operation.
Photos from “Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex” exhibition in Madison
Posted February 1, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Events
Above are photos from the “Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex” show that took place on January 30, 2009 at Project Lodge in Madison, Wisconsin. The exhibition was organized by Wisconsin Books to Prisoners (a project of Rainbow Bookstore) and over 70 works of art were on display (including the Justseeds portfolio project, other prison related images from Justseeds artists, art by prisoners, and art by local Madison artists. As well, spoken word artists from the First Wave Spoken Word and Urban Arts Learning Community, including Sophia Snow and Alida Carlos Whaley performed and inspired us with their words.
The opening was packed with people from Madison, Milwaukee, and beyond and the organizers did an incredible job in bringing everyone together and using culture as a tool to combat the prison crisis.
The organizers from Wisconsin Books to Prisoners kept the focus of the evening on activism and reminded us that the State Government in Wisconsin bans used books from being mailed to Wisconsin prisoners and urged people to phone the Governor’s office at 608-266-1212; the WI DOC Administrator at 608-240-5104; and the WI DOC secretary at 608-240-5055 to voice their objections.
To learn more:
http://www.rainbowbookstore.org/b2p
To contact one of organizers of the show:
Camy Matthay: maha@chorus.net
Also check out Community Connections -- a volunteer organization that does a myriad of programming and prison/family support work with inmates at the Oakhill Correctional Institution (OCI) in Oregon, WI.
http://communityconnectionswi.org/index.php?option=com_simplefaq&Itemid=62
Not My Government
Posted February 1, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
My friends over at Not My Government have been consistently churning out political posters and anti-police brutality propaganda for years. Head over to their site and check out what they've been up to, and support the cause!
Upcoming Justseeds show/installation project in Milwaukee
Posted January 31, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Justseeds/Member Projects
In late February/early March 2009, upwards of fifteen Justseeds artists will converge in Milwaukee for a week to create a massive floor-to-ceiling installation at the Union Art Gallery at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that will combines elements of street art, stencils, sculpture and other mediums.
The installation is titled "Which Side Are You On?" and it will examine the use of walls as physical and mental barriers that create de-facto segregation, whether it is the walls that divide nation states, the streets that separate one side of town from the other, or the barriers that separate humans from the environment. "Which Side Are You On?" challenges these barriers while envisioning a more just and sustainable future.
During the install, we'll post photos on the Justseeds blog of the work in progress.
Upcoming dates:
Monday, March 2nd, 7:00pm, Union Fireside Lounge: talk by Josh MacPhee on the present and past political, social, and aesthetic development of activist printmaking from around the world.
Tuesday, March 3rd, 5pm, Union Art Gallery: stop in the Union Art Gallery for a chance to see the Justseeds installation in progress. During the walk through, meet and talk with the artists involved in the installation.
Thursday, March 5th, 5-8pm, Union Art Gallery: opening reception
Saturday, March 7th, 12:30-3:30, Union Studio Arts and Craft Centre: printmaking workshop with Josh MacPhee. Call the Craft Centre at 414-229-5535 to register.
The exhibition will run from March 5th - April 3rd
UWM Union Art Gallery is located at:
Campus Level, Room W199
2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.
Milwaukee, WI 53211
414.229.6310
Hours: Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri & Sat 12-5pm; Thu 12-7pm
The exhibition "Which Side Are You On" is co-sponsored by Students for a Democratic Society at UWM
You Don't Have to Fuck People Over to Survive
Posted January 29, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
Here's a cool little video of Seth Tobocman performing his classic piece, You Don't Have to Fuck People Over to Survive. It was made by Andrew Lynn of Breathing Planet from a performance at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Xicana/o struggle for land
Posted January 29, 2009 by Melanie_Cervantes in Political Art
On February 2, 1848, a Mexican delegation ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, with Mexico accepting the Rio Grande as the Texas border and ceding almost half its territory (which incorporated the present day-states of California, New Mexico, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, Arizona, Utah and even Oklahoma) to the United States in return for $15 million.
The version of the treaty ratified by the United States Senate eliminated Article X, which stated that the U.S. government would honor and guarantee all land grants awarded in lands ceded to the United States to citizens of Spain and Mexico by those respective governments. Article VIII guaranteed that Mexicans who remained more than one year in the ceded lands would automatically become full-fledged American citizens (or they could declare their intention of remaining Mexican citizens); however, the Senate modified Article IX, changing the first paragraph and excluding the last two. Among the changes was that Mexican citizens would "be admitted at the proper time (to be judged of by the Congress of the United States)" instead of "admitted as soon as possible", as negotiated between Nicolas Trist and the Mexican delegation.
Apart from the impact of losing over half of their territory, the Mexicans had lost a measure of dignity. To this day the lack of enforcement of the Treaty remains an issue for Xicana/os with the U.S government. For many Xicana/os this is our land based struggle as Indigenous people. We see this struggle as one parallel and shared with Northern Native American’s struggle over treaty rights.
Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza collaborated on designing the promotional flyers and a commemorative screen printed poster for the annual Bay Area Treaty of Guadalupe “remembrance” event organized by the grassroots group Huaxtec.
Huaxtec is a organizations comprised of young Xicanas and Xicanos in the Bay Area who are learning their traditions as Indigenous people and organizing in their schools, community and to continue resistance against colonization.
(Much of this writing is borrowed form Rodolfo Acuna's Occupied America: A History of Chicanos)
R&R interview on Brooklyn Street Art Blog
Posted January 27, 2009 by jmacphee in Books & Zines
Brooklynstreetart.com has posted an interview I did with them about the Reproduce & Revolt book. Check it out HERE.
Our Flesh of Flames
Posted January 26, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
Our Flesh of Flames
Featuring the work of Theodore A. Harris and Amiri Baraka
January 29th-February 26th, 2009
Opening Night reception January 29th 6- PM
@ the Brecht Forum, NYC
The Brecht Forum is proud to exhibit Our Flesh of Flames featuring the collages of Theodore A. Harris and the poetic captions of legendary writer and social activist Amiri Baraka.
Posed against an eerily iridescent orange sky, Harris' collaged landscapes are filled with urban dystopia. Upside down capitols, distorted bank notes pose the reality of a society fettered by the cash nexus. Images of John Coltrane, Muhammed Ali and Paul Robeson are juxtaposed with protest scenes showing the creative and transformative power of African American social movements.
Controversial critic and poet Amiri Baraka provides lyrical assault through his captions with his trademark humor and biting social commentary. First published as in 2008, Our Flesh of Flames is Harris and Baraka's stunning contribution to African American arts and letters
Mike Stephens at Dirty Pilot
Posted January 25, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
My friend Mike Stephens has a nice online show up on DirtyPilot.com. Mike is an amazing block printer from Corpus Christi, TX, and a print of his has been in the Paper Politics show for years. His prints are amazingly detailed and strange, the trials and tribulations of his alter-egos, who are almost always dumpy, overweight, washed-up superheroes! Check it out here.
Upcoming show in Madison: ARTISTS AGAINST THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Posted January 24, 2009 by nicolas_lampert in Events
Wisconsin Books to Prisoners a project of Rainbow Bookstore, is sponsoring an exhibit ARTISTS AGAINST THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. The show will run from Jan 30 – Feb 5th at Project Lodge, 817 E. Johnson in Madison. Opening reception is at 7 pm, Friday Jan 30th.
Over 70 drawings by prisoners that address the use of prisons, policing and punishment as a “solution” to social, political and economic problems will be on display.
The show was inspired by printmakers from the Justseeds Radical Artists’ Cooperative (www.justseeds.org) who created more than 20 posters in 2008 in honor of the 10th anniversary of Critical Resistance, a prison abolitionist movement. Twenty-five posters from Justseeds, which include Wisconsin artists Nicolas Lampert and Colin Matthes will be on display. Other political artists in Wisconsin have also contributed prints to the show.
Spoken word artists from the First Wave Spoken Word and Urban Arts Learning Community, including Sophia Snow, Alida Carlos Whaley and others will perform pieces topical to the show. Again, please join us for the opening reception on Friday, January 30th, from 7 pm -10 pm.
Contributions to support the costs of shipping books to prisoners are appreciated. Those unable to attend the show are welcome to send donations to Wisconsin Books to Prisoners/Rainbow Books, 426 W. Gilman St.. Madison, WI 53703. Tax-deductible donations can be made out to our fiscal sponsor "PC Foundation” with "WI Books to
Prisoners" in the memo line.
Since the inception of Wisconsin Books to Prisoners in the fall of 2006, WBTP has sent over 12,000 books to prisoners nationwide. Although Wisconsin Books to Prisoners is still banned by the WI Department of Corrections from sending used books to prisoners in WI, it continues to send books to federal and state prisoners nationwide, including an outreach program for LGTB prisoners.
Wisconsin prisoners deserve the right to read and access to books from book to prisoner projects. Those concerned about the ban should phone the Governor’s office at 608-266-1212; the WI DOC Administrator at 608-240-5104; and the WI DOC secretary at 608-240-5055 to voice their objections.
Contact for the show:
Camy Matthay
maha@chorus.net
Review of Realizing the Impossible
Posted January 24, 2009 by jmacphee in Books & Zines
Here's a new review of Realizing the Impossible from the UK anarchist mag Direct Action #41:
Reviews: Realizing the Impossible: Art against Authority by Josh MacPhee and Erik Reuland AK Press 2007 – 319 pages – £16.00 – ISBN: 9781904859321This monochrome book arrived shortly after an interview with Banksy, the “graffiti artist”, had been aired on the BBC. A commentator went along to a working men’s (sic) club in Bethnal Green to view Banksy’s diversion of yellow road markings across the pavement and up the wall to blossom into a flower. Banksy says in the book, “Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal…a city which felt like a living breathing thing which belonged to everybody, not just real estate agents and the barons of big business”. The club secretary was quite pleased to leave it there. But not all graffiti is of artistic merit and many regard it as degrading the environment. Do graffitos adorn their own dwellings thus?
Rendition of "Down by the Riverside" for Gaza
Posted January 22, 2009 by k_c_ in Political Art
Some folks changed the lyrics to Down by the Riverside to reflect the current needs of everyone living in Gaza. They went onto the NYC subways and sang some songs for Martin Luther King's Birthday.
Stop Bombing Gaza
Posted January 19, 2009 by jmacphee in Political Art
I have to say I'm quite impressed with the outpouring of art and design in support and defense of Gaza. It's nice to see some skills flexed to do something a little more socially-engaged then electing a president. That said, I'm wondering if we could come up with some tools to really give this art outpouring some weight, to amplify the impact. Can we make it more public? Get some better distribution? The image below is from Sam and Katah of Dragon Dance Studios in Montreal.
Colectivo Cordyceps/Taring Padi in DF
Posted January 19, 2009 by jmacphee in Events
Another hot political graphics show in Mexico City, organized by our friends down their. Check it out:
Exposicion de Grafica Radical y de Protesta
Exponen:
COLECTIVO CORDYCEPS con obra grafica radical de denuncia, de Mexico DF.
TARING PADI un colectivo de grafica de protesta, desde Java Central
Indonesia.
Bandas Invitadas:
DE DON SON, grupo de Son Jarocho de Mexico DF.
Lugar:
LA CHINAMPA DE IXTACALCO,
Plaza de San Matias o Jardin Hidalgo #10
Barrio de la Asuncion, Pueblo de Iztacalco
A un costado del Kiosko.
Calzada de la Viga, esq. Avenida Hidalgo.
Peceras
Metro Xola o Metro Iztacalco.
Tel. 5633 2502
Fecha y Hora:
Viernes 23 de Enero 2009, a las 7:30pm
Para mas informacion:
chinampaixtacalco@gmail.com
cordyceps@riseup.net
shit_swimmer@riseup.net
"Izena duen guztia omen da"
http://espora.org/furia/
Yo, Shepard Fairey is straight up sad!
Posted January 19, 2009 by Favianna_Rodriguez in Political Art
I have recently been asked about why it is that I dislike Shepard Fairey. Its actually not that I dislike Shepard as a person, its more that I have a big problem with his practices. I find them to be unethical and I believe that the political spectrum of people trying to make social change in the world will ultimately not benefit from his art. I believe that as artists and activists, we should be open about critiquing each other and open to changing how it is that we do things. That is what movements did before us .The Black Panthers consistently criticized each other in order to make assessments, and grow, as people, as an organization, and as a movement. We should never be closed to critique because in doing so we are doing ourselves a disservice. I would love to have the opportunity to talk to Shepard about my critiques, but the word on the street is that he does not like to debate about this stuff. Again, I have to say that this is not a personal attack, Shepard is actually in a book I co-edited with Josh MacPhee (also part of Just Seeds), Reproduce and Revolt, and it's not my intention to smear him nor censor him. Rather, my intention is to provide a look at his practices from the perspective a woman of color, an artist activist, and a person who thinks our capitalist system is very flawed.
Today a friend shared an article which you can read by clicking here. The title of the article is "Consumers of the World Unite," based on the phrase, "Workers of the World, Unite!" The title itself says alot of Fairey's practices, which is, that he commodifies political movements with the intention of making HUGE profits from them. Read the article and judge for yourself. It's sad to me that me that in our ultra consumer world, EVERYTHING is up for grabs when it's about profit. Very similar to how Hip Hop started in our communities, was even illegal in some forms, then repurposed, and is now sold back to us, by the very forces that also put our people in jail, deport our families, and push for bail outs in which the people ultimately pay the price. The article starts like this:
"SHOPPING, these days, is a political act. If you are brave enough to buy a $2,000 Prada handbag, you might rationalize that you are helping to stimulate the economy. Solidarity, people!"
Read more about Shepard Fairey's practices:
This article here was researched by a few of us in Just Seeds (Jesus Barraza, Josh MacPhee, and myself) as well as other notable voices in the world of political posters:
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm
This article here was written by my fellow co-editor and JustSeeder, Josh MacPhee:
http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2007/12/a_response_to_obey_plagiarist_1.html
This article was written originally for release in Mother Jones, but Mother Jones then refused to run it, and then instead ran a very pro-Fairey piece:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/06/97988
Here is an open letter to Shepard from a powerful sister who works at KPFK, Aura Bogado.
http://tothecurb.wordpress
Siamo tutti Palestinesi
Posted January 17, 2009 by jmacphee in Street Art / Graffiti
Our friend Marco delli Santi from Rome's House of Love and Dissent just sent over this design he created, he's planning on printing them out of mirror sticker paper and putting them up around Italy. If you're interested in doing that as well, you can download the file here.
Privatizing the Commons: The Commodification of New Deal Public Art
Posted January 16, 2009 by jmacphee in Posters
Lincoln Cushing has written a great article on posters produced in the 30s and 40s by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and how they are being "borrowed" by designers and how their value has exploded in the art market. It's published on the AIGA website. The entire article can be read here, and for the lazy, here's the first couple paragraphs:
With the United States economy spiraling down the drain, there’s been a renewed interest in the New Deal projects of the 1930s and 1940s as potential models of how to once again make big government good government.
New Poster: Boycott the Bloodshed!
Posted January 11, 2009 by Favianna_Rodriguez in Political Art
I am working on a poster about Divestment in Israel as well as informing consumers what they can do to pressure Israel to change its policies. The poster is a collaboration with the group, INCITE, Women of Color Against Violence.
This poster will soon be printed and made available by February 1st. Israel has been the largest annual recipient of direct U.S. economic and military assistance since 1976 and the largest total recipient since World War ll. Israel receives about $3 billion in direct foreign assistance each year, which is roughly one-fifth of America's entire foreign aid budget.
Corporations also support Israel. BOYCOTT: MOTOROLA, VICTORIA'S SECRET, STARBUCKS, MCDONALD'S, Ben N Jerry's, Blockbuster Video, Burger King, Coca Cola, Domino's Pizza, Haagen Dazs, Heinz, Hertz, Holiday Inn, Hyatt, Marriott, Raddison, KFC, L'oreal, Donna Karan, Johnson & Johnson, MCI, Monster Cable Products, Planet Hollywood, Pizza Hut, Pepsi, Sara Lee, Taco Bell, Sportmart, Subway, Toys R Us, Tower Records, UPS, Vanity Fair
More info here
“break (vitalogy)” by Suheir Hammad
Posted January 8, 2009 by k_c_ in Inspiration
“break (vitalogy)”all matter related
we connectedana on corners
holy grams
ana incarcerated lightgaze me
ana gaza
you can’t see meana blood wa memory
it was all a dream
lion kissing meana harb
heart
ana harana wa ana
we related
woven
ultimate design
physical dreamplease excuse my state of disappearance
been renovating structure
innovating space
hype earrings onSuheir Hammad
From her bookBreaking Poems.
...here the poet figures herself as gaza. and as gaza she disappears...Taken from the blog Body on the Line
khaled abou-khamis
Posted January 7, 2009 by k_c_ in Political Art
From Boba Singh's flickr stream, an artist in Berlin. Here is their website: vizifada.de
Street Art In Buffalo
Posted January 6, 2009 by icky in Street Art / Graffiti
Attached are some pics a friend sent me, taken at the former site of Martin Sostre's radical "Afro-Asian" bookstore in the heart of Buffalo.
Incite! Journal online
Posted January 4, 2009 by jmacphee in Film
My friend Brett Kashmere has recently released the first online issue of Incite! journal of experimental media & radical aesthetics. The theme of the first issue is "Manifest," and there's a ton of material in the first issue online, and they are hoping to release a print edition. There something in here for lots of different interests but it is heavily bent towards experimental film and video. Here's how Brett describes the contents:
In this issue:
* Legendary collage filmmaker and programmer Craig Baldwin talks with Steve Polta about the 70s avant-garde, Baldwin's college years, political activism, and midnight screenings: all of which lead him to filmmaking and to his unique curatorial aesthetic.* In a strong diatribe against capital-driven mainstream cinema, the famed American independent film impresario Jonas Mekas celebrates the pioneering avant-garde and its connections to the heavenly.
Artsblog.it Interview
Posted December 31, 2008 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
For anyone that speaks Italian some really cool folks in Rome did an interview with me at the Reproduce & Revolt show at the House of Love and Dissent. You can read it here.
Solidarity With Palestinian Struggle
Posted December 31, 2008 by Jesus_Barraza in In the News
In Solidarity with the National Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People I started working on this poster, I am linking two files that can be downloaded and printed on both 8.5x11 (download here) and 11x17 (download here) so people can put them up in their offices or windows.
I have been been a strong supporter of the Palestinian struggle for sovereignty and land rights. Native people have been struggling for the same thing as Palestinians across the Americas for hundreds of years, people continue fighting to regain control of their ancestral lands and the right decide their future.
¡Que viva Palestina Libre!
¡Que vivan Los Zapatistas!
¡Que viva Evo Morales!
Solidarity with Gaza From the South Bronx
Posted December 31, 2008 by k_c_ in Street Art / Graffiti
This piece appeared yesterday in the South Bronx. The wall faces the Bruckner Expressway, a highly used elevated highway passing through the Bronx.
My pal Anomalous compiles a lot of news articles, quotes and other materials on his Flickr site here's a particularly intense one
Hannukah descends on Gaza like 6 million locusts by AnomalousNYC. "I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing." --Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense official in Sderot speaking on Al Jazeera as images of Israel's latest massacres were broadcast around the world.From 19 June until yesterday, there was not a single Israeli fatality from a Hamas attack. In all of 2008, there was a single suicide bombing, which killed one person. Over the course of the entire 4 years that Gazans have been blindly lobbing their pathetic bottle-rockets over their prison walls into the desert, fewer than 20 Israelis have been killed. Israelis stand a greater statistical chance of drowning in their jacuzzis than of being killed by a rocket from Gaza.
Israel's omni-directional military belligerence has never been about security, but about racial malice and real estate, and in this case, election-season machinations. And so, over the course of a few hours Israelis have murdered nearly 300 and hospitalized more than 800 Palestinians. In response, overnight polls indicate that support for Israel's ultra-rightwing parties, such as the fascist party Yisrael Beitenyu, which openly advocates ethnic cleansing, has grown exponentially. As Israeli MK Zahalka pointedly observed: "Barak is trying to win votes in exchange for Palestinian blood."
Modern Chinese Woodcuts
Posted December 29, 2008 by icky in Inspiration
Modern Chinese Woodcuts
A few years ago I picked up a book of Chinese woodcuts, written in the early 80s, put out by a state press and updated in the mid 90s. Most of the book covers the technically impressive (yet politically questionable) period around the Cultural Revolution. Lately there's been a few new books I've seen that broaden the scope a little, focussing on cosmopolitan and bohemian art movements centered around Shanghai in the 20s/30s/and 40s. I just want to do a brief survey of what I've gleaned.
Sock and Awe Game
Posted December 25, 2008 by k_c_ in Political Art
Worth a whirl.
Sock and Awe game, and try to hit Bush in the face. Again, the internet helps us live our fantasies, virtually.
End This War
Posted December 19, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
I just got an announcement for an upcoming show by Philadelphia artist Theodore Harris. I've been a fan of Harris' work for years, he did the cover of the All The Days After book back in the day, and has a couple images in Reproduce & Revolt. I really like the image he sent out with the announcement, "End This War...(after Shirley Chisholm)," which is above. The show is:
War is a Map of Wounds: The Art of Howardena Pindell and Theodore A. Harris
February 2 - March 5, 2009
New Jersey City University
Visual Arts Gallery
The House of Love and Dissent
Posted December 15, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Favianna, Dara and I are in Rome, preparing for our show at the House of Love and Dissent on Thursday. We're hanging prints, People's History posters, and images from Reproduce & Revolt. It's going to be fun! Here is the poster for the show. Thanks to Erik Ruin for the hands (from the Realizing the Impossible cover).
Liberation Ink and Reproduce & Revolt Team Up!
Posted December 14, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Favianna and I have teamed up with the Bay Area t-shirt collective Liberation Ink on their new line of shirts, all drawn from images in Reproduce & Revolt! Liberation Ink is an all-volunteer, apparel and design collective that was created to provide an alternative revenue generating strategy for social justice organizing in the Bay Area. The new line features 6 designs by diverse artists from Reproduce and Revolt, including Miriam Klein Stahl, Beth Gutelius, Josh Sanchez, as well as Justseeds members Jesus Barraza, Favianna Rodriguez and me, Josh MacPhee. On top of being collectively run, Liberation Ink uses sweatshop-free shirts and union printing, and since 2006 they have supported two Bay Area coalitions: Deporten a la Migra and the May 1st Alliance for Land, Work, and Power. The Liberation Ink crew has been making some of the coolest shirts in the past couple years. Definitely check them out, and pick up some of the Reproduce & Revolt shirts!
Housing for All poster
Posted December 13, 2008 by jmacphee in Posters
Jared Davidson of the Garage Collective in New Zealand sent over this poster about a housing struggle in his local community, Christchurch. The suit in the image is Mayor Bob Parker. You can read more about it here.
Reappropriate the Imagination!
Posted December 12, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Cindy Milstein has just put online a copy of the article, "Reappropriate the Imagination!," which was published in Erik and my book Realizing the Impossible: Art Against Authority last year. Take a minute and give it a read, click here to find it.
Taring Padi show in Mexico City
Posted December 11, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Our friend Santiago is helping put on a show in Mexico City of prints by the Indonesian printmaking collective Taring Padi. Here's the info and flyer. Sorry, Spanish only....
Exposicion del colectivo de grafica radical Taring Padi de Yogyakarta, Java central, Indonesia. LEMBAGA BUDAYA KERAKYATAN TARING PADIOrganización de Cultura Popular "Colmillos de Arroz"
El Colectivo Taring Padi de Yogayakarta, en la isla de Java en Indonesia,
se forma en 1998 en medio del gran levantamiento social que obliga a la
disolución de la dictadura del presidente Suharto. Taring Padi utiliza la expresión artística como una herramienta cultural en un esfuerzo para educar, inspirar y compartir con sus comunidades en Indonesia y las comunidades del mundo de la necesidad de luchar contra la opresión capitalista e imperialista. Su arte se comunica directamente con sus comunidades pero también nos
habla a todxs nosotrxs.
Inauguración: Viernes 19 de Diciembre / 19:00 hrs.
Música en vivo: Xeneque
Proyección de Documental del Colectivo
Clausura: Viernes 26 de Diciembre / 18:00 hrs.
Bandas invitadas: Anti-Master
Proyección de Documental
Lugar: Escuela de Cultura Popular Mártires del 68
5 de Febrero 257 – D
(esq. 5 de Febrero Col. Obrera Metro San Antonio Abad.)
La Furia de las Calles
http://espora.org/furia/
"Izena duen guztia omen da"
Happy Holidays from Palestine
Posted December 11, 2008 by jmacphee in Inspiration
My friend elin o'Hara slavick just sent me this great holiday card designed by British political artist and photo-montagist Peter Kennard. Kennard has been making political collages for decades, he is behind some of the best known anti-nuclear graphics, but he is sadly almost unknown in the US:
Digna Rabia flyer
Posted December 9, 2008 by jmacphee in Posters
Another flyer making use of Justseeds art, this one for the Digna Rabia events in Oaxaca Mexico, using the EZLN Celebrate People's History Poster!!
Arte di strada e movimenti sociali
Posted December 9, 2008 by jmacphee in Books & Zines
I'm excited to share that I recently had an article I wrote translated into Italian, and published in a great journal called Zapruder: Storie In Movimento. Zapruder is a non-academic history publication, as far as I understand developing loosely out of the Italian Autonomia tradition, which attempts to mine history for ideas that are useful to contemporary social struggles. This issue is dedicated to political propaganda, and is themed "Wall Against the Wall: Design and Communication in Political Posters." My article is called "Street Art and Social Movements," and is an edited version of a talk I've been developing for the past couple years under the title "Street Art and Counter Power." I'll be cleaning up the English version of this text and posting it here soon....
Toronto Portfolio Show
Posted December 8, 2008 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
thought people might be interested in the flyer for the Toronto showing of our Voices from the Outside prison print portfolio.
Signs of Change Closing Today!
Posted December 6, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Today is the last day to see Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now in NYC!!! Over 1000 posters, flyers, photos, videos, audio and ephemera from social movements around the world. Come by today and check it out if you haven't seen it yet:
Exit Art
475 10th Ave. (10th Ave. & 36th St.)
New York, New York
(the 34th Ave stop on the A/C/E train is only a couple blocks away)
And we're gearing up for the show to travel to Pittsburgh. It opens on January 23rd at the Miller Gallery at Carnagie Mellon University.
(installation photos by Kevin Caplicki)
2 Justseeds Portfolio Events
Posted December 4, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
On Friday in Montreal:
Voices from Outside: Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex
at Ste-Emilie SkillShare * 3942 Ste. Emilie * metro Place St. Henri
Vernissage Friday December 5th, 7pm-midnight
Exhibit December 5th – 14th inclusive
In connection with the historic Critical Resistance 10th anniversary conference Just Seeds Artists Cooperative has produced a print portfolio project that they are donating to prisoner justice organizations across North America. The portfolio consists of 20 prints, each by a different artist, that all either critique the prison-industrial complex or address alternatives to incarceration.
The vernissage will feature:
* a presentation on prison art
* letter-writing to political prisoners
* Certain Days 2009 Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar available for purchase
Presented by the Certain Days collective
& the Ste-Emilie SkillShare – both working groups of QPIRG Concordia
--> how to get to St Emilie Skillshare:
www.mapquest.com/maps/3942+Ste.+Emilie+Montreal+qc
_______________________________________________
On Saturday, December 6 in Toronto:
Let Freedom Ring
Calendar launch - book launch - panel discussion - art show
6pm - Panel discussion about prison organizing
9pm - Launch party, with bar, snacks, and local DJs
(art will be up all evening)
$5/$15 with calendar
Whippersnapper Gallery
587A College Street, Toronto, ON
Taller Tupac Amaru Holiday Open Studio
Posted December 4, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
If you are in the Bay Area, check out our new Justseeds members Taller Tupac Amaru at their Holiday Open Studio this weekend!!!
Taller Tupac Amaru Holiday Open Studios
(Melanie Cervantes, Jesus Barraza, & Favianna Rodriguez)
December 6 & 7, 2008
11 am - 6 pm
Taller Tupac Amaru Art Studio
1505 33rd Ave.
Oakland, CA
ARTE• TAMALES • BEER• LIVE PRINTMAKING DEMOS
Join us in Celebrating our 5 year Anniversary! 2008 has been a busy and exciting year and we would love to celebrate with good food, music, community and great art. Our Taller spent the year supporting grassroots organizing, traveling, teaching, building and participating in various collaborations, exhibitions and artist residencies.
Come check out our new work!
Prints! Radical Art! T-Shirts! Books! Printmaking Demos! Live Art and More!
The Biggest Middle Finger
Posted December 1, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
Here's some photos of a poster a friend made about the CUNY budget cuts.
"There's only one thing left to do...STOP THE BUDGET CUTS!"
From what I hear
...the big things that are pissing people
off... the tuition increase and the rise in pay for the Chancellor,
the fact that the budget gets cut the same amount as prison budgets go
up...
There is a bunch of information at the Building the 21st Century CUNY site.
Tom Gabel's song in Support of Eric Mcdavid
Posted November 26, 2008 by k_c_ in Political Art
There weren't many opportunities to be politicized, radically, growing up in a small town. I found most political ideas and became aware of activist "campaigns" through music. The Dead Kennedys, Conflict, Crass, and dozens of other bands exposed me to everything like Anarchism, animal rights, ecological destruction, pacifism, direct action, current events, and Political Prisoners.
Tom Gabel, frontman from Against Me!, has written a song about Eric Mcdavid, a political prisoner sentenced to over 19 years in prison. It's not anthemic, like many Against Me! songs, but its content has the ability to raise the consciousness of a handful his fans. Check out the video.
Anna Is A Stool Pigeon
Check out SupportEric for more info on his case.
Justseeds Print Show at the Brecht Forum
Posted November 24, 2008 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
JUSTSEEDS
Political Print Show and Art Sale
December 4th, 6-9pm
The Brecht Forum
451 West St, NYC
(the West Side Highway, btw Bank & Bethune Sts.)
Directions
The show will be up from 12/04/08 to 01/23/09
Justseeds/Visual Resistance Artists' Cooperative is a decentralized community of political artists who have banded together to support each other and social movements. We believe in the power of personal expression in concert with collective action to transform society.
This exhibition is an opportunity to view and purchase over 50 different handmade prints by more than a dozen artists. All art will be for sale, much of it for $25 and under. Perfect socially conscious holiday gifts for friends and family!
Graphic Work wants to tour!
Posted November 23, 2008 by jmacphee in Posters
Last year my friend Zoeann Murphy and I organized a show of 40 contemporary labor posters called Graphic Work: Imaging Today's Labor Movement. The Workforce Development Institute (WDI) in Troy, NY is trying to find more venues to hang this show, as well as distribute copies of six of the posters we did large-scale offset print runs of. Below is a letter from Teri Jones of WDI. Give it a read, and if you can think of any venues that might be interested in displaying the exhibition, drop her a line! If you are at a workers center, community center, union hall, etc., also get in touch with her to get copies of the posters to hang in your space!:
Friends, The American labor movement has an amazing history of graphic production, creating some of the most effective political images in the history of this country. However, work and workers, along with the labor movement, are often depicted as experiences of the American past: paintings of Joe Hill, photographs from the early1900s of children working in factories, historic strikes and Rosie the Riveter. Today’s workforce looks dramatically different from the majority of images used to depict labor. To address this issue we asked innovative artists to create posters that depict contemporary jobs, the people that do them and the issues workers now face. What we found was startling. Most young politically engaged people don’t realize the American labor movement still exists and, if they do, they have little or no relationship to it. We found that now, more than ever, it is important to create new images of labor. Graphic Work: Imaging Today’s Labor Movement is an exhibit of poster designs curated by Josh MacPhee and Zoeann Murphy. It was sponsored by the Workforce Development Institute, Bread and Roses Cultural Project ll99SEIU, and JustSeeds.org. The posters comprise a beautiful beginning to a new wave of labor art. We invite you to participate in the dialogue about today’s workers and the issues they face by displaying Graphic Work posters in public spaces. There are sets of six 19”x25” posters available free of charge, as well as the opportunity to host an exhibit of all 40 pieces. You can view more posters at http://wdiny.org/unseenamericaposters.html and contact me any time for free poster sets or information on organizing an exhibit. In solidarity, Teri Jones Cultural Program Assistant Workforce Development Institute 24 Fourth Street Troy, NY 12180 (518) 272-3500 x121 tjones@wdiny.org www.wdiny.org www.bread-and-roses.com www.justseeds.org posters above by Josh MachPhee, Art Hazelwood, and Nicole Schulman
Paper Politics in Syracuse!
Posted November 19, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
The Paper Politics show is still tearing up upstate New York! It open at the Redhouse Gallery in Syracuse tomorrow night. If you're in the area, check it out! Almost 200 political prints from around the world, with work from all the Justseeds artists, as well as tons of other great printmakers like BSAS Stencil, Christopher Cardinale, Tom Civil, Sue Coe, Amos Kennedy Jr., Jesse Purcell, Favianna Rodriguez and Nicole Schulman.
Paper Politics
Opening Reception: November 20th 5-8pm
Redhouse Arts Center
201 South West St.
Syracuse, NY 13202
Installing with the Yes Men...
Posted November 16, 2008 by shaun in Political Art
Astria Suparak, director of the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh), captured this touching moment as I helped hang one of two Haliburton SurvivaBalls in preparation for the Yes Men exhibit this past week. The show, "Keep it Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism with the Yes Men", is their first exhibition of props and ephemera from their projects and was curated by Astria. It will run through February 15.
El Taller de Gráfica Popular online portfolio
Posted November 15, 2008 by jmacphee in Posters
Libros Latinos, a San Francisco bookstore specializing in Mexican, Latin American and Caribian books, has just put up an online portfolio of 40 different Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP) posters. The TGP, whose most active period was from its founding in 1937 to the 1960's, was an organization of artists, primarily print makers, who used their skills to help develop and promote Leftist social movements. The posters on the Libros Latinos site are all for sale and pretty pricey, which begs the question of whether the images stay up once the objects are sold, so go take a peak here while you can! Those already well versed in the work of the TGP might want to check out the Gráfica Mexicana archive, which has over 3000 prints and posters archived, but a limited number of images.
Keep it Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism with the Yes Men
Posted November 11, 2008 by mary_tremonte in Events
The Yes Men will be in Pittsburgh this week with a lecture and survey exhibition!
Keep an eye out for future activist art exhibitions at the Miller Gallery.
FRI. NOV. 14
KEEP IT SLICK:
Infiltrating Capitalism
with The Yes Men
Curated by Astria Suparak >>>
Nov. 14, 2008–Feb. 15, 2009
EVENTS
Nov. 14, 5pm:
How To Be A Yes Man Workshop + Film clips from their upcoming movie. Miller Gallery, 2nd floor.
Sponsored by the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry + School of Art Lecture Series.
6–8pm:
Business Casual Reception. Miller Gallery, 3rd floor.
Please bring offerings for the dearly departed Reggie the Janitor.
Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
Purnell Center for the Arts
5000 Forbes Ave.
Journal of Aesthetics & Protest #6 out now
Posted November 7, 2008 by jmacphee in Books & Zines
Issue #6 of the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest just released!
I've been reading the Journal from the get go, and always find something interesting in each issue. This one's got contributions by Gregory Sholette, Dorit Cypis, smartMeme studios, Rebecca Zorach, Kelly Marie Martin, Amy Franchesini, Lisa Ann Auerbach, Code Pink, Andrew Boyd, Iraqi Veterans for Peace, John Carr of Yo! What Happened to Peace and many more.
Here's a blurb about it:
Crafted & collected for 7 months, this sober eyed jumbo sized brick of a book explores 3 distinct premises in contemporary life: Sustainable Culture, Antiwar Activism, Contemporary Critical Theory. The book comes with in depth analysis of activist and art projects as well as resolute analysis of cultural conditions by people we want you to read."One could see the level of frustration in your eyes. There were ways to avoid it; staring to the internets, listening to radio, cursing, cursing news, attending protests, trying at little "political projects." But generally, it was all around, this horrible stasis. There were wars, the loss of a city, the disappearance of beloved bookstores, magazines, community centers , and the cruel inability for networks to amount to anything real. It appeared that nothing good could be generated out from under this era. And you were getting older." This issue finds a way forward.
Garage Collective Blog
Posted November 5, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
New Zealand's Garage Collective has just launched a blog! Check it out here.
Sedition
Posted November 4, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
A new political art show has just opened in NYC. Haven't had a chance to check it out yet, but it looks promising, almost all the artists involved have done engaging and compelling intersections of art and politics in the past.
SEDITION
October 29th – Nov 24th, 2008
Special Election Night Party November 4th, starting at 7pm
Featuring work by: Melanie Baker, Wafaa Bilal, Sandow Birk, Emory Douglas,
Hasan Elahi, Mounir Fatmi, Jon Hendricks, Arnold Mesches, Naeem Mohaiemen,
Sheryl Oring, Jenny Polak, Martha Rosler, Jackie Salloum, Hank Willis Thomas
and Raphael Zollinger
Curated by Dread Scott, Kyle Goen and Hajarah Abdus-Sabur
White Box (Bowery)
329 Broome Street New York, NY 10002 (NEW ADDRESS)
www.whiteboxny.org
A People in the Shadows
Posted November 4, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
My friend Bani Khoshnoudi is doing a sneak preview of her new film A People in the Shadows next Friday in New York City. I'm really excited about the film, but unfortunately all of us Justseeders will be at our annual retreat in Milwaukee. Some of you will have to go and tell us how it was!
A PEOPLE IN THE SHADOWS (2008, 90 min.)
Friday, November 7, 7pm
at DCTV
87 Lafayette Street (south of Canal Street), 3rd Floor
NYC
(subways: N,R,W,Q,6 to Canal)
Almost thirty years after the revolution, and twenty since the end of the long Iran-Iraq war, A People in the Shadows takes us on a voyage into the heart of Tehran, a megalopolis of 14 million people. The city is still recovering from its past, as talk of sanctions and a possible American attack resonate. Using cinema direct methods, the film takes an intimate look at the way people live in this immense city today- caught up in the paradoxes and contradictions of their society, surrounded by images of past and future death, yet finding ways to juggle state propaganda and foreign threat on a daily basis.
Interview with John Fekner
Posted November 3, 2008 by molly_fair in Interviews
This is an interview Chris Stain and Josh MacPhee did with artist John Fekner:
Chris Stain:
About a year ago I got lucky for a few months and had a studio separate from my house. it was in LIC. I had heard from my friend Josh Macphee that it was an old stomping ground of the legendary stencil artist John Fekner. so I decided to look him up. just a year before that Josh and I were showing in Brooklyn at Ad Hoc and John stopped in posing as a vandal squad detective. i had never met John before so I didn't know the difference. After he revealed his true identity we all had a good laugh. Until then i thought the shit was gonna hit the fan. Below are parts of the conversation that josh and i had with john. you will be able to read the whole sha-bang later when johns book drops from powerhouse. i’d like to personally thank Mr. Fekner for the interview and his continuing inspiration. His work is a prime example of how much difference one person can make.
Chris Stain: What originally inspired you to cut the stencil, get out there in the street and put it up?
John Fekner: Well, it goes back to when I was a teenager. That’s 10 years before I started to do stencils. I started to do stencils when I was about 26. If we are talking about the first stencil projects we are talking about winter 1976-1977. But prior to that, 10 years prior to that 1968… I was a Queens kid like most any street kid in a park, hangin’ out doin a lot of different things at the time…it was the late 60s. I came up, for some bizarre reason, calling our park, which was Gorman Park/85th St park, “Itchycoo Park.” Itchycoo Park was a Small Faces song that was a hit in 1967. It was before Rod Stewart was in the group; They were just known as the Small Faces then. In England it was a hang out park. My hang out park was Gorman Park in Jackson Heights. With my friends one night I said, “Let’s paint the words Itchycoo Park on the front of the park house.” So low and behold with white paint and very few brushes in very large letters we painted “Itchycoo Park”. Little did I know at that time this was going to be my format for quite a few years in the late 70’s. These few conceptual pieces that were done as street markings, gang markings, this one phrase I did that just stayed with the park and it became known as Itchycoo Park. A football team that played there was called the Itchycoo Chiefs. It was really a strange thing.
Let Freedom Ring
Posted November 2, 2008 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
Just a quick post to share a recent project. My friend Matt Meyer has compiled a giant collection of writings about the struggle to free political prisoners in the US, co-published by PM Press and Kersplebedeb. He asked me to design the cover of Let Freedom Ring, so I took a graphic from an old 80's political prisoner support flyer, tweaked it a bunch, added color, and the cover was born. One of the most excited parts about this project was working on the spine, because unlike most books I've designed, this one is thick, a good inch and half wide spine, so I was able to make it nice and bold.
Festival of the New Winds pt. 1
Posted October 26, 2008 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
Two months ago or so, Favianna Rodriguez (co-editor of Reproduce & Revolt) asked me if I wanted to take a trip to Mexico City with a crew of artists. My answer, of course, was Hell Yeah! So starting on Oct. 3rd, a dozen of us headed to Mexico to take part in the Festival Internacional de los Nuevos Vientos (Festival of the New Winds) in Ecatepec, a sprawling, metastasizing municipality on the northern edge of Mexico City.
I'm not sure I fully understand how this trip came about, but here's the basic gist. Favianna (and other artists she works with, like the Taller Tupac Amaru) have been visiting Mexico City on and off for years, and one of the things they've been involved in is El Faro, a series of community centers spread across Mexico City that have a huge amount of art programs organized for and often by local youth. 
This includes silkscreen studios, block printing, murals, graffiti, etc. The founder of El Faro, Benjamin, is a 68er. In Mexico this means you participated in the student protests in 1968, and survived the Tlatelolco Massacre, where the government attacked and slaughtered hundreds of students and their supporters.
Recently the PRD (Mexico's left-liberal political party) came to office in Ecatepec. Once elected, a portion of the left-wing of the PRD left Mexico City and headed north to Ecatepec, seeing the possibility of more change there than in the old city. Ecatepec is almost defined by change. With over 2 million people, it is the most populous municipality in Mexico, and it is growing every day. Although at the center it seems to be a fairly typical, if poor, sprawling urban landscape, the closer you get to the edges the less stable the development. The city appears to spill out and up the mountain, with tens of thousands of single story, one room cinderblock homes, rebar poking out the top, waiting to be used to stabilize a second floor to be built on the roof. And beyond the cinderblocks are even more homes, constructed out of cardboard, corrugated steel, and other found materials.
Favianna's friend Benjamin headed up to Ecatepec too, and ended up the Secretary of the Minister of Culture. Benjamin's main platform has been Art is Human Right that Must be Accessible to All, and to that end he has been encouraging the development of local cultural centers in dozens of Ecatepec barrios, as well as organizing large scale free festivals that bring in thousands of international artists to share their skills with the city. This program has uneasily dove-tailed with groups of Ecatepec activists and artists organized since 2006 as part of the Zapatista's La Otra Campaña, or Other Campaign. We met dozens of people that came out of La Otra Campaña in Ecatepec, who are trying to use the left government programs as a launching pad for more radical activities.
Our motley crew walked into this context. We are all artists currently living in the US, the majority Latina/os, with a couple Filipina/os and gringos thrown in for good measure. Here's the roll call:
Favianna Rodriguez, Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes from Taller Tupac Amaru in Oakland; Maria Beddia and Bobby Nicholson from the Bay Area; Josué Rojas, muralist and journalist from the Bay Area; Geraldine Lozano, Reed Rickert and Sal, all videomakers, photographers or documenters from the Bay. John Carr, Contra One and Werc from LA and the Yo! What Happened to Peace? crew; Cece Carpio from NYC and Trust Your Struggle, and Me.
1968 Exhibit at Labadie Collection in Ann Arbor
Posted October 25, 2008 by shaun in Events
In her dream job as curator of the Labadie Collection of Social Protest Literature at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Julie Herrada has curated a timely new exhibit. The Whole World Was Watching: Protest and Revolution in 1968, Selections from the Labadie Collection provides a snapshot of a complex and pivotal year in American history, highlighting protests against the Vietnam War and the draft, the highly fractured Presidential election and the violence that erupted outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago against anti-war demonstrators, and the activities of student and other protest groups such as the Ann Arbor-founded Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Panthers, the White Panthers, and the Yippies. The exhibit notes the women's movement and international matters such as Prague Spring and the May Paris uprisings.
The exhibit is on view in the Gallery (Room 100) at the Hatcher Graduate Library. A related display of original record albums and political buttons from the University of Michigan's Special Collections Library is also exhibited in the Special Collections Exhibit Room located on the seventh floor (same building). Julie has also launched an online exhibit guestbook that visitors can write their 1968 memories in. An afternoon panel discussion featuring activists from the era and a live performance in the evening by Country Joe McDonald will take place in The Gallery on November 13. The exhibit runs until December 19.
The Ann Arbor Chronicle ran an article about the show on Wednesday.
Review of Realizing the Impossible
Posted October 24, 2008 by jmacphee in Review
The AK Press blog, Revolution by the Book, just posted a review of Realizing the Impossible written by Alan W. Moore, a long time NYC radical artist, theorist and teacher, who was also one of the founders of ABC No Rio! Here's the first couple paragraphs of the review, and the rest is here:
The artist in capitalist society is necessarily a revolutionary. S/he is as well necessarily an entrepreneur. Between these two positions lies a wide gulf in understandings. The artist must strive to change society according to a vision, because s/he does not fit. Creativity is not an absolute good and value in this society, and the artist is absolutely committed to creativity. Still, the artist must survive, and so must do what that requires.What is that? What is longed-for utopia and what is impinging reality? The divide between our dreams of a perfect world and the realities of our lives, between what is necessary and what is desired has shifted. The Wall is gone; new walls are a’building. The organizers of the Documenta 12 exhibition recently proffered the assertion, “Modernity is our antiquity.” In finding new coordinates for radical position-takings today, we are continuously picking through those ruins for stuff we can use.
Realizing the Impossible bespeaks an exciting upsurge of attention to a world of dynamic committed artistic practices, past and present. It is largely a book on contemporary art, concerned first with explicating artistic practice now and in the postmodern past.
Poster show at the Tokyo Bookfair
Posted October 23, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Dara and I were excited to have Kei and Illcommonz from Tokyo visit us in late September for the opening of the Signs of Change exhibition here in NYC. They have both been involved in actions and movements included in the show, most recently the organization against the G8 summit in Japan. Kei is also connected to the Japanese anarchist archive CIRA Japan, who lent us a handful of Japanese anarchist posters from the 60s-80s for the the exhibition.
While they were here we weighed them down with posters and propaganda from the US, much of it for Tokyo's infoshop Irregular Rhythm Asylum, which is largely run by Kei. I'm excited that Kei has created a small exhibition of my posters, which is being held at the 3rd annual Tokyo Bookfair, which is put together by a handful of DIY, punk and anarchist shops, zines and distros. They are also showing Dara's video Tactical Tourist, a 15-minute look at the Barcelona squatting scene in 2006.
New Josh MacPhee shirts at AK Press
Posted October 22, 2008 by jmacphee in Justseeds/Member Projects
Making and selling t-shirts is a giant pain in the ass. On and off for the past 10 years I've been designing and making shirts, usually finding friends to do the actual printing (because I hate silkscreening shirts: it's difficult, toxic, and to me completely unrewarding). I've finally given up. No more shirt making for me. Instead, I've farmed some of my designs out to AK Press, who are manufacturing, distributing and directly selling many of my designs. Now you can get my Autonomy, Chemicals Make Our Lives Better, and Zapatista designs from them. In addition, they've created a new shirt out of my Anarchy Hands print. Check it out here!!!
Images from Paper Politics in Cortland
Posted October 21, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
The Paper Politics show is currently hanging at the Dowd Gallery at SUNY-Cortland in Upstate New York. Andrew Mount, the director at the Dowd sent me these great photos of the show installed. Seems like it's made some ripples up there, upsetting some students who actually asked the administration to remove some of the prints! I'm heading up to Cortland to do a curator's talk on October 28th. Info and directions will be on their website.
Signs of Change Dutch Provo Event!
Posted October 21, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Signs of Change Dutch Provo Event!
Friday, October 24, 2008, 6-8pm
at Exit Art, 475 10th Ave, NY, NY
PREMIERE SCREENING of Dutch Provo Footage
Premiere screening of newly subtitled short films and footage of the 1960s Dutch Provo movement, and book release of Richard Kempton’s Provo: Amsterdam’s Anarchist Revolt (in collaboration with Autonomedia Press).
Speakers include: Jordan Zinovich, Lindsay Caplan, and Janna Schoenberger
About the Book:
Provo staged political and cultural interventions into the symbolic
and everyday spaces of Holland from 1962-1967. In this first
book-length English-language study of their history, Richard Kempton
narrates the rise and fall of Provo from early Dutch "happenings"
staged in 1962 to the "Death of Provo" in 1967. This is the fourth
book Autonomedia has done on Dutch social movements.
About the Video:
This compilation of Provo footage, newly translated and subtitled by
Janna Schoenberger and Dennis de Lange, includes scenes from the early
happenings, Dutch political life, and interviews by key members of
Provo - including an interview held with Robert Jasper Grootveld on
his houseboat in Amsterdam.
Speakers:
Jordan Zinovich has been associated with Autonomedia since 1986, and
is currently a senior editor. He has been working on Provo for years,
and since 1997 has been going repeatedly to Amsterdam to meet with
members of Provo. He will discuss the renaissance of Provo going on
today.
Lindsay Caplan is a member of the Autonomedia editorial collective,
and a doctoral student at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Her research
focuses on the intersection between art, aesthetics, and social action
- an arena in which Provo is an essential and exciting example.
Janna Schoenberger is a doctoral student at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
She received her master's degree in Art History from Utrecht
University in the Netherlands where she lived for three years. She is
currently working as a translator for the upcoming exhibition "In and
Out of Amsterdam 1960-1975" at the Museum of Modern Art.
About Autonomedia:
Autonomedia is a small non-profit publisher of books and digital
material that investigate the liberatory impulse by way of radical
politics, philosophy, arts, history, and other categories of thought
and action. We have operated as an all-volunteer editorial collective
since 1983, and are based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. With more than
100 titles in active distribution, and 6-8 new books each year,
Autonomedia provides an autonomous media zone for radical art and politics, and seeks to transcend party lines, bottom lines and straight lines. We also
maintain the Interactivist Info Exchange (info.interactivist.net), an
online forum for discourse and debate on themes relevant to the books
we publish. www.autonomedia.org
Radical Activism Visual Archive
Posted October 20, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Stumbled across a fairly new project the other day, the
Radical Activism Visual Archive (the visual memory of radicality). An interesting ongoing blog/collection of political art images, posters and ephemera collected by Alexis Desgagnés, a Montreal-based academic researching political graphics. None of the images are commented on, simply collected and shown, with an option for viewers to comment.
Art and Activism Slideshow
Posted October 16, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Jared Davidson from Garage Collective and Zoe Thompson-Moore, both from New Zealand, have just a cool video slideshow on art and activism they recently did. Check it out.
The Visual Language of LeRoy Johnson and Theodore Harris
Posted October 15, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Here's a link to a great little video about the art of LeRoy Johnson and Theodore Harris. Pretty compelling stuff, evokes Romaire Beardon and social realism thrown into a dada blender!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4TjSUTFnu0
Justseeds prison portfolio project
Posted October 8, 2008 by nicolas_lampert in Justseeds/Member Projects
Recently, Justseeds has completed a portfolio project for the Critical Resistance ten-year anniversary conference in Oakland, California that took place on September 26-28.
The project involved twenty artists from the US, Canada and Mexico who each created an original print that either critiqued or addressed alternatives to the prison-industrial complex. Each artist pulled 100 prints and the amazing JS crew at the Portland distro assembled the portfolios and created the covers that are displayed in the photos.
The point of the portfolio project was to donate work and to share graphics with groups working against the prison-industrial complex. In the end, each portfolio included the 20 prints plus a cdr with copy-right free TIFF files of the images (plus other anti-prison images from the recent book Reproduce and Revolt (edited by Favianna Rodriguez and Josh MacPhee.)
Justseeds donated the bulk of the portfolios to Critical Resistance and 30 other groups who are organizing against prisons.
In late November (once the groups have already had the opportunity to possibly use them as a fundraising device) Justseeds will have a limited number of portfolios for sale on our site.
Much thanks to all the artists and the organizers who donated their time and energy to the project. A number of plans are set for the prints to be exhibited in the late Fall/early Winter and we will keep you posted when dates for the shows are announced.
Guillermo Gómez-Peña (and me)
Posted September 29, 2008 by bec_young in Events
This weekend, writer and performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña and his troupe were in Detroit. I joined perhaps fifty other people for a fairly intimate interactive performance of Gómez-Peña's Mapa Corpo at the Detroit Institute of Arts. This is the the first time I've been to one of his performances, but I'm told that it's par for the course that the event was visual overwhelming and emotionally challenging. I was forewarned by one of the maintenance guys at the museum that the Mapa Corpo was a naked woman's body stuck with acupuncture needles with many, many tiny flags of the U.S. and Britain (and one or two of Israel), which the audience was invited to help pull out at the end. He wasn't too impressed, but most of the audience seemed entranced by the visual and mental connections. The performance also involved video, music, poetry, and other simulations, rituals, and installations on the subjects of identity, power, and immigration. The event had the feeling of a dangerous but necessary ritual that we all somehow survived, together. This fall, Gómez-Peña's troup will be in San Francisco, Albequerque, Toronto, Alaska, and Arizona. Check his website for more specific information.
On a totally different note, I've just returned from a voyage to Buenos Aires to seek information for a project that I hope to do next year about art collectives in Argentina. Especially considering I was only there for two weeks, I learned about an amazing amount of artistic, radical, and collective projects, and had the opportunity to meet with people from a few of those projects. I'll be writing about some of the projects that I learned about in the coming weeks. Here I am in the Museo Municipal de Arte Hispanoamericano before the guard yelled at someone else for taking pictures inside the museum.
Signs of Change opens Saturday!!!
Posted September 17, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Dara Greenwald and I have spent a good chunk of the last 2 years putting together this large-scale exhibition of the art and culture of social movements. With over 600 posters, 100 photos, hundreds of other pieces of ephemera, and 50 films and videos from over 40 countries, Signs of Change is likely the biggest project I've ever been involved in!
If you are in or around New York City, please come celebrate the opening with us on Saturday night!!!
SIGNS OF CHANGE: SOCIAL MOVEMENT CULTURES 1960s TO NOW
at Exit Art, 475 10th Ave, NY, NY, September 20 - December 6, 2008
1. Opening/About: Saturday September 20, 7-10pm
2. Symposium: Thursday September 25, 6pm-10pm
3. Film/Video Weekend: October 11-13
4. Weekly Video Screenings (Tue-Thurs 3:30, Fri-Sat 5:30) and Live Screen Printing
5. Provo: October 24, 6pm
6. Lenders, Support, Thanks, & Credits
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The opening will include live screen printing and a visit by the Tactical Ice Cream Unit.
ABOUT: In Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, hundreds of posters, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and ephemera bring to life over forty years of activism, political protest, and campaigns for social justice. Curated by Dara Greenwald and Josh MacPhee as part of Exit Art's Curatorial Incubator, this important and timely exhibition surveys the creative work of dozens of international social movements.
Organized thematically, the exhibition presents the creative outpourings of social movements, such as those for Civil Rights and Black Power in the United States; democracy in China; anti-apartheid in Africa; squatting in Europe; environmental activism and women's rights internationally; and the global AIDS crisis, as well as uprisings and protests, such as those for indigenous control of lands; against airport construction in Japan; and student and worker revolution in France. The exhibition also explores the development of powerful counter-cultures that evolve beyond traditional politics and create distinct aesthetics, life-styles, and social organization.
Although histories of political groups and counter-cultures have been written, and political and activist shows have been held, this exhibition is a groundbreaking attempt to chronicle the artistic and cultural production of these movements. Signs of Change offers a chance to see relatively unknown or rarely seen works, and is intended to not only provide a historical framework for contemporary activism, but also to serve as an inspiration for the present and the future.
During the exhibition, there will be ongoing screenprinting workshops with guest artists and activists in collaboration with the Lower East Side Printshop as well as the following programs and events.
Exit Art is located at 475 Tenth Avenue, corner of 36th Street. Exit Art is open each Tuesday through Thursday, 10 am – 6 pm; Friday, 10 am – 8 pm; Saturday, noon – 8 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday. There is a suggested donation of $5.
For more information please call 212-966-7745 or check out http://www.exitart.org/site/pub/exhibition_programs/signs_of_change/index.html
Justseeds Print Show Opens Friday the 19th, Warwick, NY
Posted September 15, 2008 by k_c_ in Justseeds/Member Projects
I grew up in a small town in the lower Hudson Valley. Aside from the small crew of skaters and punks that I hung out with, there was very little "alternative" culture and even less radical politics. I'm super stoked to be bringing the Justseeds Cooperative's artwork to a cafe, run by some friends from high school, in Warwick, NY. It feels good to bring something back to where I used to feel the most sense of "place".
The show will open 7pm, September 19th
at the
Tuscan Café
5 South St .
Warwick, NY 10990
We are hoping to have some live music from Laura Stevenson during the opening. Come check us out if you're in Orange County, NY.
Paper Politics Cortland opens 9/09
Posted September 4, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
The Paper Politics show I've organized and have been touring around is heading for a couple dates in Upstate New York. The show is an international collection of over 175 handmade political prints by as many artists. Almost the entire Justseeds crew is represented, as well as tons of other awesome printmakers! If you are in or around central upstate NY, check it out!!!!
Paper Politics
Dowd Fine Art Gallery
September 9th-November 6th, 2008
Opening Reception: September 9th 4:30-7:30pm
Artists’ talk:
Paper Politics - Josh MacPhee: October 28th, time TBA
All exhibitions and events are free and open to the Public.
Solidarity with Mpls Anti-Capitalists
Posted September 1, 2008 by jmacphee in In the News
Here's a poster I designed for the RNC Anti-Capitalist bloc. Find out more about their activities here.
The Gift Cycle
Posted August 29, 2008 by molly_fair in Political Art
Here's a cool project that my friend's friends are working on:
A duo of sweet cycling ladies who have initiated a project called The Gift Cycle, are on the final legs of their cross-country biking mission, bringing art from community to community from Providence, RI to Seattle, WA. Sarah Sandman and Melissa Smalls have been biking since June, where they set out from Providence on recumbent bikes pulling a trailer packed with art lovingly gifted by local artists. The project incorporates ideas from Lewis Hyde’s book The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property into an ethos that both art and nature are gifts, not commodities, and thrive in a “gift economy” that does not seek to exchange them for capital. Right on, Gift Cycle! So, as they move from city to city, they have been exchanging art from the previous city for art from the next, and so on until folks from Providence receive art from Seattle. Check out the lovely slideshow and track their progress on their blog.
They reach their final destination in Seattle on Saturday, August 30 - so check them out if you are in the area!
SEATTLE GIFT-GIVING /// FINAL DESTINATION CELEBRATION
No Space Gallery
507 E Mercer St
Corner of Summit and Mercer on Capitol Hill
7-whenever!
R&R Graphics in Guetemala
Posted August 24, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
The political graphics in Reproduce & Revolt are slowly starting to spread out around the world! Above is a poster made by communities in San Marcos that are resisting Montana Exploradora's mining project and communities in San Juan Sacatepequéz that are resisting the building of a cement factory by Cementos Progresos.
G.R.L artist and 5 American protesters arrested in China
Posted August 20, 2008 by molly_fair in In the News
Unless you've been living under a rock- you know about all the detentions, disappearances, and shootings of people in China who have been outspoken about the ongoing struggle for a free Tibet.
Needless to say, I was shocked to hear the news that a friend of ours from Brooklyn was just arrested with 4 others for holding up a banner near the National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, on Aug. 19 around 11 p.m. spelling out the message Free Tibet in Chinese and English using blue L.E.D. lights. Fortunately this was followed by info that they are safely on their way home.
This banner was co-created with the help of Graffiti Research Lab member James Powderly who was also arrested and is currently being detained due to his plan to use his invention, "The Green Chinese Lantern,” a 400 milliwatt handheld green laser with micro-stencils to beam a Free Tibet message on a Beijing landmark, possibly Tiananmen Square.
Prior to this planned action, Powderly's invitation to participate in Synthetic Times, a new media art exhibition at Beijing’s National Media Art Museum of China, was revoked, after he expressed indignation that the work must be approved by the Chinese government.
According to G.R.L's press release:
James is proud to have been kicked out of the Synthetic Times new media art exhibition in Beijing because he wouldn’t censor his little art project. James wonders why organizations like the MoMA, Parsons, Eyebeam, Ars Electronica and many other arts and cultural institutions around the world who claim to support free speech and expression would participate in a show like this. But they did! It was after being kicked to the curb by the show’s curator that James connected with Students for a Free Tibet and decided he would go to China anyway and do what he though was right in support of Tibet, Taiwan, free speech and the people of China. James lives, if indeed he is alive, in the County of Kings, Brooklyn, and teaches at the Communication Design and Technology program at Parsons the New School for Design.
The NY Times reported that,
Two video bloggers, Brian Comley, 28, and Jeffrey Rae, 28, were with James when he was detained. On Tuesday night, he sent a text message to a friend saying he had been held since 3 a.m. on Monday. His current whereabouts are unknown.
I hope James is safe and released soon. I also hope that attention continues to be drawn to the violence and repression sanctioned by the Chinese government. The price of protest for Chinese citizens is atrocious. Most recently those who applied to the Chinese government's designated Olympic protest zones were rejected, disappeared and detained, and sentenced to "re-education through labor."
"It Don't Gitmo Better!" Steve Powers in Coney Island
Posted August 8, 2008 by k_c_ in In the News
There's a bunch of press on Steve Powers-ESPO- new sideshow installation, “Waterboard Thrill Ride”, in Coney Island. It appears that Powers made some robots that simulate waterboarding in a space out on West 12th Street, just off Surf Avenue, in Brooklyn. Before you check it out you can read about it on the NY Times, BBC, ABC News, and probably a ton off other blogs. The piece will move to the Park Avenue Armory in September and be a part of Creative TIme's Democracy in America: The National Campaign events there. Chris Stain will also have a 70' mural included as well!
From Punk to Proudon?
Posted August 7, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Jared Davidson of the New Zealand-based Garage Collective has posted a follow-up essay to his earlier piece we blogged about here: "This Is Not A Manifesto —Towards An Alternative Design Practice." Here is the full text of his new piece, "From Punk to Proudon?":
I never wanted to be a graphic designer. At least not in the traditional sense — the faceless middle-man servicing the corporate body was something I didn't want to be. And when that's often the only direction encouraged within the design world, it becomes increasingly hard to find and explore alternatives, let alone sustainable ones.
Inspired by one part ego, one part punk, and a good dash of 'politics', my alternative to the overly commercial realm of graphic design ended up as 'Garage Collective' — the banner under which my design and screenprint output has come to be known. Over time, Garage Collective has had a number of projects and sometimes confused
directions — from local and international band's gigposters, grassroots political campaigns, features in a few exhibitions (as well as one of my own), numerous zines and writings (This Is Not A Manifesto — Towards An Alternative Design Practice), and my own personal screenprinted projects. It's these personal projects that have encouraged me to re-think, not only my own practice, but Garage Collective itself — it's current position and the possibility of other creative directions. The following text is the manifestation of that re-think.
NoG8 Report Back
Posted August 1, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
For those in NYC, come by this report back on the recent organizing and activism in Japan against the G8:
2008 NoG8! Report Back
Monday August 4, 7:30-9:30 pm
at The Change You Want To See Gallery
84 Havemeyer Street, storefront
at Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn 11211
L to Bedford, J/M/Z to Marcy, G to Lorimer
Did you go to this year's G-8 mobilization in Japan or do you want to know more about what went on? Come to an event this Monday, August 4th to hear, see, and share information.
Participants include:
Jim Fleming (Autonomedia)
Abraham Greenhouse (Palestine Freedom Project)
Brandon Jourdan (Filmmaker and Independent Journalist)
Diane Krauthamer (IWW and Indymedia)
and you!
Key questions framing the discussion will be:
- How to navigate new forms of authoritarian repression in global justice movements
- The benefit or disadvantage of summit hopping for non-locals in mass mobilizations
- How lessons learned at this year and preceding mass mobilizations can help us in upcoming demonstrations (e.g., Olympics, RNC/DNC, future G-8s, local campaigns, etc.)
- Pray tell, the Japanese had such kick-ass graphics and how can we reform the design aesthetic of the Left
+ Whatever questions you want to voice!
Other relevant NoG8! links:
http://www.ainumosir2008.com/en
http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Multilanguage
This Sunday at Space 1026- Radical Art Discussion Night
Posted July 14, 2008 by erik_ruin
Please join us in Philly this sunday for our 3rd event in conjunction with the Out of the Shell of the Old exhibit at Space 1026! 
SUNDAY JULY 20
7 PM
DISCUSSION NIGHT
SPACE 1026
1026 ARCH ST.
FREE!
We'll be using short presentations by 3 local artists as a jumping-off point for a room-wide discussion around the whats, whys and hows of radical art.
THEODORE A. HARRIS is a poet, muralist and collagist born in New York City and currently residing in Philadelphia, PA. As a muralist he has been painting with the Mural Arts program of Philadelphia since 1983. In addition to being exhibited in one-man and group shows from coast to coast, Harris's work has appeared in numerous publications, including Long Shot, The Hammer, Unity & Struggle, AAR, and the important anthologies Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature and Art and In Defense of Mumia.
NAIMA LOWE writes, performs, directs, studies, makes movies, teaches, lives and loves in Philadelphia, PA. She’s currently working on creative and curatorial projects that focus on her favorite things: Queers, people of color, the art they make, and the worlds they devise. For more detailed information visit her website
BETH NIXON builds puppets, masks, piñatas, parades, pageants, magical lands and other spectaculah, on her own, and in collaboration with other humans of all ages. She comes from Rhode Island, lives in West Philly, and travels frequently to places where building, performing or
facilitating opportunities arise. Mostly she uses cardboard, "science", and the imagination. She specializes in beasts and is investigating The Utopian Performative… Beth believes in the power of bike helmets, cornstarch, tide pools, emacipatory pedagogy, and snacks. She is the creator of 'So Many Dynamos' a calendar of illustrated palindromes for 2008.
Forthcoming- a Music Night and Closing Party on Friday uly 25- a music show benefitting the folks at the Shoe Shop, whose home was taken away by L&I , with Dan Blacksberg and Joshua Marcus, and Ashley Deekus.
Transborder Immigration Project
Posted July 12, 2008 by nicolas_lampert in Political Art
One of the highlights of this year’s Allied Media Conference in Detroit was learning about the Transborder Immigration Project by Ricardo Dominguez, Brett Stalbaum, Micha Cárdenas and Jason Najarro.
In the true spirit of hactivist art and civil disobedience, this team of San Diego-based artists and scientists has ingeniously reconfigured a Motorola i455 phone into a lifesaving device for immigrants crossing the border between Mexico and US. In their own words, “The goal of the project is to help reduce the number of deaths along the border by developing a common cell phone device into a navigation tool that will help migrants locate life saving resources in the desert such as water catches and safety beacons.”
The device, which is built upon the back of a basic $40 Motorola i455 phone, has a built-in compass, vibrates near water sources, and is gps enabled. In an interview by Corinne Ramey at Mobile Active.org, artist Ricardo Dominguez explains, "What we needed was a really inexpensive telephone, one that we could crack the GPS system, and one that would accept new algorithms."
So far, over 500 phones have been reconfigured that may someday -or perhaps already have helped people with their dangerous journey across the desert.
A facet of the project includes trainings, workshops and solidarity work with immigrant rights groups working on border issues. Yet, one should not lose sight of the “art” and the crucial role that artist’s play in this process by providing the imagination, the practical tools and the skills. Dominguez concludes, "There's a long history of artists at the border creating gestures that question the very nature of the border….The reason they can't stop us is that we always frame all these gestures within the poetic frame."
More on the Transborder Immigration Project:
http://mobileactive.org/artivists-and-mobile-pho
http://va-grad.ucsd.edu/~drupal/node/374
Link to Ricardo Dominguez’s blog:
http://bang.calit2.net/
Other Projects: (Electronic Civil Disobedience)
http://www.thing.net/%7Erdom/ecd/ecd.html
Justseeds in Tacoma Washington
Posted July 10, 2008 by pete in Political Art
Pete and Roger will be tabling the 2nd annual Tacoma Anarchist Bookfair this weekend July 12th and 13th. Stop by the table and pick up your justseeds gear in person.
heres some info from the organizers:
Just a reminder that the Tacoma Anarchist Book Fair is THIS WEEKEND!
The book fair will run from 11AM to 5PM on both Sat. (the 12th) and Sun. (the 13th) at King's Books (218 St Helens Av)...
To get to King's Books, you'll want to get off on the Sprague exit in Tacoma, and take a right (towards downtown) on 19th. Turn left (north) on Tacoma Ave, and then turn right on South 4th. You'll take the next left on St Helens Ave and follow this down to 2nd, King's Books will be on your left. Feel free to come a bit early to set up.
If you all want to join in on the festivities on Friday the 11th, there will be an acoustic show at People's Park at 7pm. To get to People's Park take the Sprague exit again, take a right on 19th, and then a left on MLK. Follow MLK down to South 9th and People's Park will be on your left.
A Swan Song, A Love Letter, A Blanket
Posted July 9, 2008 by icky in Political Art
Friend of justseedspdx, Rochelle Koivunen, is having an art opening this Friday July 11th at the Launch Pad Gallery in SE Portland. Rochelle's work on her own and with Pollution Party is always amazing, be sure to stop by and catch the amazing Pelican Ossman perform also.
New work on paper by Rochelle Koivunen
July 4th - 27th, 2008 Featuring installation by Pollution Party
& recycled plastic bag sculptures by Katie Simpson
Opening Celebration Friday, July 11, 2008 6pm-12am
About the show
Rochelle Koivunen's new body of work features wall painting, five large scroll-mounted mixed-media works on paper and a suite of smaller framed portraits.
The work depicts tender relationships between humans and animals- refugees nurturing and caring for each other symbiotically once again as we move away from the anonymity and isolation of consumerism, technology and throw-away culture into a radically changed world where we all have to work together in order to survive.
The show responds to the suffering and destructive relationships that have evolved between humans and the world we live in and expresses hope for the future as we face the imminent arrival of peak oil, over-population, food shortages and natural disasters and are forced to rethink how we live.
Featuring food, a cash bar, and free, all-ages music & performance starting at 8pm
by Adivina, Bryce Panic, Mary Rose, Exoh Exoh, Pelican Ossman, DJ Maxx Bass
(with Launch Pad's own DJ Pocket starting the night with sweet, sweet old skool reggae music from 6-8pm)
Seth Tobocman: Disaster & Resistance Release Events
Posted July 3, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
AK Press is putting out Seth Tobocman's (You Don't Have to Fuck People Over to Survive and War in the Neighborhood) new book Disaster & Resistance!!
He has 2 release events planned in NYC:
July 10th
10pm
Bowery Poetry Club
398 Bowery
with music by: Mischief Brew, Actual Facts, Shit Lovin’ Angels, Steve Wishnia and Eric Blitz
admission is $10 or free if you buy a book
AND
July 18th
7pm
Bluestockings Books
172 Allen Street
with Peter Kuper and Fly
music by Steve Wishnia and Eric Blitz
admission is free
Reproduce & Revolt release party in NYC
Posted June 27, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Come celebrate the release of Reproduce & Revolt/Reproduce y Rebélate!
Monday, June 30th, 7-10pm
Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen St.
NYC
(One block south of Houston, a block from the 2nd Ave. F train)
A collection of over 500 political graphics, Reproduce & Revolt/Reproduce Y Rebélate contains original art granted by the creators to the public domain, to be freely used on political posters, flyers, and campaigns. A bilingual (English & Spanish) book, it also includes a history of the reproducible political graphic and a design how-to for anyone interested in using the images in this book to help change the world. A powerful collection of graphic work by some of the world’s most active and interesting political propagandists, street artists and socially conscious graphic designers. Over 100 artists from over 25 countries are included!
Many of the NYC based artists will be present, and Josh MacPhee be giving a short presentation about the book.
The Great Rebel Raft Regatta
Posted June 27, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
John Jordan (mover and shaker in Reclaim the Streets, We Are Everywhere and the Climate Camp UK) is helping put together an amazing looking new event/project called The Great Rebel Raft Regatta. It looks and sounds like a more political and decentralized Miss Rockaway Armada, with an invite for anyone and everyone to build a raft and join:
A strange fusion of futuristic flotilla, activist armada and charity raft race floats down the river Medway. Hundreds of rebel rafts of every shape and size are swarming towards Kingsnorth power station, like a giant shoal of disobedient fish with a single aim, to shut down the climate criminals.Launched from the Climate Camp on the 9th of August, as part of the mass day of Action to stop the construction of the UK's first coal fired power station in 30 years. The GRRR will be made up of a multitude of rebel rafts constructed out of flotsam and jetsam of this overheating world.... There will be pirate ship rafts, musical rafts, desert Island rafts, migration rafts, polar bears floating on ice-berg rafts, apocalyptic rafts, yellow submarine rafts, car wreck rafts, Robinson Crusoe rafts, battle ship Potemkin rafts, Viking rafts, Kontiki rafts, life rafts and love rafts, dark rafts and hope rafts.
9th August, high tide, RIver Medway, Kingsnorth Power Station, Kent
Get a team together < Build a raft of your dreams < Come to the Climate Camp August 3-11th > GRRR Launch >>> August 9th
Asif Rahman Memorial Ride update courtesy of NYC Street Memorial Project
Posted June 24, 2008 by k_c_ in Events
Memorial bike ride for Asif Rahman on Monday June 23, 2008
Join fellow riders and Asif's family and friends on to remember him and demand a bike lane on Queens Boulevard. Bring flowers and candles.
From GhostBikes.org
On February 28, 2008, Asif Rahman, was doing what he loved to do -- riding his bike on his way back home from work -- when he was crushed to death by a reckless truck driver on Queens Boulevard. He died instantly from internal injuries. The truck driver was not charged or ticketed. Asif's mother said:
"Asif was on his way home after a hard day of work. I was waiting for him to come home. He will never come home. I still wait everyday to hear his voice. But he doesn't come home and say 'hi mom'. He will not say it anymore. He was brutally killed by a reckless truck driver."
Waste to Work
Posted June 20, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
My friend and collaborator Olivia Robinson (from the Spectres of Liberty Ghost Church project) has a new project she's working on with another friend, Daniela Kostova. It's called Waste to Work, and they've been collecting sweat and turning it into batteries! Here's the press release for the opening of the project in Schenectady, NY:
Have you ever thought of sweat as a renewable energy source? New media artists Daniela Kostova and Olivia Robinson will do just that when they perform Waste to Work at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, June 28 at the Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium.Inspired by the significant labor and electric industry histories of upstate New York, Waste to Work explores the transformation of labor into electric power, using sweat as the link. Sweat is the perfect medium: it is an electrolyte that can be used to make galvanic batteries--"waste" that can be harvested from our labors--and remains an extremely personal commodity that holds our scent, essential salts, fats, pheromones.
Kostova and Robinson will use video and an installed cabinet of batteries to illustrate how they developed batteries powered by their own and others' sweat. The power produced by the sweat batteries will illuminate a world map of LED shapes that designate centers of manufacturing and labor.
To create the sweat-powered batteries, the artists combined the practices of scientists and artists. Working with researchers a the Center for Biotechnology at Rensselaer, the artists developed batteries that are powered using sweat they collect in specially designed costumes they wear when participating in different kinds of physical labor.
The sweat-powered batteries are based on galvanic cells, which require two sources of electrolyte medium separated by a thin porous wall to create a chemical reaction with zinc and carbon to produce power. Human sweat is an electrolyte medium and will be used to power the battery.
Directions
Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium
15 Nott Terrace Hts
Schenectady, NY 12308
(518) 382-7890Websites:
http://www.iamwhateveryouwantmetobe.com/site/content/waste-work
http://oliviarobinson.com
http://dani.cult.bg
Interview with Favianna Rodriguez
Posted June 20, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Liam O'Donoghue has also posted a good interview with Favianna Rodriguez on the SF Bay Guardian website. You can check it out here.
Grafica Politica #2
Posted June 19, 2008 by jmacphee in Artwork Needed
This just in from Grupo Soap del Corazon in Minneapolis:
Dear Friends,
This September, the Republicans are meeting in Saint Paul, Minnesota, September 1-4, 2008, to nominate candidates for president and vice-president of the United States and to create their political platform.The Republicans, as you may remember, are the ones that brought the citizens of the United States (and the citizens of the world) such delights as the war in Iraq, the current economic recession, flagrantly increased national debt, and a lack of timely response to global warming. They are also creators of the current impasse with national healthcare, the stalemate with NAFTA reform, decreasing immigrant rights, tax cuts for the rich, and blatant, far-reaching government corruption.
So how do you feel about all that? Want to express yourselves? Well, we want to help you.
Print Art and Revolution in Mexico
Posted June 19, 2008 by jmacphee in Books & Zines
Poster historian and archivist Lincoln Cushing has written a great review of a new book on the Taller Grafica Popular (TGP). The review, published in A Contra Corriente journal, can be downloaded here as a pdf. The book reviewed is Deborah Caplow's Leopoldo Méndez: Revolutionary Art and the Mexican Print, published by the University of Texas Press, 2007. Back in 2005 Caplow wrote a great introductory essay on the history of political printmaking for the exhibition catalog to my Paper Politics show.
New Book: Diego Rivera: Great Illustrator
Posted June 18, 2008 by icky in Review
I was on tour in 2000, my band had played a sloppy show the night before and our host (Erik Ruin) took us to The Detroit Institute of Arts (Det. art museum) before we got back on the road. Just past the front desk you walk into a giant atrium filled with Diego Rivera's auto industry murals. I had poured over pictures of this mural numerous times, but it had not prepared me for the beauty and grandeur of seeing it in person. I don't know how big the room is, maybe three stories tall, the architecture done in the fake greek style that was the preferred choice for many public buildings (see washington dc or most state capitols). And the mural covered the whole thing... the giant walls, the nooks and crannies.... a giant factory scene in all it's terrible, awesome and fascinating complexity.... the workers in full communist-style action shots pulling levers and wrenches.... the gods of the earth elements up around the ceiling... little panels with industry scientists, women workers. Ore and metal itself. I just stood there and rotated in awe at this big powerful piece of art.
New Gee Vaucher prints
Posted June 18, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
I just got an email about two new Gee Vaucher prints that Hard Pressed Studios have put out. For those that haven't heard of her, Gee Vaucher was the visual arts/design member of the UK anarcho-punk band Crass, and her collage style and stencil lettering deeply influenced both punk and anarchist aesthetics. For more info, Erik Reuland interviewed her in our book Realizing the Impossible that came out last year.
According to Hard Pressed: Each print is a one color screenprint, on natural Stonehenge paper. Both notable works are an edition of 50 and each measure 22''x30''. They are numbered, signed by the artist and are $50 each. They were hand printed by Karen Fiorito at Hard Pressed Studios in Los Angeles. You can buy them here.
The "Peace" image maybe new, I'm not sure, but I believe "Onward Christian Soldiers" is from an old issue of Gee's political art newspaper called International Anthem. To be 100% honest, neither of these are my favorite Gee images, but I am really glad her work is circulating again, and hope a lot more people get exposed to her ideas, the politics of Crass, and the history of art, anarchism and social movements.
Shepard Fairey's Image Problem
Posted June 18, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Liam O'Donoghue an article online that continues the discussion/critique of Shepard Fairey thats been ongoing online over the past 6-9 months. He's posted his piece "Shepard Fairey's Image Problem" on multiple Indymedias (here's the link to the story on NYC Indymedia.) and I'm going to paste the whole thing below:
As if Wal-Mart didn’t have enough controversies to deal with, imagine the consternation in the PR war room when news hit that the retail giant was selling t-shirts bearing a Nazi SS skull. As the story unraveled, it turned out that Wal-Mart’s designer had ripped off the image from pop art superstar Shepard Fairey, whose reference for the Gestapo logo was 1960’s “biker culture.” Oops.Using the international notoriety of his global “Andre the Giant has a posse” street art campaign as a platform, Shepard Fairey has leveraged his prolific output and iconic, anti-authoritarian style into a mini-empire. Through his ObeyGiant company (Motto: Manufacturing Quality Dissent Since 1989), he churns out screen-printed posters, clothing, and limited-run merchandise including skateboards and laser-engraved watches. His other design company, Studio Number One, specializes in branding, promotional campaigns and “identity systems” for corporate clients including Mountain Dew, Virgin, and Honda. He is also founder and creative director of Subliminal Projects art studio in Los Angeles and uber-hip Swindle magazine. His audience and the value of his work has surged in recent months on the popularity of his now-ubiquitous Obama posters.
Although Fairey “didn’t get bent out of shape” about Wal-Mart ripping him off, he originally launched his ObeyGiant clothing line because he saw that the Urban Outfitters chain was selling “bootlegged” shirts with his Giant logo. “To see it in there, just ripped off, knowing that somebody just made a bunch of money selling the t-shirts to Urban Outfitters, and here I am, just barely being able to pay my rent was definitely upsetting to me,” Fairey told me during an interview for Mother Jones. “The reason I get pissed off about stuff like that is because I didn’t build up the resonance for that image just to hand it off to someone to exploit.”
Prison Nation Opens
Posted June 16, 2008 by jmacphee in Posters
Prison Nation: Posters on the Prison Industrial Complex opened this past weekend in Los Angeles. A show of prison-related posters collected and organized by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, it contains dozens of posters created around many prison-related issues, from overcrowding to women in prison, political prisoners to racism in the justice system. I've even got a couple posters in the show!
Prison Nation: Posters on the Prison Industrial Complex
William Grant Still Arts Center
2520 West View St.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
Open Daily: 12-5pm
323.734.1164
Even though the opening has past, they have a huge schedule of events planned, if you are in LA, check some of this out:
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
Posted June 13, 2008 by molly_fair in Events
New York, June 13–26, 2008
Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center
165 West 65th Street, upper level
(between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave.)
In recognition of the power of film to educate and galvanize a broad constituency of concerned citizens, Human Rights Watch decided to create the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. Human Rights Watch's International Film Festival has become a leading venue for distinguished fiction, documentary and animated films and videos with a distinctive human rights theme.
The films in this year’s edition of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival reflect struggles throughout the world—the buying and selling of children in China; the continuing animosity between Pakistan and India; the story behind the murder of a courageous Russian journalist—as well as those right here at home. While many films raise questions, these begin to provide answers as brave filmmakers work on the front lines of international crises to show us the toll of war, the horrors of ongoing conflicts, and the human faces at the heart of it all (including the residents of a Palestinian senior citizens’ home).
Within many of these works is a quest: A filmmaker traces her ancestors’ involvement in the slave trade, human rights activists spend their lives trying to bring dictators to justice, and others bear witness to their crimes. Finally, there are the children: we get a glimpse of the overwhelmed juvenile justice system in Brazil, while from around the world, young people armed with cameras are asking questions and, perhaps, showing us the way to a better future.
Towards Carfree Cities VIII
Posted June 11, 2008 by molly_fair in Events
June 16-20, 2008
Some of the amazing people involved in the NYC Street Memorials Project honoring pedestrians and cyclists, will be heading to Portland for the carfree conference to do a panel discussion-so check it out!
June 19, 2008 4-5:30 pm
Advocacy, Media, and Direct Action: Street Memorials and Successful Collaborative Strategies for Making Change on NYC Streets Moderator: Brooke DuBose, Planner, Fehr & Peers, San Francisco
* Nat Meysenburg, Web Coordinator & Volunteer, NYC Street Memorial Project
* Elizabeth Press, videographer, Streetfilms
* Caroline Samponaro, Bicycle Campaign Coordinator, Transportation Alternatives
* Leah Todd, Press Coordinator & Volunteer, NYC Street Memorial Project
* Peter Meitzler, transportation activist, New York
Video of Spectres of Liberty
Posted June 10, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Here's a time lapse of the ups and downs of our inflatable church!
Spectres of Liberty images
Posted June 8, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
So the Spectres of Liberty project went great! We inflated our 35 foot tall church and had over 200 people come hang out, watch the animation on the outside and check out the inside. Here's some images, and more info and images can be found on our website.
The view from down the street (photo by Pete)
Another daylight view for scale (photo by Josh MacPhee)
The inside of the church (photo by Bart Woodstrup)
The outside projection of Henry Highland Garnet as seen from the inside (photo by Bart Woodstrup)
Pittsburgh Summer: Youth Radical Print Collective
Posted June 6, 2008 by mary_tremonte in Justseeds/Member Projects
The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pa is working with 14 to 20 year old artist-activists to form a Radical Print Collective.
This Collective will work with Pittsburgh’s social justice and environmental community to create print materials that illustrate social, cultural and civic achievement milestones in Pittsburgh. The Collective will learn printmaking and design techniques and will use these skills to document Pittsburgh’s activist past and present in an effort to effect progressive social change.
Local and national activist artists from the Justseeds/Visual Resistance Artists' Cooperative will be in residence throughout the summer to work with the youth involved in this project and to create an installation.
For more information, contact Mary Tremonte at tremontem(at)warhol.org, 412-237-8356
Lesbians of Color-Women Against Violence
Posted June 6, 2008 by molly_fair in Events
Brecht Forum Gallery
451 West Street
NY, NY 10014
June 6th - July 6th, 2008
Opening:
June 6th 6:30 PM - 10:00 PM
This exhibit focuses on violence against lesbians of color and the lesbian love that empowers them. The artists are sending the healing energy of their art to lesbians of color here and around the world who are being stigmitized, rejected, imprisioned and killed. Besides the daily stress of racism and colonialism, lesbians of color have to deal with homophobia, like verbal abuse, hostility, being labeled sinful by religious leaders, lack of marriage rights and partner benefits, not being represented in many women's organizations, community ostracism, sexual harassment, partner violence, discrimination in jobs and housing, families trying to take away children or withdraw support, incarceration in mental hospitals or jails, being trafficked, raped, tortured, or murdered..The exhibit seeks to expose examples of violence against lesbians of color from African, Asian/Pacific Islands, Latino/Carribean. Native American, and Near/Middle Eastern ancestry and assert the right of lesbians of color to a life with dignity and acceptance without fear of attacks on their spirits and bodies.
At the opening reception there will be loc poets, singers and musicians celebrating loc love and resistance to all forms of violence.
Reproduce & Revolt SF release party!
Posted June 6, 2008 by jmacphee in Books & Zines
San Francisco artists celebrate the release of Reproduce & Revolt, an extensive collection of contemporary political graphics collected from around the world, featuring today's most exciting street artists, poster makers and graphic designers.
WHAT: An art jam and book release party featuring live printmaking, music, and refreshments.
WHEN: Wednesday, June 11, 6-10 pm
WHERE: CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission St. (near 9th), San Francisco, CA 94103
WHO: Reproduce & Revolt Co-Editor, Favianna Rodriguez, Taller Tupac Amaru (Oakland), San Francisco Print Collective (SF), Political Gridlock (Alameda), and Chaman Visions (Los Angeles)
On the evening of Wednesday, June 11th, artists, activists, and art lovers will gather to celebrate the release of the new book, Reproduce & Revolt. Activism depends on design to capture imaginations and spread a message. Reproduce and Revolt not only documents some of the best activist design work of the past few years, it shows readers how to do it themselves. Political artists from the Bay Area will host an evening of live poster printing, political art displays, and other art making to promote a message of social justice.
Reproduce and Revolt features the work of artists from over a dozen countries. The collection contains hundreds of high-quality illustrations and graphics about social justice and political activism for use on flyers, posters, t-shirts, brochures, stencils, and any other graphic elements of social causes. The graphics are bold, easy to reproduce, and available to reproduce without permission. The book offers clear instructions on how to utilize the images to improve the effectiveness of visual campaigns. It also contains a short history of political graphics, highlighting the vital and powerful role that graphics have played in social movements all over the world – serving as tools to inspire, mobilize, and transform communities.
Reclaiming the "F" Word
Posted June 5, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
The Center for the Study of Political Graphics, a great archive and resource for studying political posters, has just put together a new show:
Reclaiming the “F” Word: Posters on International Feminisms
June 3 - July 3, 2008
Opening Reception:
Saturday June 7, 2008 2-5 pm
Panel Discussion: 3 pm
Panel will include some of the exhibition’s artists and curatorial team.
Special Film Showing:
Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 2 pm
I was a Teenage Feminist, a film by Therese Shechter
(see description of film below)
California State University
Northridge Art Galleries
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330
Summer gallery hours are Mon – Fri 12-4 pm
There is no admission charge.
Parking is $5.00.
For further information call 818.677.2156.
Reclaiming the “F” Word refers to women’s movements in the plural—to feminismS—to acknowledge and honor our similarities and differences. The national and international posters in this exhibition reflect a deepening awareness that women’s struggles, women’s leadership and women’s activ¬ism throughout the world challenge oppressive conditions in diverse and creative ways.
Posters from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America explore class, race and gender as they show women at the forefront of struggles for human rights and social change. Powerful graphics depict diverse feminist issues from the suffragettes to the activism of the 1970s to today. The family unit, childcare, labor, ecology, trafficking and violence are just some of the topics covered. Posters show women organizing against the Viet Nam War and against Apartheid in South Africa. They decry the ongoing murders of women in Juarez, Mexico and use of rape as a military weapon in Darfur, Sudan. Reclaiming the “F” Word will broaden the definition of feminism, and inspire women and men, of all ages, to be proud to call themselves feminists.
Spectres of Liberty
Posted May 28, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Myself, Dara and our friend Olivia have been busting our humps getting ready to realize a giant project we've been working on for over a year, Spectres of Liberty. On this Friday, May 30th, in Troy, NY, we'll be inflating a life size ghost replica of the Liberty Street Church, an important movement center for the Underground Railroad in the 19th century, and one of the first African American churches in Troy. If you are anywhere near the Troy/Albany/Schenectady area on Friday, you should come by, it'll be a once in a lifetime experience!!
Spectres of Liberty
a collaborative project by Olivia Robinson, Josh MacPhee, and Dara Greenwald
May 30th, 2008, 8:30 PM
Liberty Street between 3rd and 4th Streets, Troy, NY
Event: I Shall Create-Death Row Art
Posted May 22, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
I've long been a fan of the art of Zolo Agonia Azania (as well as strongly believing he shouldn't be on death row in Indiana!), which at it's best is a Black Power trip through neo-psychedelia. A bunch of his paintings are going up in a show in Chicago, if you can, check it out:
"I Shall Create": Death Row Art
at Treat Restaurant
Opening Reception on SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 5-7PM
1616 N. Kedzie Ave. in Humboldt Park, Chicago
Celebrate the resistance of death row prisoners -- Renaldo Hudson in Illinois, Kevin Cooper in California and Zolo Azania in Indiana -- who dare to express their humanity on canvas one brush stroke at a time. Select paintings of their work will be on display at Treat Restaurant through mid-July.
Join us at this opening reception to honor the work of these three talented artists. A multi-media presentation will feature:
** a video recording of greetings by Zolo Azania from his cell on Indiana's death row
** readings of essays by Kevin Cooper and Renaldo Hudson
** poetry by prisoners LIVE from their cells via telephone hook-up
hosted by the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, No Death Penalty for Zolo Committee and Treat Restaurant
all are welcome -- donations will be accepted!
The More Things Stay The Same
Posted May 15, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Marc Moscato has put up online a great short video he made about the life of Chicago anarchist Ben Reitman, lover of Emma Goldman and biographer of Boxcar Bertha. I grabbed the code and embedded it here, so take a couple minutes and watch this amazing slice of radical American history!!!
here's what Marc has to say about the piece:
The More Things Stay The Same examines the life and world of Dr. Ben Reitman (1879-1942), known in his day as “the Clap Doctor”, “King of the Hoboes” and “the most vulgar man in America”. It forms an endearing portrait of Reitman’s colorful life, and investigates the cultural and social context of his times. From labor unrest to sex education to the genesis of the homeless crisis in America, Reitman’s work continues to have importance and relevance to the hard-hitting issues of today. The More Things Stay The Same not only sheds new light on this lost but vital slice of underground Americana, but also provides an urgent rallying cry for the present.
Event: World War 3 Illustrated artist's reading
Posted May 14, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Tonight!!
The Cup and Pen Small Press Reading Series
World War 3 Illustrated Artists
May 14th, from 8-10 pm at Think Coffee in Manhattan, 248 Mercer Street
There will be a fabulous reading featuring slide shows and multimedia by:
Rebecca Migdal
James Romberger
Sabrina Jones
Tom Keough
Fly
Mac McGill
Also featuring: our hostess the lovely Rebecca Alvarez; the vocal stylings
of Breeze; and the accompaniment of Andy Laties on saxaphone, flute,
harmonica and the garden hose!
Here's you chance to pick up an autographed copy of WW3, and be vastly
entertained while sipping java and nibbling cake.
In the Middle of a Whirlwind
Posted May 12, 2008 by k_c_ in Political Art
Justseeds member Kristine Virsis coordinated with the Team Colors crew to produce the accompanied image for their upcoming project "In the Middle of a Whirlwind"
In the Middle of a Whirlwind (Whirlwinds) inquires into current organizing efforts in the United States, and through that process, assembles a strategic analysis of current political composition as a tool for building political power.Whirlwinds’ strategic context is this summer’s RNC and DNC protests; through these documents and the discussions that erupt from them we hope to directly impact the anti-Convention organizing. In a larger sense, and in the long-term, Whirlwinds is intended to provide a set of useful documents for contemporary radical organizing. Each essay and interview addresses the issues of movement, working class power and composition, and/or gives strategic insight into organizing, and the strengths and weaknesses of current movement/s in the U.S.
A one-off online journal of theory, art, activism and organizing to be released May 25th!
fierce pussy show at Printed Matter Inc.
Posted May 10, 2008 by molly_fair in Events
Printed Matter Inc.
195 Tenth Avenue, NYC
April 5–May 24, 2008
fierce pussy was a New York–based collective of queer women that emerged in 1991 from the ferment spawned by ACT UP. Promoting lesbian visibility and self-defined identity, fierce pussy helped politicize the urban landscape by wheat-pasting posters, distributing stickers and T-shirts, and "renaming" a number of New York streets after lesbian heroines.Their low-tech aesthetic is exemplified by photocopied posters, which have been reissued in a book published by Printed Matter and are exhibited there above vitrines of related ephemera. Members' childhood snapshots are emblazoned with words like MUFFDIVER and DYKE; the phrase LESBIAN CHIC MY ASS is illustrated with a bathroom-stall-worthy rendering of an ass followed by the words FUCK 15 MINUTES OF FAME. WE DEMAND OUR CIVIL RIGHTS. NOW. Contemporaneous groups such as Queer Nation, Dyke Action Machine, and the aforementioned ACT UP pioneered an activist appropriation of the slick language of advertising, taking a cue from Situationist détournement and the work of Barbara Kruger. fierce pussy's posters share aesthetic kinship with the more punkish 1979 publication Durhing Durhing by Joseph Wolman (founder, with Guy Debord, of the Letterist International), in which random faces are overprinted with Marxist-inflected words.
This kind of contextualization, however, distances the work from the queer bodies that made it, and queer bodies are still not visible enough. Riding that wave of lesbian chic, The L Word now epitomizes self-defined lesbian (with little mention of gender-queer or trans) identity. fierce pussy's book, the most vital part of the exhibition, opens with reprints of three nearly twenty-year-old posters comprising a more diverse spectrum of identities, among them dyke, butch, pervert, femme, feminist, and queer. The pages are detachable and reconfigurable. Just add wheat paste. —Amoreen Armetta
Greetings from the Outside: Cards for Prisoners
Posted May 9, 2008 by molly_fair in Political Art
It's hard to believe that almost a year has passed since our friend Daniel McGowan has been in prison. I've kept in touch with Daniel, and also have come to realize through his encouragement and by attending bi-weekly political prisoner letter writing dinners, that it is really important to reach out to other political prisoners/pow's/and activists who are incarcerated. Many continue to struggle and to be involved in movements both on the in and outside.
Over the winter I went to a gathering to make holiday cards for every political prisoner who is serving time in the U.S. and it became quite an assembly line! It inspired me draw the image to the right for a greeting card for any occasion that can be sent to our comrades, friends, and family whether they may be political or social prisoners. Hopefully I'll have them available soon.
Also, I sadly want to note that Eric McDavid was just sentenced to 19 years and 7 months. Take the time to write to Eric, and please check his support site for letter writing guidelines:
MCDAVID, ERIC X-2972521 7E128
Sacramento County Main Jail
651 "I" Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
Radical Cross Stitch
Posted May 7, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
So, I've been trying to learn to sew for the past month, and it has been a both frustrating and very rewarding endeavor. My friend Kat got me started and showed me the basics of the sewing machine, and I've been trying to get the hang of it ever since. Chris Stain, Billy Mode and I just did this large scale installation in Brooklyn (Threat of Chance, see below), and I really think the hardest part for me was the sewing!
There has been a lot of focus on "craft" lately in the punk, political, art and DIY scenes, and to be honest, I find most of it annoying. That said, I'm finding a new appreciation, and am getting more interested in what one can do with fabric than ever before.
There are likely a ton of political craft sites out there, but we recently got an email from Kakariki in Australia who upkeeps the Radical Cross Stitch Blog. She sent us to a project she did stitching words into fences, and the whole blog is filled with a nice mix of politics and craft, with connections to many other projects. So if this is your thing, definitely check out what the folks down under are up to with their yarn.
Prisons Affect All of Us!
Posted May 6, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Critical Resistance NYC is putting on an exhibition of prisoner art:
Prisons Affect All of Us
May 17th, 1-8pm
Critical Resistance Office
976 Longwood (corner of Beck St.)
South Bronx
The art will also be up until May 31st, and can be seen by appointment by calling Critical Resistance at 718.676.1660.
"Atenco Somos Todas" Action in Madrid
Posted May 4, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
A collective in Madrid, called Atenco Somos Todos, held an action in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Reminding the Spanish government and the rest of the world of the police repression and torture that occurred 2 years ago today. Following is their communication:
Political Freights
Posted May 2, 2008 by jmacphee in Street Art / Graffiti
I just got these great photos of new freights from Max in Minneapolis:
Trip to Bethlehem-Swoon
Posted April 29, 2008 by swoon in Political Art
Last winter I was able to travel to Palestine with the Santa's Ghetto project, put together by Banksy and the folks at P.O.W. The project consisted of a show, on Manger Square, the proceeds of which were directed to support programs for kids living in the collapsing economy of the newly walled off Palestinian territories. As well many site specific installations in the town of Bethlehem and on the surrounding wall.
I was deeply impressed by the outpouring of sentiment on the Palestinian side of the wall. Voices from all over the world denounced, cursed, expressed solidarity and support, and simply bore witness to a people living up against the wall and everything it
represents.
I had precious little time within which to get to know people and try and comprehend the situation, so I will leave it to the photos to explain.
Kids in Bethlehem
Painting on the wall, by artist Blue
Mixing the paste
Getting started. It was so scary and windy up there.
Each of the squares is a pocket stuffed with quotes from Arhundati Roy, Assata Shakur, Martin Luther King, and many others with many brilliant thoughts to share
Getting a little help. I later learned that the fires that have blackened this guard tower that I paste on where set to mark the spot where a teenager from the neighboring Aida refugee camp was captured and given a seven year prison sentence for climbing a ladder and placing a Palestinian flag at the top of the wall
Sunset
Off with Their Heads: Essay on Appropriated Images
Posted April 14, 2008 by dara_g in Political Art
I wrote this essay a while back for Punk Planet which sadly is no longer being published as a print magazine. I wanted to put it up here because it relates to some other threads about artists appropriation.
Off with Their Heads By Dara Greenwald
Originally published in Punk Planet, #77
January/February 2007, p 94-98
“Seeing Green: Art, Ecology and Activism in Milwaukee” opens April 12th
Posted April 5, 2008 by nicolas_lampert in Events
image by Max Estes, "Your Bicycle Misses You"
Guest curator Nicolas Lampert invited over 40 local artists to work on a project for the duration of eight months. During the month of April, 2008 the show will be exhibited at Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where the gallery will serve as a hub space, informing the viewer and the public of the many environmental projects taking place throughout Milwaukee, exhibiting visual work and books, screening films and holding discussions and events based around the exhibition.
Familiar names in the show to Just Seeds readers include Colin Matthes who diverged from his 2-D work and created surveillance camera birdhouses! Also, Susan Simensky Bietila (the co-organizer of Drawing Resistance) created a mural “28 Years of People Power” that celebrated the grassroots campaign that defeated the proposed Crandon mine on Wisconsin’s Wolf River. This alliance won an historic victory against one the most powerful mining corporations in the world.
During the next few weeks, I will post more details on the Just Seeds blog about specific work in the show including posters, stencil projects and more.
Seeing Green opens at Woodland Pattern Book Center (720 E. Locust St., Milwaukee, WI.) on Saturday, April 12, 2008, 5:00-9:00pm
Paper Politics in Corpus Christi, TX
Posted April 3, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Paper Politics, the political print show I've been traveling around the continent has made it's way to Texas! K Space Contemporary opens Paper Politics on Saturday, April 5th.
The exhibit showcases print art that uses themes of social justice and global equity to engage community members in political conversation. All the Justseeds artists are in the show, as well as 175 other artists from the US and around the world. An eclectic collection of work by artists who are primarily activists, as well as artists, whose work may not always be politically motivated, but who wanted to respond to the monumental trends and events of our times.
Opening: Saturday April 5th, 6-8 PM
Free Admission, Food & Drinks
On view April 5th-May 11th
Also:
Woodcut Printmaking Workshop with Paper Politics artist Mike Stephens
Saturday, April 12th, 10Am-1PM
$65 materials fee, call to reserve a space.
What will change?
Posted March 31, 2008 by k_c_ in Political Art
Seen around Bed-Stuy, historically predominant African-American neighborhood, in Brooklyn, NY. Begs the question...
The neighborhood has been forgotten and downright neglected by city institutions for decades, yet in recent years there has been interest in renovations of buildings and infrastructure. Most of this activity is a result of people relocating themselves to this neighborhood. The neighborhood is going thru a serious "revitalization". Many new condos are being built, empty lots are no longer so. And there is a different class and culture are taking root here.
So, as happens in NYC, things are always changing.
What change will this election year bring for Bed-Stuy, who knows?
I can't imagine it will be much more than the usual steamrolling of existing community for more affluent ones.
Did I mention that the neighborhood has one of the highest rates of incarceration and recidivism in NY?
LA vs. WAR
Posted March 31, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
LA vs. WAR is a huge anti-war show going up in LA next week! It looks to be amazing, so if you are in the area, definitely check it out!
LA vs. WAR
April 10-13 2008
12 noon to 11pm
The Firehouse
710 S. Santa Fe Avenue
Los Angeles CA 90021
Downtown LA
LA vs WAR schedule:
Thursday, April 10, 2008: 12:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Friday, April 11, 2008: 12:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 12, 2008: 12:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 13, 2008: 12:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
LA vs WAR highlights the travesty of a senseless war now going into its 6th year, giving LA artists a platform to exercise their freedom of speech. Hundreds of artists representing our diverse communities unite in delivering a universal message of peace and understanding, and offering resistance and opposition to the US government's war policies.
LA vs WAR highlights:
- Yo! What Happened to Peace?: posters on display from the international touring peace poster exhibition; live anti-war poster screen-printing demos
- Hit+Run: live t-shirt printing featuring custom artwork from the Hit+Run artist network
- Mark of the Beast: display of corporate-jammed logo spoofs
- Crewest Graffiti & Stencil Art Garden: graffiti artist network doing live graffiti and stencil painting
- Center for the Study of Political Graphics: anti-war themed display from America's premier political poster archives
- Artwork Exhibition: handmade creations by independent local artists
- Universal Peace Altar: a memorial to lives lost in the war created by Ofelia Esparza and Shrine
- Peace in Iraq Photo Project by Azul 213: audience participation photo project to promote peace
- Dublab: music selections created by DJs from the web radio collective
- Lost Film Fest hosted by VJ Scott Beibin: film and video celebration of culture jamming and illegal art
- Light installations and projections: interactive entertainment provided by Todd Lazer
AND MORE...
All ages are welcome and admission is free.
EXPRESSION = LIFE: ACT UP, Video and the AIDS Crisis
Posted March 30, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
EXPRESSION = LIFE: ACT UP, Video and the AIDS Crisis
Friday, April 18, 7pm
New York University Cantor Film Center
A rare gathering of veteran members of ACT UP, filmmakers, and media theorists will dissect the history of grass-roots media coordination in America and its role in advancing AIDS activism from the 1980s until today.
A screening of rare news and independent film footage will be the centerpiece of a panel discussion. Speakers will examine the origins of media activism and explore the myriad opportunities for new and alternative communication strategies in a world now dominated by corporate-owned media. Panelists will revisit the early days of ACT UP activism and how the resulting coverage and media strategies contributed to the creation of an underground communications network still in operation today.
The Panelists for the program include:
-John Greyson, award-winning director of numerous films, include Patient Zero. He currently teaches film at York University in Canada.
-Jean Carlomusto, award-winning filmmaker and video artist who co-curated the interactive AIDS archive project AIDS: A Living Archive, for the Museum of the City of New York. She currently teaches film making at Long Island University.
-Jay Blotcher served as media coordinator for the founding chapters of ACT UP and Queer Nation and was co-founder of Public Impact Media Consultants, which provided guerilla publicity for leading progressive, grass-roots organizations.
-Ben Shepard is professor of Sociology at the City University of New York, and the co-editor of From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization.
-Stephen Duncombe is professor of Media Studies at New York University, the editor of Cultural Resistance Reader and Dream: Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy.
Free Tibet Demo in NYC & beyond
Posted March 24, 2008 by k_c_ in In the News
There have been a lot of activity around the current events in Tibet. A lot of actions focusing on the Olympics in China. One I came across today on the BBC newswire is about the disruption of the lighting of the torch in Greece. 
Even a few months back at "Where Have You Been?"
one story focused on a trip and action at the base camp of Mt Everest.
Recently, in NYC, there were reports of some aggression outside of the Chinese Consulate on 42nd street, leaving injured people and broken glass. People are demanding a stop to the killing in Tibet and a boycott of the upcoming Olympics in China.
This past weekend in NYC, a march passed thru Union Square. Here's some flicks I was able to snatch of the posters and banners. The messaging was really clear in their images and chants, and was a very moving experience as the thousand or so demonstrators moved thru the Union Square Greenmarket.
Past and Present History of a REPOhistory “Civil Disturbances” Sign
Posted March 17, 2008 by nicolas_lampert in Street Art / Graffiti
Justseeds readers likely need no reminder of the importance of politically engaged street art, yet it is always good to hear when work put up in the streets not only stays up for a long duration, but is also greatly valued by the community in which it is placed.
Recently, a sign by Jenny Polak and David Thorne from a past REPOhistory project Civil Disturbances that was put up in 1998 in Brooklyn has drawn some renewed attention, especially from collective members who had assumed that the majority of the signs had been taken down.
For those unaware of the project, the Civil Disturbances was a sign project that REPOhistory collaborated with the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI.) Over a two-year duration from 1998-1999, 20 signs were placed at various locations in the city that addressed legal cases that had important social and political ramifications for New York City and beyond.
The sign by Jenny Polak and David Thorne commemorated three victims of police shootings and the families that attempted to prosecute the police. Specifically, it addressed the senseless death of Nicholas Heyward, a young boy who was shot and killed by a Housing Authority Officer in 1994 who mistook his plastic toy rifle for a weapon, Kevin Cedeno who was shot in the back in Washington Heights, and Anthony Baez who died from a police choke-hold in the Bronx. The signs were placed at each location where the deaths had taken place. For example the sign honoring Nicholas Heyward was placed on Baltic Street, between Hoyt & Bond in Brooklyn and helped focus public attention to this tragedy and the issues of police brutality and accountability.
Yet the sign did not remain up for long. Shortly after it was installed, the sign (along with a number of other Civil Disturbances signs) were either vandalized or quickly taken down against the artist's approval.
However, the artists and the community made sure that it was re-installed in 1999. Polak recently explained, “There is a story you may not know about why it's lasted. I came to know Nicholas Heyward, the father of the child the sign memorializes… A while after the project was done, he told me the sign had been knocked down - hit, he thought, by cops perhaps. He rescued it and we decided to rededicate it. At the time he was still living right there. I tried to make a bit of an occasion of it. Tom came to bring the spare sign, and a poet [Samantha Coerbell], did an intense poem she'd written about the killing which she came and performed on the street to a couple of people including Nicholas senior, and a local reporter I got hold of. I think the continued activism of Nicholas, his taking ownership of the sign, and the way people around here feel about the police all may have helped keep it there.”
Since this rededication effort in 1999, the sign has remained installed on Baltic Street for close to a decade and speaks of the importance of making sure that past and present struggles are honored and made clearly visible for all to see.
Photo by Daniel Tucker. For an article on the re-dedication of the sign in 1999, See, Michael Hirsh “Police Brutality Memorial Returns to Baltic Street”, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill Courier, Vol. XVIII, No. 16, April 26, 1999. For more information on REPOhistory, See http://www.repohistory.org
Oaxaca Resiste!: Print show in Madison, WI. March 27-April 6
Posted March 16, 2008 by nicolas_lampert in Posters
If your in Madison, Wisconsin in late March, check out a show at the Common Wealth Gallery on the Oaxaca teachers strike uprising. The show features woodcut prints, stencil art posters, photos, and comics.
MARCH 27-APRIL 6, 2008
ASARO (Asamblea de Artistas Revolucionarios de Oaxaca)
& Local Artists Ana Nimos • Steve Chapell • Lester Doré- Michael Duffy • Eric Hagstrom • Miguel Peña & Others
Sunday March 30 • 7-9 PM: Opening Reception
Music by Son Madunza
Tuesday April 1 • 7 PM : Mexican Revolutionary Graphic Art from Posada to the present Gallery Talk by Melanie Herzog, Professor of Art History, Edgewood College
Thursday April 3 • 7PM: New Jill Friedberg documentary Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad (A little bit of so much truth) on people’s takeover of Oaxacan media
Common Wealth Gallery • 100 S. Baldwin St. • Madison, Wisconsin
Imminent Disaster on Mujeres Creando
Posted March 11, 2008 by k_c_ in Inspirations
Our friend Imminent Disaster is back with her second installment of her travels in South America. Thanks to her and continue to have great experiences.
Mujeres Creando is a feminist organization in La Paz, Bolivia. Unlike other social projects in Bolivia, it is not run by an NGO nor affiliated with a church. It's run by a core group of Bolivian women and set up to be autogestionable-- they have a free day-care that´s supported by a restaurant, Internet café and hostel. They run classes at night on a variety of subjects including women in society and feminist law. They run a radio station in La Paz (Deseo 103.3 FM). They have a legal consultation office for women who have experienced physical or sexual abuse. They have published a few books: one, called Ninguna mujer nace para puta (No woman is born to be a whore) is based on a conversation between an Argentinean prostitute and one of the members of the organization, and calls out for readers to question a society that subjects thousands of women to exploitation through prostitution, and what this kind of exploitation means for the treatment of all women within society. They have done a few exhibitions in Bolivia and Argentina displaying powerful photos of women killed by domestic violence and images of prostitutes from the turn of the century police register in La Paz (a time where every prostitute had to have their photo on file in the police station with a record of personal information, activity with clients and results of compulsory vaginal exams.) They have organized protests in Bolivia and Argentina and provided support to women who were imprisoned for over a year after a protest in Buenos Aires. And they take to the streets with their actions and their graffiti.
In Ninguna mujer nace para puta they explain their belief that the streets are the single most transformative political space because it is the only place where you can establish a relationship "flesh-to-flesh" with society. For women, who have historically only been given domestic and private spaces for their own, they believe that taking over the street is the ideal forum for women's acts of rebellion to be shown and seen. At the core, their key word is rebellion: to destroy the role of a woman as silent and dependent in a society deeply entrenched with machismo. And the women of Mujeres Creando are doing it with the gut-wrenching frankness that probably hasn't been seen in the United States since the 1970´s.
Below are a few shots of the Mujeres Creando graffiti in La Paz. Some have links to more information when they refer to specific political events or figures.
"if Evo had a uterus, abortion would be legalized and nationalized"
"I baptize my abortion as redemption, the nun" "We give birth, we decide"
"I´m not an originator, i am an original"
Blanca Liliana was sexually assaulted in the bathroom of a bar in La Paz while celebrating her birthday. Because it happened so suddenly, her friends almost didn't believe it happened and the bartender´s response was to tell the group to leave the bar. Blanca went to the police station to file a report, but it quickly became clear that because she had been drinking the courts would try to call the assault an act of consensual sex. After battling the Bolivian justice system for some time, Blanca finally had a "fair" trial, and the rapist was found and convicted.Full story in spanish
"Justice for Blanca, not for the rapist"
"i want to rebel" "i want to fall in love"
"i desire"
A few others that are worth reading:
"Un pene, cualquier pene, es siempre una miniatura."
A penis, any penis, is always a miniature.
"De Gennaro: Si la prostitucion es una trabajo, sindicalice tu pija y tu ano"
De Gennaro (founder of Central de Trabajadores Argentinos union in Buenos Aires): If prostitution was a job, I would have unionized your penis and your anus.
"Las putas aclaramos que ni Sanchez de Lozada, ni Sanchez Berzain, son hijos nuestros."
The whores (bitches) would like to clarify that neither Sanchez de Lozada (president of Bolivia ´93-´97 & ´02-´03, resigned, fled to U.S., wanted for genocide and other crimes) nor Sanchez Berzain (ex minister of government under Sanchez de Lozada), are sons of ours.
Peaceline Panorama
Posted March 3, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
This just in:
Peaceline Panorama: Recent Photographs by Frankie Quinn
March 5 – 29th, 2008
Opening Reception, Wednesday, March 5, 6:30 – 8:00PM
The Brecht Forum
451 West Street, New York, NY 10041
www.brechtforum.org
The Brecht Forum are pleased to present this exhibition of recent photos by Belfast photographer Frankie Quinn. Taken over the last five years, these photographs document life along the 48 walls and barriers, known as 'Peacelines', that divide the city of Belfast in the north of Ireland. The walls, many of which were constructed at the height of the recent conflict by the British Government, were initially conceived of as a temporary measure to separate communities divided along political and religious lines and to control mobility within the insurgent nationalist community. Far from being a temporary measure, the walls have increased in number and in height over the years, forming a network of enclaves, ghettos and deeply divided communities across the city. This exhibition of photos testifies that despite the developments of the recent peace process, the continued presence of these fault-lines ensure that Belfast remains a divided and segregated city.
Frankie Quinn has been a photographer for the past 25 years. His interest in documentary photography developed as a result of his involvement with the MacAirt Camera Club in East Belfast. Since 1983 his work has been exhibited extensively both at home and abroad. His work has also appeared in numerous local publications including 'Falls in Focus' published by the Falls Community Center (1987) and 'Shoot Belfast' (1986), a guide for amateur photographers which was funded by the Northern Ireland Arts Council. His work has also appeared n the book 'Garvaghy Road: A Community Under Siege' (1999). He was a founding member of the Belfast Exposed Community Photography Resource Center. He lives and works in Belfast, Ireland.
Wear Orange Day
Posted March 3, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Tuesday March 11th is Wear Orange Day in San Francisco, where the art group Plain Human is inviting anyone concerned with the conditions in jails and prisons to wear orange in order to publicly represent incarceration (prisoners are often made to wear orange jumpsuits...). This is an activity which is part of the Prison Project of Intersection for the Arts, a socially-conscious and community -based gallery in SF.
Here's the schedule for the day:
-Public Art & Gathering Events: 11am - 2pm at various in SF [Locations of activities for this day will be available in this website and at The Intersection for the Arts]
-Participatory Performance-Physical Exercise: 3:30 – 4:30pm at the Civic Center lawn, San Francisco
-Reception: 5 - 6pm at Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia Street, San Francisco CA 94103
Gran Fury Interview
Posted March 1, 2008 by jmacphee in Street Art / Graffiti
My friend Sam just sent me this link from Queerty.com to an interesting interview with Avram Finkelstein, one of the members of Gran Fury. Gran Fury was a creative/graphic collective that produced a large amount of the more graphic art and design around the AIDS crisis in the late 80s and 90s, including the Silence=Death graphic, which I would argue is one of the most powerful political graphics of the last 50 years. Here's a quote:
AB: Do you think posters are effective today? There are posters and advertising on every space.AF: I do - I mean, there was advertising then and that was part of the strategy: to intervene on the commercial space with a message that was not commercial. That’s why we chose postering. We decided against doing these flat-footed, didactic Marxist tomes with lots of text and instead chose to do high gloss posters. And, in fact, the design of the poster - we discussed it endlessly and decided to go with what we called “yuppie graphics” - fonts that were popular at the time, so it was deceptive and would draw an unsuspecting bystander into a very serious conversation. It had to work on two levels: you had to be able to see it and think about it as you were whisking by in a cab, but then it had to work on a street level.
Having said that, I don’t think it could ever work in this social landscape, no. I don’t think it would be possible. It’s not so much about having to compete on the media landscape as what public space is now, as opposed to public space then. Public spaces - although there are a lot of people who would argue against it - are largely new media. I don’t really think it’s about the streets. It’s about the internet."
I wish I could share his optimism about the internet. I think it is a powerful communications tool (which is why we are using it for things like this blog!), but it seems like folly to consider it the "new public space." The infrastructure (fiber-optic lines, traffic hubs, etc.) are in the hands of a very small number of corporations. It may be in their interest to allow for a fair amount of open communication and dialog now, but lets not forget their is nothing public about their ownership, it is completely private, with no real checks to even further consolidation.
That said, I enjoyed this interview immensely, only wishing it was longer and more in depth. I'd love to see a serious roundtable conversation between graphic artists involved in the AIDS struggle, and really hear about how they created the images, built the messaging, and assessed the efficacy of their designs.
BLF Strikes Again
Posted February 28, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
I've long thought that the Billboard Liberation Front, beyond being one of the longest running billboard alteration groups, is also one of the smartest. Rather than simply playing off corporate logos, they often are able to use billboards to create a critique that cuts a little deeper, and yesterday they put up a good one in San Francisco. Here is an extended excerpt from their press release:
The Billboard Liberation Front today announced a major new advertising improvement campaign executed on behalf of clients AT&T and the National Security Agency. Focusing on billboards in the San Francisco area, this improvement action is designed to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants.“This campaign is an extraordinary rendition of a public-private partnership,” observed BLF spokesperson Blank DeCoverly. “These two titans of telecom have a long and intimate relationship, dating back to the age of the telegraph. In these dark days of Terrorism, that should be a comfort to every law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide.”
AT&T initially downplayed its heroic efforts in the War on Terror, preferring to serve in silence behind the scenes. “But then we realized we had a PR win on our hands,” noted AT&T V.P. of Homeland Security James Croppy. “Not only were we helping NSA cut through the cumbersome red tape of the FISA system, we were also helping our customers by handing over their e-mails and phone records to the government. Modern life is so hectic – who has time to cc the feds on every message? It’s a great example of how we anticipate our customers’ needs and act on them. And, it should be pointed out, we offered this service free of charge.”
Commenting on the action, and responding to questions about pending privacy litigation and the stalled Congressional effort to shield the telecoms from these lawsuits, NSA spokesperson [REDACTED] remarked: “[REDACTED] we [REDACTED] condone [REDACTED] warrantless [REDACTED], [REDACTED] SIGINT intercepts, [REDACTED] torture [REDACTED] information retrieval by [REDACTED] means necessary.”
“It’s a win-win-win situation,” noted the BLF’s DeCoverly. “NSA gets the data it needs to keep America safe, telecom customers get free services, and AT&T makes a fortune. That kind of cooperation between the public and private sectors should serve as a model to all of us, and a harbinger of things to come.”
OUR FLESH OF FLAMES: collages by Theodore A. Harris, captions by Amiri Baraka
Posted February 26, 2008 by nicolas_lampert in Books & Zines
Philadelphia artist Theodore A. Harris, who has been creating some of best political collage work for the past decade, has a new book out that he collaborated on with Amiri Baraka. Check it out and encourage your local book store to order copies.
OUR FLESH OF FLAMES:
Collages by Theodore A. Harris
Captions by Amiri Baraka
Introduction by M. K. Asante, Jr.
Afterword by Gene Ray
Is now out and can be ordered from the publisher for $29.95
Anvil Arts Press
64 West Penn Street
Philadelphia, PA 19121
USA
215-849-2793
http://www.anvilartspress.cjb.net
Also check out the video interviews of LeRoy Johnson and Theodore A. Harris at their exhibit at the Penn State University HUB-Robeson Gallery ACRID DIALECTIC:The Visual Language of LeRoy Johnson and Theodore A. Harris
http://www.sa.psu.edu/usa/galleries/Videos.shtml
Free Culture Camp
Posted February 22, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Our friends Rum46 in Denmark are putting on a Free Culture Camp in a week on February 28th-March 1st. The event looks like it'll be a great weekend, and includes the following artists and groups: Sine Bang (DK), Kayle Brandon (UK), Kristine Briede (Let), Adams og Itso (S), Field Work (DK), Groupwork / studerende fra Det Jyske Kunstakademi (DK), Andreas Wegner (D/AUS), Henrik Moltke (DK), Amy Balkin (US), YNKB (DK). More information is on the Rum46 website, and here is a great quote about the Camp:
The culture that we all create should not be owned or privatized by corporations. We will produce with lust for life and dance on the graves of the bloodsuckers of the creative class and the experience economy. Free Culture is a 3 day camp in Rum46 followed by an exhibition. Events and talks will be mixed with performance, production and group works. It will be a live-in environment for cultural production, and exchange between academics, artists, social movements and a participating audience. Welcome!
YNKB, who hosted Icky and I when we were in Copenhagen, are doing a workshop at the camp:
YNKB Repair Workshop
Do you have anything to repair? A chair with loose joints? A bike in need of care? Clothes that can be changed into something else? A broken vase that can be glued? Or furniture, a baby carriage that can easily be repaired?
Through reuse and repair, commodities that we are fond of can be renewed. This is a way of giving mass-produced commodities value, another meaning and a new aesthetic, which did not exist before they are worked on anew as individual objects. At the same time an alternative economic structure is created, which differs from (the buy-and-throw-away culture (?) that consumerism advocates.
Come and repair your broken items and spend a nice day together with others. You are also welcome even if you have nothing to repair. You can stay and help others make reparations. The repaired items will be photographed for documentation. You can also make reparations at home, of things or places that are not movable. If you take a photo and send it to us, it can be part of the archive.
Have a look at website: www.ynkb.dk under activities 2007 and "reparation workshops."
Call for Entries/ Call for Show Hosts: The Art of Democracy
Posted February 12, 2008 by nicolas_lampert in Artwork Needed
The Art of Democracy is a national coalition of art exhibitions (scheduled for the fall of 2008) that addresses the dire state of the political scene in the U.S.
Leading up to the November 2008 national elections, artists from around the country will be creating and exhibiting posters and prints that respond to the election, politics, and governmental policy. The Art of Democracy exhibition seeks to attract other individuals and artist organizations from around the nation to help amplify our messages of civil activism, reform, dissent, and protest.
This is not a single show but an affiliation of shows in numerous cities across the U.S.
To contribute your work to these shows, go to: www.artofdemocracy.org
Relevant contact information is provided for most shows.
Artwork by exhibitors can also be found on:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art-of-democracy/
We encourage artist to put work up on the Flickr site and create posters. The posters will be exchanged with venues around the country. For more information, contact: info@artofdemocracy.org
Art from Inside: Paintings by Political Prisoner Tom Manning
Posted February 12, 2008 by erik_ruin in Political Art
Just got this email from the Foglight Collective (formerly known as the People's Free Space) in Portland, ME. They're holding an online auction of original paintings by political prisoner Tom Manning.
Check it out-
The Portland Victory Gardens Project and Foglight Collective are holding a silent auction for Art from Inside to benefit four groups: the Jericho Movement (National), Foglight Collective (Portland, ME), Blackbird Legal Collective (Portland, ME), and Kellogg St. Girls Medicinal Herb Class (Portland, ME). Some paintings sales also benefit the Rosenberg Fund for Children.
For a complete listing of paintings go to: www.cantjailthespirit.org
For more information about Art from Inside visit: http://cantjailthespirit.org/about/art-from-the-inside.html
To bid on a painting send your maximum bid amount, address, phone number and email to artfrominside@yahoo.com
Feature Event for Art From Inside: SCAR's Legacy: Art and Activism in Portland 1972-2008. Feb 15, 7PM (doors open at 6PM) with speakers Ray Luc Levasseur and Daniel Chard, and music by Mark Otim and Chris Teret at the Meg Perry Center at 644 Congress St. in Portland, Maine
The auction will end on February 15th at 8pm EST. We are also conducting an in-person auction at the Meg Perry Center at 644 Congress St. in Portland, ME.. The highest bidder (either online or in person) will win the auction.
Iraq War: 5 Years Later
Posted February 12, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Thai artist Vasan Sitthiket is showing a series of new paintings about the Iraq War 5 years on at the National Art Museum in Jakarta, Indonesia. The show opens March 20th, and looks pretty interesting. Sitthiket has been injecting politics and information about the current Iraq War in his dense, layered paintings for awhile now, and has been successful in a way that seems impossible for a US-based artist working so seriously with the same themes. Just another reminder how isolated the US is as a country....
Beehive Collective is Searching for New Worker Bees
Posted February 11, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
Just got this in the inbox, the Beehive Collective is looking for people to join their new campaigns:
In anticipation of our most exciting and busy year to date, featuring the launch of two new graphics campaigns, our swarm of eleven is in need of five more workers. We are currently seeking a few passionate and committed organizers, educators, and artists to join us full-time in Maine, at satellite Hive locations, and on the road, beginning as soon as possible.
Please pass this note on to others who might be interested!
Current Positions Available:
- Archivist/Documentarian (Mountaintop Removal Mining campaign)
- Graphics Campaign Coordinator (Mesoamerica Resiste)
- Education Coordinator (Mountaintop Removal Mining campaign)
- Illustration Collaborator (pen & ink, Mountaintop Removal Mining campaign)
- Distribution, Networking & “Pollination” Coordinator (core Hive position)
Detailed descriptions at www.beehivecollective.org
Pay for Graffiti on the Apartheid Wall??
Posted February 11, 2008 by jmacphee in In the News
I had some serious questions about Banksy's Santa's Ghetto project in Bethlehem (like the point of Faile's boxer piece, which flattens out the Palestine/Israel conflict to a simple equation of two brute's punching each other, rather than one massive military bully with billions of $$ in arms squeezing the life out of an out-gunned, out-financed and generally brutalized people), but this new project on the wall really makes my head spin. A Dutch group called Send a Message has set up a website where you can pay a Palestinian 30 Euros to graffiti a message of your choice on the Apartheid Wall?!?!?!? The group is a non-profit, and the Palestinian painters are artists and getting paid for the work. Supposedly the money is funneled into Palestinian NGOs working on local infrastructure projects.
Certainly capitalism isn't going to provide a solution to the conflict, but I'm afraid that's what these people think they are doing. They claim to want the wall to come down, yet their first example of why the wall is bad is that it "kills business"!! It's certainly a great to create some cash flow to beleaguered Palestinians, but does the cost have to be the crass commercialization of one of the largest symbols of oppression in the world?
What does it mean to turn the wall into a giant billboard, so that Jenny and Mike from San Francisco can express their undying love for each other on the historic (as the company calls it) wall?? The tag line is "It was meant to keep people apart, now it brings people together."
I don't want to attack people for trying to help solve serious problems, but something about this project feels wrong. It comes out of a workshop design pros held in Ramallah with young Palestinians, and smacks similar to a number of well-intentioned design projects where designers over-value the importance of their skill sets. Convinced by the integral relationship design and advertising has to the turning of the gears of global neo-liberal capitalism, designers believe they can advertise and photoshop a new world into existence. Rather than look at and address the historical relationships that the state of Israel has had to individual and organizations of Palestinians, or the real power differentials at play, there is the creation of a marketing device to raise awareness.
I'm really interested in what others think about this, because my guess is we'll be seeing more and more projects like this in the future. Soon we'll be able to pay Rwandan refugees draw caricature's of our loved ones in order to get enough food to eat. My fear is that we're on a very slippery slope, where soon (if we're not already there) solidarity with the Global South will look a lot like a minstrel show.
Artists At War
Posted February 10, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Here's a new art site trying to grapple with the fact that we're 5 years into a never-ending war, and most of us have moved on to pretend that it isn't happening.
Artists At War is just starting out, but it's worth taking a look at and thinking about contributing to. it's a good thing to ask artists to respond to the larger world and to think about the war. Here's what they have to say for themselves:
Enter art, culture, TV, fashion and filmmaking. What does the current cultural output say about our subconscious grievances, fears and desires percolating below the surface in a society where we perpetrate unfounded war abroad? What role is culture playing in galvanizing a collective understanding about the troubled times we’re living through?War threatens our imagination as well as our humanity, which are qualities that every artist thrives on. This website seeks to provide a solid foothold of subversive artwork that can support a thread of defiance and demystification through the culture at large.
Artists At War is a collaborative project organized by LA artists Steven L. Anderson and Thomas McKenzie. New projects will be posted monthly ad the first project is work by Los Angeles artist Charles Irvin, with four pieces that explore the nature of the political press conference.
A Call to Mapmakers
Posted February 8, 2008 by jmacphee in Artwork Needed
My good friend and comrade Daniel Tucker in Chicago just sent this over. If you are working on any sort of map projects, get in touch with him!!!
Dear Mapmakers,
This is an invitation to have your maps included in the new “We Are Here” archive that will travel the United States for 2 years (starting Fall 2008) in an exhibition entitled “Experimental Geography” and then be housed in a portable archive in Chicago IL to be available for future exhibition, preservation and research. The archive is dealing with 3 main categories of contemporary cartography: Complexity/Power Mapping; Resource/Asset Mapping; and Alternative Visions of Dominant Geography (see below outline of the kinds of maps we are thinking about).
I have been asked by the organizers of “Experimental Geography” to put together this archive because of my background in organizing mapping related exhibitions and events in Chicago for the last 4 years. This is a great opportunity to get a lot of really interesting and inspiring work together! I should also say up front that I am not being paid to do this and am receiving no budget to work with, only $400 to purchase a poster display rack to preserve the maps. The cost of shipping the collection once it is complete will be covered by the host institutions, but I have no budget for your initial shipping costs to mail the maps to me. I am hoping your motivation for sending your work to me will be the same as mine for putting this together, to get new and excited audiences to have access to this interesting and inspiring work. The show will tour primarily to university galleries and small museums, almost always engaging audiences who are not in attendance at small galleries or cultural institutions where this kind of work is typically displayed. The benefit of having it as part of a larger exhibition about the use of geographic metaphors in contemporary art will also connect this cartographic work to conceptually related work from other genres and spheres of influence.
Iraq Veterans Against the War Combat Paper
Posted January 31, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
I've just been so impressed with all the work of the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) lately....Here's another amazing project, Combat Paper. Working with artists in Vermont, IVAW members have been cutting, cooking and beating their old combat uniforms worn in Iraq into pulp, and then turning them into paper. The paper is made with watermarks, and then when it is still wet, it stenciled. Check out the video:
IVAW have dozens of videos of their actions up on their site, definitely check them out.
Operation First Casualty
Posted January 30, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
Hands down, the Iraq Veterans Against the War(IVAW) are doing the most kick ass political and cultural work in the US today. For a year or so they have been organizing a series of actions under the title Operation First Casualty, the first casualty of war being truth. Fully geared up Iraq War veterans have been descending on cities across the country and performing military actions on the street. This video gives a hint at how intense this is:
In addition IVAW is gearing up to hold their Winter Soldier tribunal March 13-16 in Washington DC. Here's what they have to say about it:
Winter Soldiers, according to founding father Thomas Paine, are those who stand up for the soul of their country, even in its darkest hours. With this spirit in mind, IVAW members are standing up to make their experiences available to all who are concerned about the direction of our country.Unfortunately, this is not the first time America has needed its Winter Soldiers, in 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into an increasingly bloody occupation. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
Check out the IVAW website for more information, and definitely pass it on to anyone you know who is a veteran or is currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
STOLPERSTEINE - intervention in germany
Posted January 29, 2008 by mary_tremonte in Political Art
I found these engraved brass cobblestones on sidewalks throughout Cologne, Germany, when I lived there a few years ago. The stones are memorials to residents of buildings that were displaced during World War II to concentration camps. I saw the artist responsible for this intervention, Gunter Demnig, speak at our infoshop back in 2001. The name of the project, Stolpersteine, translates to "stumbling stones." Demnig has by now installed more than 12,000 stones in roughly 270 German towns and cities since 1996. This piece, in its subtlety and intimacy with everyday behavior, brings the sometimes abstract death and horror of the Holocaust to the concrete reality of the individuals who were destroyed.
For more information, there is a great article in Smithsonian magazine that you can check out here: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/stolpersteine.html
Powerful Iraq War Performance
Posted January 29, 2008 by jmacphee in Political Art
If you've only got 3 minutes to look at the internet today, definitely check out this video of a performance that the arts group triiibe did at the January 27th, 2007 demo in Washington, DC against the war in Iraq. Yes, it's a year old, put it is well worth it! I could say a lot, but I think it is just better to go to www.triiibe.com and click the top button labeled "movie." They've been doing similar performances in other locations as well, here is a video from one at Boston Common.
Call for Mural Show
Posted January 25, 2008 by jmacphee in Artwork Needed
This just came through the inbox from the Wouter Osterholt en Elke Uitentuis in the Netherlands, seems like a cool project:
Speaking Through Walls
We're looking for people that can help us finding political/revolutionary murals for a project called 'Speaking Through Walls' that will be presented during the art exhibition 'Ground', September 2008 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
The murals can be made by professionals, amateurs, protest groups, schools, government, children, etc. For us it's more important to find murals that tell a story about situations of social injustice within your county than the esthetic beauty of the painting. Do you know any murals in your surrounding that would fit within our project and would you like to help us out? Please contact us and give us as much information about it as possible.
CRAFTING PROTEST!
Posted January 23, 2008 by meredith_stern in Political Art
Crafting Protest
http://www.newschool.edu/eventDetail.aspx?id=13844
01/26/2008 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Many contemporary artists are using craft to make diverse and timely political statements. Because creating crafts is so often social and communal, they can play a vital role in the public sphere. The speakers examine the role of craft in forming national identities, especially in times of political turmoil or war; notions of patriotism; feminism and the domestic sphere; and unconventional economic models. Five artists will present projects and discuss their work. By linking the act of production and handmaking in the public realm to ideological issues of agency, participants ask how art makes political subjects. Panelists include Liz Collins, artist/designer; Sabrina Gschwandtner, artist/curator; Cat Mazza, artist/activist; and Allison Smith, visual artist. Moderator: Julia Bryan-Wilson, art historian and critic, University of California at Irvine.
This program is presented concurrently with the release of the February issue of Modern Painters magazine, within which a roundtable discussion by the panelists is featured. Participants of this program have also collaborated on a large-scale knit banner to be unveiled at the event. Following the panel discussion, audience members are invited to an informal craft reception in which panelists will present tactile examples of the materials, machinery, and processes they use in their work.
This lecture is co-sponsored by Modern Painters and Artists & Audiences Exchange, a public program of the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Location:
Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor
Admission:
$8; free to all students and New School faculty, staff, and alumni with ID
Box Office Information:
In person purchases can be made at The New School Box Office at 66 West 12th Street, main floor, Monday- Friday 1:00-7:00 p.m. The box office opens the first day of classes and closes after the last paid event of each semester.
For events scheduled during the summer term, the box office will open one hour before each event. During this period only, reservations and inquiries can be made by emailing boxoffice@newschool.edu or calling 212.229.5488.
FACADE PROJECT: Chicago Printmakers Collaborative
Posted January 16, 2008 by nicolas_lampert in Political Art
I recently came across an amazing project in Chicago that has been ongoing since July of 2004. All of the windows of the top 3 floors of the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative building contain a photograph of US soldiers who have died in Iraq. The installation is incredibly powerful and reminds one of the terrible costs of war.
The Facade Project is created by Carrie Iverson with the support of the CPC and she writes, “The installation will be ongoing until the troops currently stationed in Iraq return home.”
To see the project in person visit the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative at 4642 N. Western Ave.
On line it can be viewed at: http://www.chicagoprintmakers.com/docs/gallery/facade.php
Interview with Lincoln Cushing
Posted January 11, 2008 by jmacphee in Posters
A nice short interview with political poster archivist and artist Lincoln Cushing just popped up on the PLAZM magazine site. It's definitely worth the quick read, check it out here, and below is a short quote:
"It seems that you have been busy with research into Chinese political posters from the GPCR, and the survey of the archives of Inkworks Press, the worker-owned cooperative press in Berkeley. Are there any other historical poster movements that you've become interested in lately?
I’m interested in ALL of them lately, especially the connections between them and the gaps in scholarship. The sad fact is that we really know so little about these poster movements. Few people are aware of the numerous poster workshops that sprang up in the U.S. right after the 1970 National Guard murders at Kent State and Jackson State. Even “iconic” poster history is barely scratched – who knows that the art students who made the Paris 1968 posters were, in fact, screenprinting for the first time? They hadn’t been taught this technique in school, but it was the right medium for the moment. I didn’t know this until a colleague, Gene Marie Tempest, conducted some interviews with participants in 2007."
Lincoln also has his on site, Docs Populi, which has a huge collection of information and images on the history of political graphics, from Chinese and Cuban posters, to the cultural production of the labor movement, to the history of the use of the graphic fist in US political movements.
Swoon/Stain/Poloroid Kid Video
Posted January 10, 2008 by jmacphee in Events
A very cool little video about these kids recent show in Paris, check it out here.
Alternatives to Spray Paint: Try Mud Stencils!
Posted December 29, 2007 by nicolas_lampert in Street Art / Graffiti
Milwaukee-based artist Jesse Graves created a number of mud stencils that he recently put up on sidewalks and the sides of buildings. Below is his “how-to-guide” and a link to his website with more images.
To avoid using toxic spray paint, I found a way to make mud stencils. Here is how you do it.
Materials: Mylar, X-Acto knife, tape, mud, sponge.
1. Design your stencil. Draw your stencil the size you want it, or design it on a computer and print it. Make sure you do not have islands (parts of an image that will fall out if you cut around them, like the middle of an O.) If you are using text, use a stencil font. If are using a computer print your design the size you want the stencil to be. If it is larger then 8X10 cut it apart in photo shop and print it in pieces, or enlarge it at a local copy store.
2. Cut it. Tape your design behind or in front of the transparent Mylar. Mylar is the same stuff used as transparencies for projectors, you can find a roll of it at art stores. Use the X-Acto knife to cut your deign out of the Mylar.
3. Get Mud. Find or make some mud. I mixed soil and water then beat it with a whisk. Make sure your mud is not watery. It should be about the same consistency as peanut butter.
4. Post it. Tape the stencil to whatever you want it on, it works on sidewalks or walls. If parts of the Mylar roll up put some tape under it. Then use the sponge to dab the mud on your stencil. Do not press too hard because if you squeeze muddy water out of the sponge it may sneak under the stencil.
5. Enjoy. Remove the tape on the outside of the stencil. Carefully remove the Mylar, and enjoy you non-toxic mud stencil.
This is still an experimental process. Post your comments, ideas, and pictures at http://mudstencils.wordpress.com/
Making Our Own Art Histories
Posted December 17, 2007 by jmacphee in Artwork Needed
This just landed in our inbox:
The Southern California Library, in South L.A. will be hosting Making Our Own Art Histories, a series of art exhibitions as an effort to make contemporary art accessible in a community where there are very few galleries or contemporary art museums. The first art exhibition in this series begins with Word on the Street, opening in January of 2008. In the same way that SCL uses history to advance social justice while preserving the histories of communities in struggle for justice and making our own histories, artists and activists have created works to educate, organize and inspire people towards action for justice. Often these creative works are not always seen in galleries or museums, they are in the street. This small exhibition will focus on showing works that have been created and used for political, spiritual, social and environmental justice campaigns, actions and interventions. Works that we are especially looking for are those that have been put out on the street, guerilla style, in the effort to educate the public as well as to incite action and critical thought. Such works may include silkscreen posters, printed media, stencils, stickers, flyers, and photos of graffiti and guerilla street art.
If you are interested in participating in this exhibition, please contact Joy at 323.687.6743 or majikalnature [at] gmail.com before Jan. 1st!
8th Annual Chicago Anarchist Film Fest
Posted December 17, 2007 by jmacphee in Artwork Needed
For the 8th year, the Chicago Anarchist Film Fest is seeking un- and under-distributed films and videos to include in next years film fest, which will be happening April 25-27th, 2008. This is the same weekend as the Finding Our Roots anarchist conference in Chicago.
The Film Festival will present a sample of films from mainstream sources, rediscovered classics and the works of filmmakers engaged in social change with an anarchist vision. Along with submissions of actual work, they are also looking for "suggestions for titles that may inadvertently allow anarchy to seep through the cracks of the status quo. Movie collage, music videos and trailers for works-in-progress will also be considered."
Submission guidelines can be found here, and an entry form here.
A Response to OBEY Plagiarist
Posted December 14, 2007 by jmacphee in In the News
It's taken me a long time to get this together, but I wanted to throw my ideas into the discussion around the artwork/plagiarism of Shepard Fairey that has been spinning around the web. For those that might not know, Shepard Fairey is the creator of the "Andre the Giant has a Posse" sticker campaign, which became a long running series of "Obey Giant" posters. Mark Vallen, a Los Angeles-based artist (who created some of my favorite street posters from the early LA punk scene), recently published a long critique of Fairey on his blog, Art For A Change. What I'm writing here directly relates to Mark's piece, so if you haven't read it, give it a look here.
Mark's write-up came out of a long discussion that has been going on between a number of politically-motivated artists and archivists about Fairey's work. Throughout the whole process of discussion it has seemed clear that we have been coming from parallel but divergent positions, with different parts of the larger issues at hand being more or less important to each of us. Mark is clearly concerned with social and political potentials of ART, and believes Fairey's wholesale "theft" of historical images cheapens the potential for art to make change in the world. Lincoln Cushing, an artist, archivist and author who has been involved in the discussions, is very concerned with how plagiarism hurts efforts to empower our communities with their own revolutionary art history. However, he also supports strategic use of existing copyright law, and recently got Fairey to pay retroactive royalties on a t-shirt with Cuban artwork appropriated without credit. Favianna Rodriguez, also involved, has been particularly frustrated with Fairey's use of and profiting off of the art of people of color, and the images of the struggles of people of color, while he has had to pay none of the costs for having to live as a person of color in this society or world.
"Reclaiming the F Word" Call for Entries!
Posted December 11, 2007 by meredith_stern in Artwork Needed
Here is a call for entries from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, located in Los Angeles, California.
"Reclaiming the F Word" Submissions Deadline: December 15, 2007
This show will open March 2008 at the Art Galleries, California State University, Northridge.
The Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) is asking artists,
organizations, and activists for poster submissions for our upcoming exhibition
entitled Reclaiming the “F” Word--Posters on International Feminism. This
exhibition will feature posters about the ongoing struggle for women’s rights
showing us that feminism must not be treated like a dirty word.
http://www.politicalgraphics.org/pdf/Call%20for%20F%20Posters.pdf
Bestiary Calendars
Posted December 8, 2007 by jmacphee in Political Art
I guess it's definitely calendar season. An old friend from Chicago (who now lives in Puerto Rico), Dave Buchen, has been hand printing these great animal linoleum cut calendars every year for the past 10 years or so. The 2008 one looks great! You can check it out here, and also find out how to order one. And to the right here are a couple of the months to give you an idea (you can see the rest on his site.)
Liberation Ink T-Shirts
Posted December 8, 2007 by jmacphee in Political Art
We just got an email from our Bay Area friends Liberation Ink. They are selling some of the best political t-shirts I've ever seen, and a chunk of the money goes to political and activist organizations they are working directly with. Definitely check them out!
The image to the right is the Loteria shirt design by Mariana Viturro.
Call for Submissions! War in Iraq!
Posted December 7, 2007 by meredith_stern in Artwork Needed
Call for Entries: Deadline January 12, 2008
"Experiencing the War in Iraq"
An Artist Curated, Multi-Media Exhibit of Art about the War in Iraq
(Following text is copied from the call for entries):
What does it mean to experience this war firsthand,
in combat, or as an Iraqi civilian? What does it mean to
experience it from a distance, or on television? How can we
in America reconnect to the reality of war? Are there shared
visions of peace despite cultural and religious differences? The
work will be selected on artistic merit and look to include as
many perspectives as possible, beyond politics.
Check out more details and download a submission form at the following link:
http://reconnectus.org/downloads/ReconnectUS_CFE_dataset_0001.pdf
Abu Ghraib Art Contest?
Posted December 7, 2007 by jmacphee in In the News
As if the war in Iraq wasn't surreal and fucked up enough already (with televised "victory" events before the real war even started, mass public spectacles like the tearing down of Saddam's statue and the freeing of Jessica Lynch which were completed fabricated by the US Military, and regular "We're Winning" announcements when it is painfully clear that the largest, most trained and well equipped military in the world is generally unable to do much of anything in the face of a ragtag Iraqi resistance with little or no comparable weaponry or training), Abu Ghraib, home of the famous "thumbs up, we've got you naked and on a dog leash" torture and photos is now home to a strange US Army PR stunt, an art contest!!!
I shit you not, we are now supposed to think warmly about how well we treat our prisoners in Iraq because we let them paint the outside of their torture chambers! Awesome! This has to be one of the strangest public art projects of all time....Here's the lead paragraph in the Army press release come news story:
"Concrete bunkers, strategically placed within the confines of Abu Ghraib prison for detainee protection, turned into works of art when juvenile detainees were offered the challenge to paint them in the form of a contest."
You can read the rest here. Does anyone else think this is totally bonkers?
Borf Print to Support Daniel McGowan
Posted December 6, 2007 by jmacphee in Street Art / Graffiti
Washington, DC troublemaker BORF is back, with a great 5 color silkscreen print to help support Daniel McGowan, one of the activists imprisoned in the recent US government round-up of environmental activists. BORF and friends at the Brian McKenzie Infoshop in DC have produced the print and are working with us here at Justseeds to get it out into the world. The print is available here, but we only have 40 copies (of an edition of 50) and these are going to move fast.
For more info on McGowan, go here.
For more info on Borf, go here.
Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History
Posted December 4, 2007 by meredith_stern in Events
Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History
Traveling Exhibit! Arriving in New York at CUNY Graduate Center
Opens: December 10th, 6:30 - Recital Hall
To read the article in it's entirety: http://www.friendlyagitate.net/category/art/
This text lifted directly from their website:
The SDS Comic Show, a traveling exhibit drawing upon the book Students for a Democratic Society: a Graphic History, will be open at the CUNY Graduate Center in December. Come see the exhibit and join us for a book signing and panel discussion for Students for a Democratic Society: a Graphic History, scripted by Harvey Pekar and others and edited by Paul Buhle, editor of the 1960s SDS magazine Radical America. Harvey Pekar, real-life star of the award-winning film and the book series American Splendor (and sometime Letterman Show guest), will deliver a talk on comics and politics, followed by a panel including Buhle, former SDS-NY regional officer, Weatherman Jeff Jones, and members of the New SDS.
Howling Mob Society Strikes Pittsburgh
Posted December 2, 2007 by jmacphee in In the News
Justseeds is having its first annual meeting and retreat in Pittsburgh this weekend! And while we're here we ran into some amazing political street art. The Howling Mob Society has installed a series of historical markers correcting the public perception of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, which was one of the most lively and violent labor uprising in the history of the US. Here's who they are (from their website):
"The Howling Mob Society (HMS) is a collaboration of artists, activists and historians committed to unearthing stories neglected by mainstream history. HMS brings increased visibility to the radical history of Pittsburgh, PA through grassroots artistic practice. Our current focus is The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, a national uprising that saw some of its most dramatic moments in Pittsburgh."
Defend the SF8
Posted November 26, 2007 by jmacphee in Events
This friday in New York City there is a benefit event in support of the San Francisco 8. The SF8 are eight former Black Panther Party members and active supporters (now ages 56 to 72) who were arrested last January on charges related to the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer. Some of these men faced virtually identical charges almost 35 years ago—charges that were dropped after it was revealed that police torture had extracted the “confessions” used to justify the case.
Now the case is back on, based on the same flawed evidence. The judge has released the 6 bail-eligible defendants on bond, and I was able to see them speak in San Francisco a couple months ago at a benefit event put on for them by Freedom Archives and the San Francisco Print Collective that was also a book release event for Emory Douglas. The SF8 were incredibly humorous, humble, thoughtful and moving to a man, I was very impressed.
Of course I was not able to meet the 2 defendants who are not eligible for bail. They are political prisoners Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim. Both have already served more than 34 years in New York state prisons. This new case charges them again with actions for which they are already serving time.
Former Black Panther Minister of Information and propagandist Emory Douglas is one of many cultural workers that has done a lot to support the SF8. He has created a special poster to raise funds for them, it is intense (and it is the top image in this post). You can buy a silkscreened or offset printed version here and support the struggle.
WRAP Posters
Posted November 25, 2007 by jmacphee in Political Art
WRAP (The Western Regional Advocacy Project) is a homelessness advocacy group that has realized the power art has in spreading a message. For the past year or so they have been working closely with San Francisco printmaker Art Hazelwood to develop a series of mass-produced posters to illustrate the main points in their Without Housing campaign. Four Bay Area artists (Ed Gould, Art Hazelwood, Claude Moller & Jos Sances) created poster designs which are now available from WRAP. You can see the posters and order them here. To learn more about WRAP go here. And they are hoping to work with more artists in the future, so if you are interested, contact Art Hazelwood.
An Atlas Exhibit & Book Launch
Posted November 24, 2007 by jmacphee in Events
Good friends Lize Mogel and Alexis Bhagat have been hard at work on a really great project called An Atlas of Radical Cartography. A collection of maps and essays illustrating the intersections of geography, mapping, politics and activism, it is finally coming out! Beyond being politically engaging, it is an amazing book object, a slip case that contains a book of essays and 10 actual full-size fold-out maps dealing with such issues as extraordinary rendition/torture planes, garbage and waste removal, water pathways, borders and surveillance cameras.
Here's a couple shots of the maps:
They will be on display in Chicago starting this weekend:
An Atlas
November 27 2007 – January 19, 2008
Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago
OPENING RECEPTION and book launch: Wednesday, November 28, 5-8pm
Gallery talk @ 6:30pm
An Architektur
the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)
Ashley Hunt
Institute for Applied Autonomy with Site-R
Invisible-5
Pedro Lasch
Lize Mogel
Trevor Paglen & John Emerson
Brooke Singer
the Speculators of AREA Chicago
Jane Tsong
Unnayan
Organized by Lize Mogel and Alexis Bhagat
An Atlas is a traveling exhibition of artists working with “radical cartography”—a practice that uses maps and mapping to promote social change. The participating artists, architects, and collectives take on issues from globalization to garbage and explore the map’s role as a political agent. The exhibition and accompanying publication contribute to a growing cultural movement that cuts across boundaries of art, cartography, geography, and activism.
The companion publication, An Atlas of Radical Cartography (Journal of Aesthetics and Protest Press, 2007) will be available for purchase at the gallery, and available online as of December 1.
Click here for more information and Chicago-area lecture schedule.
And finally there will a New York City book launch at Bluestockings Books on 172 Allen St. on December 6th.
The Production Unit's The Long Distance Runner
Posted November 19, 2007 by jmacphee in Events
The Celebrate People's History posters are included in a new exhibition organized by The Production Unit called The Long Distance Runner. The show is at Den Frie Udstillingsbygning in Copenhagen, Denmark. If you are in Denmark, definitely check it out, they are deeply influenced by one of my favorite filmmakers, Peter Watkins.
Here's some info on the show from the curators:
The Production Unit is a network of artists from Sweden and Denmark working with narrative experiments, the construction of history and media critique. The exhibition at Den Frie Udstillingsbygning will be the first public presentation of their archive THE The Long Distance Runner, which includes both collaborative and individual projects as well as works by a number of other international artists. The show is part of Den Frie Udstillingsbygning’s focus on self-organisation and collectivism and gives an example of how a group of younger artists works collaboratively across languages and nationalities. The artists of The Production Unit are Petra Bauer, Nanna Debois Buhl, Kajsa Dahlberg, Sara Jordenö, Conny Karlsson, Runo Lagomarsino and Ditte Lyngkjær Pedersen.
The Long Distance Runner is comprised of projects, which in various ways discuss current political and cultural questions as well as historical events. The different parts constitute a series of discussions related to communities and publics with emphasis on questions concerning nationality, identity and language. The material varies in form covering video installations, poster projects, sound-based work, photography and various publications produced by the members of the group and artists as Josh MacPhee, Carlos Motta, Jenny Perlin, Hito Steyerl and Ylva Westerlund.
A central part of the presentation of The Long Distance Runner is Peter Watkins film La Commune from 1999. Through its’ controversial form the film challenges prevailing notions of documentary film experimenting with an unconventional way of discussing the historical event of the Paris Commune in 1871 and the relationship between subject, community and revolutionary action.
The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 5pm Thursday 10am to 9pm
Free guided tours Saturday and Sunday at 3pm
Den Frie Udstillingsbygning
Oslo Plads
DK-2100 København Ø
Tlf. +45 3312 2803
www.denfrie.dk
The Coffee Calendar
Posted November 16, 2007 by jmacphee in Political Art
Ricardo Levins Morales, one of the main artists and organizers behind the Northland Poster Collective in Minneapolis has just released a great new collection of work in the form of a calendar. The 2008 Coffee Calendar is a wall calendar, a full color collection of Ricardo's art, and an introduction to the history, culture and politics of coffee. He has created an completely new body of art work around coffee and done a huge amount of historical investigation into the politics of coffee production. The calendar can be seen in all its glory here, as well as a list of online stores that carry it. The calendar is also union printed using high quality recycled paper and soy-based ink.
Art for a Democratic Society
Posted November 13, 2007 by jmacphee in Artwork Needed
Excited to see this in my inbox, the crew over at Not My Government are trying to put together a Bay Area project similar to the Street Art Workers:
In collaboration with Not My Government, Art for a Democratic Society announces an open call to all visual artists in the Bay Area interested in creating a social/political poster zine. Our goal is to get ten different artists to make one poster each, with the final product being ten 18"x24" posters, probably printed one color on newsprint.
Once we have the crew of artists together, we will all collectively decide the theme of the poster zine. Possible themes include: health care, war, police brutality, opposing the "new Jim Crow," etc. The process of poster design and printing can be done collectively or individually. A skill-share will be organized to help any or all of the artists involved in the project.
If interested please contact us at:
art4democraticsociety [at] earthlink.net
Please tell us your name, email, phone number, what days and times you would be available to meet, and a little about yourself - your background, interests, skills, etc. Artists at any level of experience are welcome.
Europe Communique #1: YNKB
Posted November 12, 2007 by icky in Political Art
Our hosts, Finn and Kiersten, in Copenhagen ran a great little space called YNKB. Josh gave a talk/slideshow there on political printmaking. Located in the diverse working class Outer Northern Bridge neighborhood, it's a pretty little storefront, fairly neutral with white walls and a bookshelf alongside one wall with their publications.
From Brett Bloom's article in the book Realizing the Impossible:
" YNKB (Ydre Norrebro Kultur Bureau [Outer Northern Bridge Culture Bureau])is a space for meetings, film screenings, art projects, informal symposia and campaigns. YNKB has published numerous small books related to their programming, research and initiatives."
The publications document current projects as well as past ones. Finn and Kiersten are of a generation older then Josh and I (they have grandkids), they were inspiring to me in their current projects (the YNKB itself, but also a video project about Palestine they produced for the local pirate TV that we saw at a contemporary art museum, work about immigrants in northern Denmark, and work to change an old rail terminal into a public cultural space. Talking with them and reading their publications it was also inspiring to see their past projects, to watch the trajectory of two political/politicized artists, to see how they've changed and stayed engaged, curious and playful (high compliments from me).
So amongst the older project documented (off the top of my head): a book of Finn's photos of Copenhagen in 1968, mostly depopulated street shots, after being in Copenhagen the sites pictured were both familiar and foreign, maybe most striking in the lack of visible signs of global capital and youth culture.
Their work 'rag-picking' (a term that I think has more resonance as a political act in Denmark (maybe kind of Tolstoyan?)), collecting clothes and fabrics for revolutionary groups in Africa in the 1970s.
Another zine documented the adventure playgrounds in Copenhagen, a utopian project for kids, where the kids created their own spaces to play...
And as mentioned above their work trying to make a cultural space in an abandoned (an now demolished) rail-freight exchange in Copenhagen. They worked on this project on a few levels and have two publications documenting this, one slightly more official showing architects plans for how it could work, interviews with neighborhood residents, local artists etc... and the second publication documenting their work putting up giant speech bubbles on the building itself with proposals of what could be done there.
Josh's talk at YNKB went well in that people responded well to it and seemed engaged but also we learned some things as well from the folks there. YNKB has a website with a lot of documentation and information and if you're in Copenhagen look for their events!
-Icky
Breakdown's Nuclear Poster Series
Posted November 9, 2007 by jmacphee in Posters
Australian activist artists and designers extraordinaire Breakdown Press (Tom Civil & Lou Smith) have just released their 3rd political poster series, this one around nuclear power and waste. I was lucky enough to have one of my designs chosen, along with 16 other artists and designers. Breakdown prints thousands of newsprint booklets of their posters (similar to the Street Art Workers project) and then distroes them world-wide, as well as pastes them up on the streets. Check out Breakdown Press, and the new poster set here.
For those in Melbourne, check out the launch party on Tuesday November 13th at The Artery, 87-89 Moor St Fitzroy, from 6pm-8pm.
Graffiti in Iraq
Posted November 9, 2007 by jmacphee in Street Art / Graffiti
My friend Bettina recently sent me this list of links to stories and images of graffiti in Baghdad. Most of them are old, back from the beginning of the war when the graffiti was being heralded as a sign of "new found freedom." It's interesting to go back and re-read these, and also look at the youtube videos of more more recent graffiti:
National Public Radio
Christian Science Monitor
Slate
YouTube 1
YouTube 2
Justseeds featured on RLTE Site
Posted November 7, 2007 by jmacphee in Political Art
Art from the Justseeds Coop is featured this month on the website Rejected Letters to the Editor. An interesting project, RLTE is a collection of letters to the editor, op-ed pieces, and editorial cartoons that have been submitted and rejected by the press. The goal is to publish this material in order to illustrate a much broader spectrum of ideas than we get in the mainstream news. The editors of the site can explain it best themselves:
"In the press, “Letters to the Editor” and “op-ed” pages silently assert that journalism includes a place for the voice of the public. But inconvenient truths are too often absent. Visionary thoughts are too rarely heard. Proposals for democratic social change and improvement are, for the most part, out of sight. Rejected Letters to the Editor, an independent online magazine, is designed to provide an important, if only partial, corrective. It is available to readers at no cost.
Our goal at Rejected Letters to the Editor is to expand the visible spectrum of ideas. To publish letters, etc., that will broaden public discussion beyond the boundaries set by the gatekeepers of our mental environment. We hold to the democratic conviction that public opinion must be educated by, and conversant with, the course of human events, and we will seek to publish work that allows essential perspectives, presently unacknowledged by respected newspapers, to see the light of day."
So there you have it, check out the site, check out our art, and dig up those letters that never got published and send them in.
Europe Communique #5: Berlin
Posted October 29, 2007 by jmacphee in Political Art
Josh and I spent a short 4 days in Berlin. We went to this beautiful city primarily to look at the poster collection at the Papier Tiger Archiv. Papier Tiger is a political archive started in the early 80s, combining collections and papers from several squats and autonomous social movements. It settled in a building in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin. As we walked down the block to find Papier Tiger, there was one building completely covered in ivy and vines, this was obviously our spot. It was nice to visit an archive that originated out of the social/political movement and still kept strong symbiotic ties to it. It's in a few tall cozy rooms with floor to ceiling bookshelves with organizational folders categorized by large topics and sub-categorized down to the very specific (ie- feminism, 80s, Rote Zora group, documents). The staff was helpful and friendly (a nice change) and the place is open to browsing or research.
As I said Josh and I went to look at the posters and they are housed in a stack of flat files, also organized by movements (ie-squatting West Berlin, squatting east Berlin, feminism, int'l. solidarity S. America). A lot of posters and it was nice to be able to pull out a whole stack and dig through them. (Many of the posters have been cataloged in a recent book called: "vorwärts bis zum nieder mit: 30 Jahre Plakate unkontrollierter Bewegungen"). Papier Tiger is open to the public two days a week (Monday & Thursday from 2:30-6 PM, and they have a women's day on Friday. They are located at 25 Cuvrystrasse in Kreuzberg. for more info: http://archivtiger.de/).
On our way to the archive Josh and I wandered by a bookshop, Josh wanted to go in, I was a little hesitant as we both had our giant bags with us and that place looked crowded, thin rows between bookshelves but also giant piles of books all over the place. We did go in to Prometheus Antiquariat (Wrangelstraße 48, also in Kreuzberg), and it was a fortuitous piece of dumb luck, as it specializes in lefty books and also in art books, posters and prints. Generally the books in stacks off the floor weren't for sale and the books on the shelves were, and after an initial bit of skepticism the owner warmed up to us and gave us an amazing tour of collections in his shop. The prices were reasonable and we both walked out with a pile of books that was a fraction of the amount we would have gotten if we didn't have to lug around a bunch of shit in already over-burdened bags (and backs!).
Berlin (I think) is a beautiful city that we had a nice time walking around and exploring. As opposed to other cities we went to it seemed to spend very little on graffiti abatement so there was a ton of stencils and tags with a wide range in quality and interest (as expected). Also some pretty grand permission pieces, building sized murals that were pretty fucked up and psychedelic looking. I was particularly entranced by the sets of courtyards in buildings that had bike shops and children's theaters and playgrounds and gardens. Also the