Synopses & Reviews
Signal is an ongoing book series dedicated to documenting and sharing compelling graphics, art projects, and cultural movements of international resistance and liberation struggles. Readers will be inspired by not only fine and graphic arts but also political posters, comics, zines, murals, street art, art collectives, documentation of performances, and articles on the often-overlooked but essential roles all of these have played in struggles around the world. Highlights of the fourth volume of Signal include Lincoln Cushings discussion of the Bay Area Peace Navys large-scale visual interventions; Tennessee Watsons project made in response to the violence in Juárez; New Zealands Kotare Trust Poster Archive; the early years of West Germanys militant counterculture; an interview with Max Karl Winkler, book cover designer for Three Continents Press; and the history of Torontos Punchclock Print Collective.
Review
"Offering these graphics to generations far beyond their original audiences, this title is recommended for designers, activists, archivists, and scholars studying protest movements." —Michael Dashkin, Library Journal
Synopsis
Signal is an ongoing book series dedicated to documenting and sharing compelling graphics, art projects, and cultural movements of international resistance and liberation struggles. Artists and cultural workers have been at the center of upheavals and revolts the world over, from the painters and poets in the Paris Commune to the poster makers and street theatre performers of the recent Occupy movement. Signal will bring these artists and their work to a new audience, digging deep through our common history to unearth their images and stories. We have no doubt that Signal will come to serve as a unique and irreplaceable resource for activist artists and academic researchers, as well as an active forum for critique of the role of art in revolution.
Highlights of the fourth volume ofSignal include:
- Imaging Palestine: Rochelle Davis and Emma Murphy take a look at Palestinian Affairs, one of the PLO's major publications
- Fighting Fire with Water: Lincoln Cushing discusses the Bay Area Peace Navy's large-scale visual interventions
- The Walls Speak Even If the Media Is Silent: Tennessee Watson documents a project made in response to the violence in Ju rez
- Revolutionary Continuum: Jared Davidson cracks open New Zealand's Kotare Trust Poster Archive
- Kommune 1: Michael McCanne teases out the early years of West Germany's militant counterculture
- Illustrating the 3rd World: Josh MacPhee interviews Max Karl Winkler, book cover designer for Three Continents Press
- Dynamic Collectivity: Ryan Hayes traces the history of Toronto's Punchclock Printing Collective
In the US there is a tendency to focus only on the artworks produced within our shores or from English speaking producers. Signal reaches beyond those bounds, bringing material produced the world over, translated from dozens of languages and collected from both the present and decades past. Though it is a full-color printed publication, Signal is not limited to the graphic arts. Within its pages you will find political posters and fine arts, comics and murals, street art, site-specific works, zines, art collectives, documentation of performance and articles on the often overlooked but essential role all of these have played in struggles around the world.
About the Author
Alec Dunn is an illustrator, printer, and amateur historian who has designed book and record covers, political graphics, and punk fliers. He is the coeditor of the Signal series and has been a member of the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative since it formed in 2007. He lives in Pittsburgh. Josh MacPhee is a designer, artist, activist, and archivist. He is the coauthor of Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, coeditor of the Signal series, and cofounder of the Interference Archive, a public collection of cultural materials produced by social movements. He is a member of both the Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and the Occuprint collective. He lives in Brooklyn.