Interference Archive | |
---|---|
40°40′21″N73°59′29″W / 40.672487°N 73.991402°W | |
Location | Brooklyn, New York, United States |
Type | Archive |
Established | 2011 |
Other information | |
Website | http://interferencearchive.org/ |
Interference Archive is a volunteer-run library, gallery, and archive of historical materials related to social and political activism and movements. Located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, at 314 7th Street, with in the zip code 11215, its mission is "to explore the relationship between cultural production and social movements." [1]
Interference Archive began as the personal collection of Josh MacPhee and Dara Greenwald, activists who told the New York Times that they had filled their home with so much "social movement memorabilia ... Ph.D. students would visit to conduct research." [2] [3] [4] The idea to turn it into a public resource began in 2008 when the couple was asked to curate an exhibition at the Exit Art gallery in Manhattan. Using the title "Signs of Change," it showcased cultural artifacts produced by those engaged with groups organizing to foment change. [2] [5] [6] The show and research they did in preparation reflected in the Interference Archive mission statement which begins, "Interference Archive explores the relationship between cultural production and social movements." [7] MacPhee and Greenwald also point to archives and libraries of similar scope and purpose as inspiration, including another Brooklyn-based organization, the Lesbian Herstory Archives. [8]
In 2010 MacPhee and Greenwald moved their collection to a warehouse in Gowanus, in collaboration with activists and artists Molly Fair and Kevin Caplicki. Greenwald named it Interference Archive, referring to "the idea that the collection causes static, or interference, in institutional archives and in the larger society." [5] [8] [9] It opened its doors to the public in December 2011 with a punk and feminism themed exhibition in tribute to Greenwald, who had been struggling with endometrial cancer and died the following month. [2] [5]
The rising prominence and popularity of the Occupy movement emerged as one specific motivation around the time of the Archive's opening, when its founders observed among Occupy participants a need for information about social movements of the past. [10] [11]
Interference Archive has broadened its activities significantly since opening, operating as a library and community space and hosting regular talks, art exhibitions, performances, workshops, and other events.
The Guardian 's Edward Helmore, assessing the place of the Archive among other arts institutions, described it as "far removed from the realm of commercial art galleries, oligarch collectors, the show-palace museums of billionaire real estate developers, and under the watch of gun-toting revolutionaries from several decades back — and is far the richer for it." [10]
As of 2014 [update] it operates on a yearly budget of less than $25,000, supported primarily by donations from a community of financial sustainers. [2]
In October 2017, after being evicted from their space in Gowanus, the archive relocated to the nearby Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn and reopened to the public in December 2017. [11] The inaugural exhibit in the new space entitled no. NOT EVER opened in January 2018. The exhibit was a multidisciplinary and video-based exploration of "the rise of white nationalism" in America. [12]
The archive is housed in an open floor-plan storefront space, filled to the ceiling. [2] The collection includes a number of different kinds of media artifacts which provide information and illustration about the histories of radical political movements around the world, with 40% of the archive coming from outside the United States. [8] Among the materials are posters, fliers, pamphlets, zines, stickers, T-shirts, books, graphic novels, newspapers, games, videos, leaflets, buttons, audio recordings, and other ephemera. [2] [5] [7] The topics it covers includes ACT-UP, Occupy Wall Street, Arab Spring, Code Pink, Pink Bloque, Rock for Choice, Latin American art, nature, ecology, feminism, punk rock, criminal justice, prison reform, apartheid, anti-nuclear movement, squatting, anarchist bookfairs, May 1968 events in France, and Dutch anti-fur activism. [5] [8] [13]
MacPhee summarizes the conceptual basis for the collection as "material produced by people organizing to transform the world". [10]
The owners and volunteers take a pointedly nontraditional approach to archivism. In selection and acquisition, no priority is given to particular movements, media types, or well-known artists. [5] Instead, it positions itself as a commons where people can share what they have and benefit from what was donated by others. [5] [8] Whereas most archives stress materials protection and preservation, the Interference Archive promotes access, physical engagement, and use of the materials to maintain their continued relevance outside of the Archive. [5] [11] Collections are also organized for usability, prioritizing media type and subject over donation or donor. [11]
In addition to its primary purpose as an archive and library, Interference Archive also functions as a multipurpose community center, gallery, and events space. [2] [5] Past events and exhibitions have covered prison reform, [14] [15] the Asian American movement in New York, [16] [17] underground newspapers, [18] the anti-nuclear movement, [19] and Art+Feminism edit-a-thons. [20]
Armed by Design , a 2015 exhibition, comprised graphic art from Tricontinental , a magazine published by the Cuba-based anti-globalization, anti-imperialist, anticapitalist organization OSPAAL (Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America). The Guardian described it as "a fascinating tour of 60s and 70s radical politics and its heroes". [10]
In addition to historical materials and preexisting cultural products, the Archive occasionally commissions artists to produce original work. For Armed by Design, the 60s and 70s graphics were supplemented by a new set of topical posters. [10] Another exhibit, if a song could be freedom... Organized Sounds of Resistance , included a series of annotated mixtapes compiled by musicians, historians, and activists. [10]
One exhibit in April 2013 featured "book blocs", home-made cardboard shields glued together by activists for use during college tuition protests. [21] The shields on display as well as others made during a workshop earlier in the month were confiscated as weapons by the New York Police Department the day before they were due to be used at Cooper Union in a protest against the school's decision to begin charging tuition. [21] [22]
Since 2015, volunteers have hosted a podcast which highlights material in the collections and associated exhibits. [11]
The Gowanus Canal is a 1.8-mile-long (2.9 km) canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, on the westernmost portion of Long Island. Once a vital cargo transportation hub, the canal has seen decreasing use since the mid-20th century, parallel with the decline of domestic waterborne shipping. It continues to be used for occasional movement of goods and daily navigation of small boats, tugs and barges.
Protest art is the creative works produced by activists and social movements. It is a traditional means of communication, utilized by a cross section of collectives and the state to inform and persuade citizens. Protest art helps arouse base emotions in their audiences, and in return may increase the climate of tension and create new opportunities to dissent. Since art, unlike other forms of dissent, take few financial resources, less financially able groups and parties can rely more on performance art and street art as an affordable tactic.
Gowanus is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community District 6. Gowanus is bounded by Wyckoff Street on the north, Fourth Avenue on the east, the Gowanus Expressway to the south, and Bond Street to the west.
Josh MacPhee is an artist, curator, stonemason and activist living in Brooklyn, New York.
Grace Atkinson, better known as Ti-Grace Atkinson, is an American radical feminist activist, writer and philosopher.
Lucy Rowland Lippard is an American writer, art critic, activist, and curator. Lippard was among the first writers to argue for the "dematerialization" at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. She is the author of 21 books on contemporary art and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations.
The feminist art movement in the United States began in the early 1970s and sought to promote the study, creation, understanding and promotion of women's art. First-generation feminist artists include Judy Chicago, Miriam Schapiro, Suzanne Lacy, Judith Bernstein, Sheila de Bretteville, Mary Beth Edelson, Carolee Schneeman, Rachel Rosenthal, and many other women. They were part of the Feminist art movement in the United States in the early 1970s to develop feminist writing and art. The movement spread quickly through museum protests in both New York and Los Angeles, via an early network called W.E.B. that disseminated news of feminist art activities from 1971 to 1973 in a nationally circulated newsletter, and at conferences such as the West Coast Women's Artists Conference held at California Institute of the Arts and the Conference of Women in the Visual Arts, at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C..
Favianna Rodriguez is an American artist and activist. She has self-identified as queer and Latina with Afro-Peruvian roots. Rodriguez began as a political poster designer in the 1990s in the struggle for racial justice in Oakland, California. R is known for using her art as a tool for activism. Her designs and projects range on a variety of different issues including globalization, immigration, feminism, patriarchy, interdependence, and genetically modified foods. Rodriguez is a co-founder of Presente.org and is the Executive Director of Culture Strike, "a national arts organization that engages artists, writers and performers in migrant rights. "
Justseeds Artists' Cooperative is a decentralized, worker-owned cooperative of thirty artists throughout North America. Justseeds members primarily produce handmade prints and publications which are distributed through their website and at conferences and events related to social and environmental movements. Members also work individually as graphic designers for and within a broad swath of social and environmental activist causes in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. As a collective body, Justseeds has produced several gallery exhibitions of both print work and collaborative sculptural installation.
Information activism at libraries and among librarians began in the 1960s, when many libraries advocated for the information rights of their clients. Their activism projects thereafter extended beyond library walls to advocate for issues such as tenancy and labour rights. With the advent of new information technologies and the information explosion of the late 20th century, information activism expanded in scope to include people who utilize information in the service of advocacy.
Harmony Hammond is an American artist, activist, curator, and writer. She was a prominent figure in the founding of the feminist art movement in 1970s New York.
The Jewish Women's Archive (JWA) is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to document "Jewish women's stories, elevate their voices, and inspire them to be agents of change."
Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range from mandate building in a community, petitioning elected officials, running or contributing to a political campaign, preferential patronage of businesses, and demonstrative forms of activism like rallies, street marches, strikes, sit-ins, or hunger strikes.
Becca Albee is an American musician and visual artist who was a founding member of the band Excuse 17, which was an early pioneer in the riot grrrl and third-wave feminism movements. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Dara Greenwald (1971–2012) was an interdisciplinary artist with a PhD in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, and a BA in Women's Studies from Oberlin College. Her collaborative work involved video, writing, public art, activism and cultural organizing.
Rosalyn Baxandall was an American historian of women's activism and feminist activist.
Fourth-wave feminism is a feminist movement that began around 2012 and is characterized by a focus on the empowerment of women, the use of internet tools, and intersectionality. The fourth wave seeks greater gender equality by focusing on gendered norms and the marginalization of women in society.
The Central Power Station of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company building, commonly known as the Batcave or Gowanus Batcave, is a former transit power station at 153 Second Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn, New York City by the Gowanus Canal. It was built between 1901 and 1904, while the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company was expanding its rapid transit and streetcar service. It stopped operating in 1972 and sat abandoned for more than two decades, becoming home to a community of squatters in the early 2000s. The owners, who were planning to redevelop the site, building condominiums called "Gowanus Village", had the squatters removed and increased security in 2006. The Gowanus Village plans did not materialize and after a short time it became a popular space for graffiti and underground events.
Mildred Beltré Martinez is a Brooklyn-based American multi-disciplinary artist known for activist works that focus on how social justice and grassroots movements might reconfigure society. She is co-founder of the Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine
Bev Grant is an American musician, photographer, filmmaker, and activist based in New York City.