Dedicated to clever and innovative trends of art and design in activism.

The Anti-Advertising Agency started the week off with the announcement of IllegalBillboards.org, a collaboration between AAA and IllegalSigns.ca to identify and remove illegal billboards and signs in New York City.

IllegalBillboards.org consists of a forum, listserv, and blog where you can learn how to investigate an illegal sign and track progress. This project got started at last month’s Illegal Billboard workshop at Eyebeam and we’re just beginning. We want to welcome you to join us.

Photo credit.

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Update: The HONK! press release posted earlier was an old version.  I’ve updated the post with the latest information.

Through October, I’ll be helping to coordinate the HONK! Festival in Somerville, MA. As we began to outline at last night’s meeting, the task will include local outreach, as well as online rabble-rousing. While this will mainly be channeled through the HONK! MySpace page and other HONK!-specific vehicles, I have created a dedicated space on Groundswell to begin the wider discussion about HONK! as both the event and the movement.

For those who are unfamiliar with HONK!:

HONK! is a revolutionary street spectacle of never-before-seen proportions. Joyous community bands have begun to emerge in every corner of the world from the ashes of modern-day gloom.

Twenty-four activist street bands from around the nation and beyond will convene for the third ever HONK! Festival in Davis Square on Columbus Day weekend, October 10–12, 2008.

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Discover one designer’s personal journey as he explores:

how do I, as an individual ‘designer’ interested in making socially concerned work, [design] in a way that is inclusive, worthwhile, and ultimately empowering — not just for myself, but for those around me?

Jared Davidson’s account is one of uncovering essential ideas and ideals in social design.  More than a biography, he delves into social change strategies via cultural production, and even gives us a shout out at the end of the article.

From Punk to Proudhon [PDF] is available as a print-ready zine, or online, from the Garage Collective MySpace page.

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Last night, New York-based Seth Tobocman offered up a multimedia presentation of the work in his new book, “Disaster and Resistance: Comics and Landscapes for the 21st Century” (AK Press, 2008).  Accompanied by False Prophets drummer Eric Blitz and guitarist Steve Wishnia, the trio brought to life several of Tobocman’s pieces, most from “Disaster and Resistance,” at Boston’s Lucy Parsons Center.

Seth is an artist and longtime activist and educator, as well as cofounder of the comics zine “World War 3 Illustrated.” In his new book, he outlines pressing social and political struggles at the dawn of the twenty-first century, from post 9-11 New York City to Israel and Palestine, to Iraq and New Orleans.

“Disaster and Resistance” does justice to his classic works, “You Don’t Have to Fuck People Over to Survive” and “War in the Neighborhood,” and Seth’s performance is well worth checking out when it comes to your neighborhood.

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As I’m working on a poster for the Just Seeds Celebrate People’s History poster project, I’m finding more inspiration in the roots of creative activism.  This July 12 marked Pablo Neruda’s 104th birthday, and although he passed away in 1973, it remains a worthy cause for celebration.  Below is a video by 4SeasonsProductions, a montage that features an English translation of Neruda’s “Standard Oil Co.”

Of Standard Oil, one of the most remembered corporations of the robber baron era, Neruda wrote:

They buy countries, people, seas, police, county councils,
distant regions where the poor hoard their corn
like misers their gold:
Standard Oil awakens them,
clothes them in uniforms, designates
which brother is the enemy.
the Paraguayan fights its war,
and the Bolivian wastes away
in the jungle with its machine gun.

Via

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