Graphic Advocacy: International Posters for the Digital Age 2001–2012
first held on January 15 – March 2, 2013
Stephen D. Paine Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Boston, Massachusetts
(now traveling: see the schedule)
Statement: «As a medium for social change, posters record our struggles for peace, social justice, environmental defense, and liberation from oppression. From the confrontational and political, to the promotional, persuasive and educational, the poster in all its forms has persisted as a vehicle for the public dissemination of ideas, information and opinion. Posters are dissent made visible—they communicate, advocate, instruct, celebrate, and warn, while jarring us to action with their bold messages and striking iconography. Posters also serve as a telling indication of a graphic designer’s commitment to society when non-commissioned posters are created as vehicles to raise money to support political and humanitarian causes. Without a doubt, the poster remains the most resonant, intrinsic and enduring item in the arsenal of a contemporary graphic designer.
Ready access to broadband and mobile communications and to digital production technologies has expanded the poster’s role well beyond the limitations of the printed surface, and in its wake has created a modern tool for support and protest. These new technologies promote truly global conversations coupled with unprecedented opportunities for changing attitudes or showing defiance or solidarity. The poster, with its mix of both low-tech and high-tech, of old and new, has become a cornerstone of 21st century advocacy.
Graphic Advocacy: International Posters for the Digital Age 2001–2012 showcases a selection of 122 posters to offer the public a chance to experience this magnificent body of empathetic and visually compelling messages for our time.»
Curator: Elizabeth Resnick
Also available online:
– photo galleries of the different installations.
– an essay by Kenneth FitzGerald, “12 Views of 120 Posters”
– Interview with Elizabeth Resnick, by Steven Heller
