An Homage to Activism

AgitPop: Activist graphics, Images and Pop-Culture 1968-2008

Could youthful sexual frustration topple a government? Could a student protest in a swimming pool spark a revolution? in January 1968, as France's Minister for Youth and Sport opened Nanterre University's new swimming pool his speech was disrupted by a group of students frustrated by their university's strict segregation of male and female dormitories.

Remember the Swingin' 60's?

When repressive policing confronted demonstrators, more disruptions,
occupations and an ever-widening series of
demands, spread to campuses and factories
across the country. By mid-May, over 10 million
workers, comprising two-thirds of the French
workforce, had joined the strikes, and President
de Gaulle had fled the country, to plan military
intervention against the student-worker alliance
that came to be known as Paris, May '68.

This movement was not organised through traditional political parties or labour institutions. It possessed no singular agenda. May '68 was a plethora of voices demanding: radical reforms in education, workers control of factories, press and media freedom, the transformation of art, an end to the Vietnam war, a quotidian revolution, and the reorganisation of football. Its witty critiques of politics, cinema and urban design were expressed through thousands of manifestoes and slogans. It led to the fall of the Gaullist government, but what did it have to do with printmaking?

At the height of the protests students occupied the print department of Ecole Des Beaux Arts, Paris, established the Atelier Populaire and created posters to support the occupations and strikes. 'Posters ', they declared 'are weapons in the service of the struggle and are an inseparable part of it.. Their rightful place is in the centres of conflict, that is to say, in the streets and on the walls of the Factories '.These simple, witty images were viewed by a global audience, and inspired artists around the world to support activism in their own neighbourhoods and communities.

Forty years on from Paris '68 londonprintstudio celebrates the changing art of utopian rebellion and activism in an exhibition, which will feature international and contemporary work alongside a unique display of posters from '60s to '80s Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove where londonprintstudio is based. The neighbourhood was then centre of London 's under-ground culture, and home to Pink Floyd, Heathcote Williams, Bob Marley, Don Letts, Aswad, the Pink Fairies, Marc Bolan, Chris Blackwell 's Island Records, Colin MacInnes, The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Hawkwind and Motorhead.

The exhibition explores the questions: how important have May '68 and Notting Hill been as influences for subsequent generations of artists, campaigners and designers? and what have other times, places and move-
ments contributed to AgitPop and counter-culture?

The organisers invite an open dialogue with artists, activists and interested participants from yesterday and today, and would like to include your contributions to the project through an accompanying website.

The organisers of this exhibition invite an open
dialogue with artists, activists and interested
participants from yesterday and today, and would like to include your contributions to the project through an accompanying website.

by John Phillips

Please send images of graphics, contacts, links,
commentaries,etc. to:

john@londonprintstudio.org.uk

or via the Facebook group (AgitPop: Activist
Graphics,images and pop culture)

The exhibition will be on display at londonprintstudio from 14th February until 31st March 2008. A programme of screenings and events will accompany the exhibition.

For further information contact: info@londonprintstudio.org.uk
Or check the website: www.londonprintstudio.org.uk