The Interference Archive invited 10 artists (individuals and collectives) from around the world to create a print portfolio in solidarity with a movement that coincides with reflections on the solidarity work of OSPAAAL (Organization of Solidarity of the People of Asia, Africa, and Latin America). These prints are in large part the posters designed and distributed in the Tricontinental bulletin. This portfolio was on display as part of the exhibition ‘Armed by Design / El Diseño a las Armas’ from September 16–November 29, 2015 at the Interference Archive in Brooklyn, NY.

OSPAAAL was developed out of the Tricontinental Conference in 1966, which was a meeting in Havana of delegates representing national liberation movements and political parties almost exclusively from the global south. This married a design that has unique Cuban aesthetics with literature from revolutionary thinkers. OSPAAAL is a political organization focused on fighting US imperialism and supporting leftist liberation movements around the world. OSPAAAL has become propagandists for these movements, supporting them through poster production, two different regularly produced journals (Tricontinental and the Tricontinental Bulletin), and a series of longer format books featuring the writings of the intellectual leadership of these movements.

Armed By Design/El Diseño a las Armas will highlight the intersection of graphic design and political solidarity work in post-revolution Cuba through the lens of OSPAAAL’s output.

The Set of ten prints comes with a flier from the Interference Archive exhibition and a catalog entitled, “El Diseno a Las Armas, Armed by Design,” Interference Document 11. The catalog includes essays by Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey, Sarah Seidman, Nate George, Lani Hanna, Joelle Rebeiz, and Lincoln Cushing. The publication is bi-lingual English/Spanish; an 88-page, perfect bound book with upwards of 100 full-color images of OSPAAAL posters, publications, and graphics. We have collected six original essays that give a unique perspective on this work, alongside an interview with Jane Norling about her experience working with OSPAAAL as the only North American to produce a poster with them.

Print List:

A3CB, “New Ways to Renunciate War”
Tomie Arai, “Solidarity”
Dignidad Rebelde, “EZLN”
Friends of Ibn Firnas, “Biji Rojava”
Ganzeer, “If throwing rocks does not work, do guns become more important?”
Jamaa al-Yad, “El Resistente Original”
Un Mundo Feliz, “House’s Protest”
Steven Rodriguez, “Cops Is Terror”
Sublevarte Colectivo, “Ni una más, ni una menos”
Yuko Tonohira, “Okinawa”

Manually printed by Christeen Francis and Kevin Caplicki at Out of Lone Press in Brooklyn, NY.