LA vs WAR highlights the travesty of a senseless war now going into its 6th year, giving LA artists a platform to exercise their freedom of speech. Hundreds of artists representing our diverse communities unite in delivering a universal message of peace and understanding, and offering resistance and opposition to the US government’s war policies.

LA vs WAR highlights:

- Yo! What Happened to Peace?: posters on display from the international touring peace poster exhibition;
live anti-war poster screen-printing demos
- Hit+Run: live t-shirt printing featuring custom artwork from the Hit+Run artist network
- Mark of the Beast: display of corporate-jammed logo spoofs
- Crewest Graffiti & Stencil Art Garden: graffiti artist network doing live graffiti and stencil painting
- Center for the Study of Political Graphics: anti-war themed display from America’s premier political poster archives
- Artwork Exhibition: handmade creations by independent local artists
- Universal Peace Altar: a memorial to lives lost in the war created by Ofelia Esparza and Shrine
- Peace in Iraq Photo Project by Azul 213: audience participation photo project to promote peace
- Dublab.com: music selections created by DJs from the web radio collective
- Lost Film Fest hosted by VJ Scott Beibin: film and video celebration of culture jamming and illegal art
- Light installations and projections: interactive entertainment provided by Todd Lazer

LA vs WAR schedule:

Thursday, April 10, 2008: 12:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Friday, April 11, 2008: 12:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 12, 2008: 12:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 13, 2008: 12:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.

LA vs WAR at The Firehouse, 710 S. Santa Fe Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90021. All ages are welcome and admission is free.

lavswar.com • myspace.com/lavswar • yopeace.org
For volunteer or sponsorship inquiries, please contact LAvsWAR@gmail.com

Technorati Tags: Activism, Activist, Antiwar, LA vs. WAR, downtown Los Angeles, event, Art, Culture, Design, Exhibition, Graffiti, Music, Painting, Peace

There's a new book coming out by Yo! What Happened to Peace? artists Josh MacPhee (of JustSeeds) and Favianna Rodriguez (of Taller Tupac Amaru and Tumis): Reproduce and Revolt! Published by Soft Skull Press and set to be released April 15th, 2008, Reproduce and Revolt! is a media/design powerhouse. Filled with over 300 images that are not just easily reproduced, but intended to be copied and used as the reader sees fit, without the artist's direct permission, the designs within are sure to be seen on street corners and political pamphlets worldwide. There is also a short section on the history of political graphics, an archive of political flyers and posters and a bibliography for further reading. Issues covered include: anti-authoritarianism, anti-racism, art as a tool for resistance, the environment, feminism, food, housing, labor, protest, war and youth empowerment. It is available for pre-order at justseeds.org.

If you aren't already familiar with Josh MacPhee and Favianna Rodriguez, please stop over at their websites. They both are powerful forces for social change as well as wonderful artists. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, there will be a few book release events in April/May with the authors in attendance, so keep checking back with us for further details. Until then, head over to justseeds.org, order a copy and get to stenciling/printing/organzing!
Technorati Tags: Activism, Activist, Art, Political, Grapic, Design, Stencil, Street Art, Josh MacPhee, Favianna Rodriguez, Book, JustSeeds

We here at yopeace.org would like to recognize the work of our comrades over at artists-at-war.org. The founders, Thomas McKenzie and Steven L. Anderson, have been doing a great job of encouraging artists to use their talents as designers and creative forces to question their relationship with the world around them and turn artists into activists. In their own words:

"We’re looking for propaganda, calls to action, critiques, soapboxes, solutions. . . . But this is also a forum for artists to reflect on their personal relationship to the war, its symptoms and causes. The artworks in this space will not stop the war--these are not the levers of global power. More importantly, we want to give artists an opportunity to escape the suffocating veil of capitalistic denial that we haze through, as we navigate career and life."

They also have a great blog on interesting projects, events, artwork, people, you name it - artists-at-war.com/blog, and an incredible list of resource links - artists-at-war.com/resources.html, that we hope you will take a look at. For more information, please email info@artists-at-war.com.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Activist, Art, Political, Artists At War, Artist, Blog, Thomas McKenzie, Steven Anderson

Sandow Birk, Insurrection (From Depravities of War), 2007, Woodblock Print, Edition of 3

Sandow Birk, Humiliation (from Depravities of War), 2007, Woodblock Print, Edition of 3

printed by Paul Mullowney

In anticipation of a March 19 anti-war march to protest the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War, Chicago screenprinters & artists are holding two poster-making events the weekend before (Sat. & Sun March 15 & 16) and promoting a citywide wheat-pasting mission for the night of March 18th to put up the fruits of their labor on the city's streets. The poster workshops will take place at THE COMPOUND, located at 217 North Wolcott from 2-10 P.M. More info by emailing chicagoposterwar@gmail.com and visiting this link.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Activist, Antiwar, Art, Design, Peace, Political, Poster, Printmaking, Protest, Screen Printing, Street Art, War

I first heard about the Beehive Design Collective listening to a talk given by Sut Jhally, director of the acclaimed documentary Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land, which highlights the influence of Israeli propaganda and PR on the American media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Jhally was big-upping the collective's commitment to producing alternative media used to educate audiences about globalization and the global justice movement.    Their mission is "To cross-pollinate the grassroots, by creating collaborative, anti-copyright images that can be used as educational and organizing tools." 

This crew clearly has no egotistic or commercial intentions; no sole artist lays claim to the artwork they distribute and they give over half of their posters away for free.  The Hive has now distributed over 55,000 posters, all by hand, since its inception in 2000. This all-volunteer, art-activist collective is based in Maine, though their swarm is spread throughout Canada, Mexico, the US and Europe.  My appreciation for their work deepened as I learned more about their graphic campaigns inspired by first-hand exchanges regarding the globally critically issues of our time: "from struggles for sovereignty and widespread indigenous resistance in Latin America, to biotechnology's pursuit of godhood, to ecosystem-shattering industrial development, and so-forth."  The bees travel and engage in direct dialogue with communities affected by the "myriad faces of corporate globalization."  All of this information is then channeled into their "intricate quilt" of hand-illustrated visual narratives. 

I definately encourage you to view their extensive website at http://www.beehivecollective.org/, and feel free to give them a shout.  They're currently in need of fellow bees to help strategize, educate and make art!

We all know flickr.com is a great resource for images of just about everything, everywhere, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on a great group - Anti-War Stencils. It features everything from the big names to more obscure or anonymous artists, so give it a look and be sure to contribute your shots. (Above image by DiFusor in Barcelona, photo by Dr. Case)
Technorati Tags: Stencil, Street art, Art, Political, Peace, graffiti, Flickr, Anti War,

Founded on the idea that people on opposing sides of a violent conflict have more in common than they have differences, the Face 2 Face Project seeks to use art and humor to engage the public and end the fighting between Israel and Palestine. AJ and Marco met in 2005 and decided to travel to the Middle East together. While on this trip, they realized that in this landscape of extremes - love and hate, hope and despair, comrades and enemies - the people involved, by choice or by default, were really the same at their core. They speak essentially the same language, live their day to day lives in the same way, look the same; but somehow they have created a division that has yet to be overcome.

The project uses large scale images of the average man or woman on the street, often shot making some sort of goofy face, wheatpasted on the wall. AJ and Marco hope that by using a bit of humor and a bit of real life, that each side sees themselves in the other. As they say on the website, they hope to end Face 2 Face and soon bring Hand in Hand as a replacement.

Happy Women's Day!

Technorati Tags: Face 2 Face, Activist, Art, Political, Graffiti, wheatpaste, wall, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, portrait

So, the political junkie that I am, I get pretty excited during election season. Generally, it has lead to paralyzing disappointment in the recent past, but the spectacle of it all - polished rhetoric, damp punditry, and all the latest advances in 'campaign technology' - provides such an amazing backdrop for deeper political engagement, I can't help but pay attention.

Which brings me to the story, which could only happen in this certain context: Derrick Ashong, of Take Back the Mic and Soulfège, after finding himself youtube-superfamous, has announced a running video contest aimed at getting activists to produce 3-minute videos on various issues over the current election season. Details of the contest are on the Take Back the Mic website.

But the story leading to the contest is exciting in its own right:

On January 31, an amateur "journalist" known by name as Mike, roamed around outside the Clinton-Obama debate trying, Colbert-style, to nail the unpolished supporters of both candidates. In each of his three videos, he really comes across as a bit of an equal-opportunity jerk, but that's probably more to do with his amateur approach and our talking-points-sensitized selves. He might actually be a jerk, too... who knows?

At some point - we don't know the chronological order - he approaches a crowd of Obama supporters, specifically one Derrick Ashong, a 20-something stylish black guy holding a "Si Se Puede - Obama" sign. Mike asks why he supports Obama. Derrick - who is a pubic speaker by trade - really appears to have been chosen at random by the interviewer, and he just nails it. For everyone who has ever been embarrassed for humanity by watching "Street Smarts,” Ashong's interview reminds us other people are actually paying attention:

The video, with more than a half-million views so far, shows the reporter putting Ashong in a potentially embarrassing circumstance by asking him not to give an "emotional" answer to why he supports Obama, but rather, some technical answers. Ashong raises healthcare and a remarkably in-depth conversation ensues. To keep the conversation moving, Mike even invents an inflated statistic about hospital closures in LA county (the number is actually give-or-take 24). Ashong, by all accounts, is totally hot - what he says, how he says it, his personality, the whole bit. Comments on the youtube discussion accuse the journalist of, well, not just being a jerk looking for prey, but of having a thoroughly condescending, even racist demeanor.

Ashong responds to his "technical video" with the what he calls the "emotional response," which is just as amazing, and, at the end of the day, far more important. This video has about 200,000 hits now:

Here, Derrick discusses his own history, as an immigrant from West Africa, son of a public-health pediatrician, and an activist / organizer who works on range of social justice issues, and is now active in this presidential campaign because Obama’s “hope-by-self-empowerment” message is exactly what he’s been moving for years anyway.

I think a lot of us have.

Noticing that he seems to be creating some buzz that might have people coming back to check in on him, Ashong has now created a third video, with more promised. Not just more, but a whole lot more – from anyone with something smart to say about the substance of their issue. He and the rest of the Take Back The Mic crew are now sponsoring this video contest aimed at engaging young people in the substance of their issues – challenging his audience (hey, that's us!) to create 3 minute videos – that will go beyond the talking points and deeper than most folks think young people can even think. The first topic will be healthcare, lets hope it goes well: