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Interference Archive

Exploring the relationship between cultural production and social movements.

Email: info@interferencearchive.org

Address:
131 8th Street, Suite 4
Brooklyn, NY 11215

2 blocks from F/G/R trains at 4th Av / 9th St

Website: interferencearchive.com

Mission

Interference Archive explores the relationship between cultural production and social movements. This work manifests in public exhibitions, a study and social center, talks, screenings, publications, workshops, and an online presence. The archive consists of many kinds of objects that are created as part of social movements by the participants themselves: posters, flyers, publications, photographs, books, T-shirts and buttons, moving images, audio recordings, and other materials. Through our programming, we use this cultural ephemera to animate histories of people mobilizing for social transformation.  We consider the use of our collection to be a way of preserving and honoring histories and material culture that is often marginalized in mainstream institutions. As an archive from below, we are a collectively run space  that is people powered, with open stacks and accessibility for all.  We work in collaboration with like-minded projects, and encourage critical as well as creative engagement with our own histories and current struggles.

The archive is all-volunteer and relies on the help of many people.We currently organize the labor of running the project into working groups: Administration, Cataloging, Born Digital, Education, Fundrraising, and and evolving series of ad-hoc curatoral groups for each exhibition.

Our History

Interference Archive was founded by Kevin Caplicki, Molly Fair, Dara Greenwald, and Josh MacPhee. Our initial collection grew out of the personal accumulation of Dara and Josh, who amassed an extensive collection of materials including books, prints, music, moving images, and ephemera through their involvement in social movements, DIY and punk, and political art projects over the past 25 years. Together with Molly and Kevin’s skills, knowledge, and commitment, they envisioned turning these personal collections into a public archive, with open-access to materials for the communities who created them, and with archival work conducted by movement participants with firsthand knowledge of its historical context. We realized their vision with the helping hands and dedication of our friends, families, and communities, and in December 2011, Interference Archive opened its doors.  Since we opened, we have already come a long way toward developing an autonomous space and archive unlike any other in New York City. Collectively, we’ve built an impressive repository of social movement history from below. We’ve created a social center within which to study, process, debate, use, and produce work that reflects people’s struggles around the globe, past and present. And we’ve grown faster than we could have imagined!

Here are some highlights from our first three years:

  • An open-access, open-stack archive of cultural ephemera produced by and for social movements worldwide.

  • Over a dozen exhibitions, including the Persistence of Dreams, a retrospective of work by Sublevarte Collectivo from Mexico City; Radioactivity! Anti-nuclear Movements from Three Mile Island to Fukushima;  Àvenir (an installation by the Montreal-based design collective Ècole de la Montagne Rouge, active in the Quebec student strike of 2012); Strike Then, Strike Now: an Exhibition and Event Series about Work Stoppages; Serve the People: The Asian American Movement in New York; Self-Determination Inside/Out: Prison Movements Transforming Society, We Are Who We Archive (A Focus on Recent Donors and Acquisitions in 2014); We Won’t Move: Tenants Organizing in New York City; and if a song could be freedom. . . Organized Sounds of Resistance.

  • Over a half dozen publications: exhibition catalogs for RadioActivity!, Serve the People, The Persistence of DreamsSelf-Determination Inside/Out, Documents from the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, We Won’t Move, and a 7″ record to coincide with if a song could be freedom. . . Organized Sounds of Resistance.

  • Over fifty talks and workshops, including the history of anti-war posters and graphics by archivist Carol Wells; a May Day poster critique and design charrette with Occuprint; a look at a punk- and anarchist-inspired UK football club by Bristol Radical History Group’s Roger Wilson; a presentation by Egyptian designer and activist Ganzeer; and dozens of programs related to our exhibitions.

  • Film screenings in conjunction with our exhibits as well as movies such as Maggots and Men, Land of Destiny, and the premiere of The Days of the Commune.

  • A number of significant donations to the collection, including over 300 political protest buttons from Eleanor Bader, hundreds of posters from African and Latin American movements and solidarity organizations from Alexis De Veaux, twenty years worth of anarchist posters from the Bound Together Bookstore in San Francisco, ephemera from European squatters movements from Alan W. Moore, a large selection of anti-nuclear and peace posters from John Miller, and a beautiful collection of Cuban posters from Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey which were originally collected by his father Carlos Vega.

The work at Interference Archive is done in the spirit and memory of Dara Greenwald, who we lost to cancer in 2012. Her ideas and energy continue to inspire us today.

Associated Artists
Friends of Justseeds, Josh MacPhee, Kevin Caplicki, & Molly Fair

Subjects
AnarchismAnti-capitalismAnti-warCulture & MediaEcology & AnimalsEducationEn EspañolEnvironment & ClimateFeminisms & GenderGlobal SolidarityHealthHistoryHousing & CitiesIndigenous ResistanceInspirationLaborMigrationPolice & PrisonsQueer LiberationRacial JusticeSocial Movements
Building for Us

Building for Us

Interference Archive & Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB)
Out of Stock
Workshop/Discussion on Reproducible Graphics and OSPAAAL

Workshop/Discussion on Reproducible Graphics and OSPAAAL

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Zine-making with Cuban political graphics: a discussion and workshop. In this workshop, participants will explore the work of OSPAAAL (the Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and…

Solidarity on the Move

Solidarity on the Move

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Make Sure You’re Not Being Watched

Make Sure You’re Not Being Watched

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Screening with filmmakers Sherry Millner & Ernie Larsen   An evening of anarchist film. Join us to watch and discuss Sherry Millner & Ernie Larsen’s Shoplifting: It’s a Crime? and…

Solidarity, Distribution, Design: The Poster Today

Solidarity, Distribution, Design: The Poster Today

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215

A great panel featuring artists, designers, and historians discussing the intersections of solidarity, propaganda, poster making, and image distribution. As the event is part of the programming for Interference Archive’s…

Interference Archive 1st Annual Benefit

Interference Archive 1st Annual Benefit

WHERE

Verso Books
20 Jay St., Suite 1010
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Join Interference Archive for an evening of friends, refreshments, and art as they raise money to support all the amazing exhibitions, public programming, and collections at the Archive. There will…

Justseeds Hang Out & Print Sale at Interference Archive

Justseeds Hang Out & Print Sale at Interference Archive

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St
Brooklyn, NY 11215
2 blocks from the Fourth Avenue F/G/R stop

Justseeds members Josh MacPhee and Kevin Caplicki will be holding a print sale during open hours at Interference Archive this coming Saturday! Swing by to shoot the breeze, check out…

Baldwin Reading Group

Baldwin Reading Group

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St #4
Brooklyn, NY 11215

The New York Council for the Humanities, in collaboration with Interference Archive, will host a James Baldwin reading and discussion group, running weekly from January 23 through March 5 (with…

Our Comics Ourselves: Identity, Expression, and Representation in Comic Art

Our Comics Ourselves: Identity, Expression, and Representation in Comic Art

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th ST #4
Brooklyn, NY 11215

The exhibition Our Comics, Ourselves: Identity, Expression, and Representation in Comic Art presents the graphic stories that describe the complexity and diversity of our collective experience, and examines the social…

Voices From Outside at Evolving Festival

Voices From Outside at Evolving Festival

WHERE

The Clemente
107 Suffolk Street
New York, NY 10002
(btw Rivington & Delancey)

Interference Archive has contributed a copy of Voices From Outside to the current festival happening in NYC. Evolving has grown into a festival of FreeJazz music, dance improvisation, poetry and…

Inaugurating Resistance Propaganda Party

Inaugurating Resistance Propaganda Party

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St #4
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Interference Archive is hosting a propaganda party on the weekend of January 14/15 to produce and disseminate artistic material to be used during the counter-inauguration actions.

Commonwealth: Water for All

Commonwealth: Water for All

WHERE

Queens Museum
New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Queens NY 11368

Commonwealth: Water For All brings together We Are the Storm and Wellspring, two recent portfolios of artists’ prints developed by the Justseeds Artist Cooperative on the subjects of climate change resistance and water. This exhibition also features a selection of materials on loan from Interference Archive including the now iconic graphics developed for the 2016 movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.

Building Resistance Propaganda Party

Building Resistance Propaganda Party

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St #4
Brooklyn, NY 11215

What is a propaganda party? It’s where we get together to make and share graphic and informational material that we can use in our organizing work. Join us on March…

Sowing Resistance Propaganda Party

Sowing Resistance Propaganda Party

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St #4
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Join us on April 23rd at Interference Archive! This is a time to meet people, learn about the work different organizations are doing, and pick up flyers, stickers, posters, buttons,…

Take Back the Fight

Take Back the Fight

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Recovery from trauma after sexual assault is often imagined as a personal, internal experience. However, an exclusive focus on individual narratives of victimization and healing can obscure decades of collective,…

Get Organized Brooklyn Propaganda Party

Get Organized Brooklyn Propaganda Party

WHERE

Prospect Park Bandshell
9th St. and Prospect Park West entrance

Interference Archive is heading over to Prospect Park to take part in GetOrganizedBK’s Civic Festival — and we’re bringing a propaganda party with us! What is a propaganda party? It’s…

Interference Archive Block Party

Interference Archive Block Party

WHERE

Interference Archive
131 8th St. #4
Brooklyn, NY 11215

We’re bringing back the block party! Join us on our block on September 2 for: drop-in self-defense workshops by the Center for Anti-Violence Education and Pop Gym a performance by…

Justseeds Holiday Sale & Open House for Interference Archive

Justseeds Holiday Sale & Open House for Interference Archive

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th St
Brooklyn, NY 11215

2 blocks from the 4th Avenue F-G-R train stop

Join Interference Archive in its new home as they celebrate the amazing space, and take a moment to pick up some holiday gifts! There will be a great selection of new work from members of Justseeds, along with publications from Interference Archive and Common Notions. Comics, zines, and posters, will be for sale from the Our Comics, Ourselves crew.

People Power

People Power

WHERE

Express Newark
Paul Robeson Galleries
54 Halsey Street
Newark, NY 07102

A panel discussion on grassroots arts organizations and the role of collaboration in creating accessible, democratic, and community-driven arts initiatives. Featuring the speakers: Lisa Conrad, Newark Print Shop Evonne Davis,…

no. NOT EVER.

no. NOT EVER.

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215

no. NOT EVER. is a multi-media, interdisciplinary, immersive installation that provides an anti-racist, anti-fascist framework for understanding the rise of white nationalism in the current moment. This video-based “living archive”…

Armed Love: A Screening

Armed Love: A Screening

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Interference Archive is excited to be screening the new short documentary, Armed Love, by Sean Stewart. The film is a meditative look at and conversation with Ben Morea about his…

Agitate! Educate! Organize! Agit Prop Into the 21st Century

Agitate! Educate! Organize! Agit Prop Into the 21st Century

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th St
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Our daily lives are saturated with information; we consume supposedly “neutral” media that implicitly supports existing power structures, yet we simultaneously fear “fake news” without critically analyzing the truths and…

Interference Archive Benefit

Interference Archive Benefit

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th St
Brooklyn, NY 11215

You’re invited to Interference Archive’s (almost) annual benefit! It’ll be a fun night filled with friends, refreshments, and social movement history, celebrating one year in our new home on 7th…

Radical Press Fest @ Interference Archive

Radical Press Fest @ Interference Archive

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th St
Brooklyn, NY 11215

You’re invited to an all-day festival of radical books, zines, prints, and more! “The Radical Press Fest” will bring together publishers working in different genres and on various scales to…

GRAVITY LECTURE SERIES: Kevin Caplicki co-founder Interference Archive

GRAVITY LECTURE SERIES: Kevin Caplicki co-founder Interference Archive

WHERE

Dorothy Fleming Lecture Theatre
Sheffield Hallam University Charles Street, S1 2ND
Charles Street
Sheffield

Bloc Projects‘ Public Programme Curator Kerry Campbell, alongside Social Arts Network, Sheffield Hallam University and Yorkshire & Humber Visual Arts Network (YVAN) are delighted to welcome guest speaker Kevin Caplicki,…

Certain Days 2019 Calendar Release Party

Certain Days 2019 Calendar Release Party

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th st
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Join us for the Certain Days 2019 Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar launch party! The calendar is in its 18th year and is a joint fundraising and educational project between…

Interference Archive Holiday Open House

Interference Archive Holiday Open House

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Come celebrate our second annual holiday open house on 7th Street! Stop by, sip on hot cocoa, and browse our last-minute-market of radical gifts from our friends at Justseeds Artists…

Black Flags Over Brooklyn 2019

Black Flags Over Brooklyn 2019

WHERE

Brooklyn Bazaar
150 Greenpoint Ave
Brooklyn, New York 11222

Justseeds and Interference Archive will be tabling the vendor market at this years Black Flags Over Brooklyn. Black Flags Over Brooklyn 2019 is a new two-day anti-fascist extreme metal festival…

Hi-Vis: Australian Political Posters 1979–2019

Hi-Vis: Australian Political Posters 1979–2019

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th St., Brooklyn, NY 11215
www.interferencearchive.org

HI-VIS: AUSTRALIAN POSTERS 1979–2019 is an exhibition of screen-printed posters that provide a visual commentary of politics and life in Australia over the last four decades. Renowned for their high…

if a song could be freedom . . . Organized Sounds of Resistance

if a song could be freedom . . . Organized Sounds of Resistance

WHERE

College of Staten Island Art Gallery
2800 Victory Blvd
Building 1P
, Room 112
Staten Island, NY 10314

Opening: Thursday, February 21 at 5pm This exhibition looks at how music has shaped the manners in which we understand ourselves in the past, present, and into the future. It…

Like the Waters, We Rise: Climate Justice in Print

Like the Waters, We Rise: Climate Justice in Print

WHERE

The Nathan Cummings Foundation
475 10th Ave. 14th Fl.
New York, NY

BOTH EXHIBITION VENUES ARE CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. A vast movement for climate justice continues to rise worldwide, directly challenging the powerful interests of those most responsible for the climate…

Poster Sale!

Poster Sale!

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215

This Sunday is the 2nd Annual Interference Archive Duplicate* Poster Sale! Interference is in large part funded by the people that use it, so we need your help to keep…

Sounds of Palestine

Sounds of Palestine

WHERE

Interference Archive
314 7th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Join Interference Archive for an informal listening party of dozens of vinyl records made by Palestinian musicians and in solidarity with Palestine. Josh MacPhee has been collecting these records for…