This just in from Grupo Soap del Corazon in Minneapolis:

Dear Friends,

This September, the Republicans are meeting in Saint Paul, Minnesota, September 1-4, 2008, to nominate candidates for president and vice-president of the United States and to create their political platform.

The Republicans, as you may remember, are the ones that brought the citizens of the United States (and the citizens of the world) such delights as the war in Iraq, the current economic recession, flagrantly increased national debt, and a lack of timely response to global warming. They are also creators of the current impasse with national healthcare, the stalemate with NAFTA reform, decreasing immigrant rights, tax cuts for the rich, and blatant, far-reaching government corruption.

So how do you feel about all that? Want to express yourselves? Well, we want to help you.

Grupo Soap del Corazón is a Latino artists’ group based out of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. We have a nine-year history of cultural and social activism here in Minnesota and in North and South America. Our work has been seen by thousands of people in galleries, museums, non-profits, and alternative art spaces as well as on the walls and telephone poles of many communities. We are organizing an international poster project, to take place on the streets of your town (wherever you are) and on the streets of our town. As you may know, political posters have a long and varied international history and have been an effective way for artists to effect change. We are hoping to inspire posters and postering throughout the world… in Spain, Chile, Ireland, Norway, India, Mexico, Germany, etc – and also throughout the U.S. Here’s how you can be a part of our efforts:

1. Make a poster. Anything expressing your viewpoint on the coming U.S. election, the Republican convention, the state of the United States, it’s role in the world, and the state of that world.

2. Create the poster any way you want.

3. Minimum size for the poster is 11”x17”.

4. You must print a minimum run of 8 posters. The posters must be multi-run prints: one-of-a-kind works of art will not be accepted. A minimum of 5 must be placed out in your community, on walls, on telephone poles, in windows, etc.

5. A minimum of 3 of the posters must be sent to Grupo Soap del Corazón and arrive by August 30th, 2008. 1 poster will be in an art exhibit that we create and, later, our archive. 1 poster will be sent to the Center for the Study of Political Graphics. The rest will be used to poster the streets of the Twin Cities before, during, and after the Republican convention.

6. To be part of this effort, you must also send us at least one digital image of your poster on walls, telephone poles, etc in YOUR community. Send them to artjones@bitstream.net.

7. Digital of all posters posted out in your community will be put up on our website: myspace.com/gruposoapdelcorazon.

8. There will be an exhibition of ALL the posters, most likely opening in October for the end of the campaign. Right now we are in negotiations with the California Gallery in Northeast Minneapolis. We will announce the show on our myspace site by September 15th, 2008.

9. Send your posters to:
Grafica Politica #2
Grupo Soap del Corazon
c/o Douglas Padilla
304 2nd Street NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

10. Please spread the word. Email around to other artists and encourage them to participate. We especially urge you to encourage artists in countries outside the U.S.A. – we want the world’s voices to be heard here.

11. We will pay special attention to anyone who organizes a group of artists and sends in posters as a group. Additionally, groups will get extra acknowledgement in the exhibition.

So, poster your town with your thoughts and feelings – and we’ll help you poster ours.

Grupo Soap del Corazon
www.myspace.com/gruposoapdelcorazon
artjones@bitstream.net