This print is one of nine apart of the Autonomous Democracy project open edition from 2021. The series focused on highlighting the history of direct democracy within freedom movements. Since screen printing the original edition at Spudnik Press Cooperative the series has been wheat paste around the world from the streets of Chicago to Montreal to London to Mexico City.
This print is a play on "grève générale illimitée" (unlimited general strike), the RÊVE GÉNÉRAL ILLIMITÉ. The slogan was shared by Stefan Christoff. He notes, "On the streets in Montréal in 2012 this slogan was painted on banners, on signs, and also described a general feeling of the major social momentum that was taking place within the context of a historic student strike in Québec. Hundreds-of-thousands of students were striking across Québec to protest a hike in tuition fees for public universities, but also the strike was a critique of the entire neo-liberal economic order, the push since the 1980s to move toward the absolute commodification of public institutions and spaces. In a sense the strike was led by students but also was a social movement that a major portion of Québec society participated in. Rêve Général Illimité was an important slogan because it illustrated the shift from the focus on being just the strike to the focus being on a general critique of the current economic order, but also a vision that saw the political space created by the strike as a framework to express general dreams about a society and world beyond the economic violence of neoliberalism. Alliances were built between climate justice movements, community organizing against gentrification and also activists campaigns against systemic police violence and brutality. Rêve Général Illimité illustrates well the urgency of the open spirit that defined the 2012 protest movement in Québec that extended from spring 2012 until the fall of 2012."
Autonomous Democracy installation London, 2023
Autonomous Democracy installation Chicago, 2021
