Visual Resistance
Posted January 11th, 2008 by eliotVisual Resistance is a collective of artists and activists based in New York City that uses art as a tool for social change.
In 2007, we merged with the radical art distro JustSeeds to form a national printmakers’ cooperative. JustSeeds.org features an online store featuring radical prints, books, zines, and posters. It also features a blog on radical culture which is the new online home of our old blog.
We continue to work together on the local level, and you can browse our current and past projects by navigating through the icons at the top of this page. Here’s a short list of what we’ve done:
Ongoing projects
Just Seeds: We’re founding members of this artists’ cooperative. JustSeeds.org features an online store, blog, artists’ portfolios, and a network of activist projects that its members participate in. The cooperative is an experiment in making and distributing art outside the gallery system. A portion of all sales goes to collective activist projects.
Ghost Bikes: Memorial installations for bicyclists killed by cars. This is our most active project. Inspired by similar projects in Pittsburgh and St. Louis, we created the first ghost bike in New York City in June 2005 in memory of Elizabeth Padilla. Since then the project has grown to include a dozen NYC alternative transportation organizations and spread to almost two dozen cities worldwide.
Pedestrian Memorials: Branching off from the ghost bike project, we work with Time’s Up!, Transportation Alternatives and other groups to create memorials for pedestrians killed by cars in New York City.
Past Projects
2007
Not One More Death: Collaborative mural in Gowanus, Brooklyn with Groundswell Community Mural Project and Transportation Alternatives.
2006
If They Come For You In The Morning: Benefit gallery show for our friend Daniel McGowan, a political prisoner then facing trial. Over 100 artists, over 1,000 attendees, over 100 degrees inside ABC No Rio.
Guernica. Wheatpasted mural at the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Thanks to Deep Dish TV for sneaking us in.
Street Art Workers: International political poster campaign on land and globalization.
2005
How To Make Street Art: Tips, tricks and info on how to make street art. Everyone can make art with minimal materials and some simple techniques. Hopefully this helps; if not, experiment.
Defend Brooklyn!: We made a big banner for an anti-gentrification march in Williamsburg. See also here.
2004
No RNC Poster Project: Our first project. 50,000 posters by dozens of artists protesting the Republican National Convention in New York City.
Occasional
Workshops: We occasionally do workshops on silkscreening, stencils, and other techniques for DIY public art at high schools, conferences, and other events.
