Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America

Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America

U.S. Interventionism in Central America

In 1984, a group of artists in New York joined forces to use their creative talents to challenge U.S. intervention in Latin America under the Reagan Administration. This poster was a call for artists to join the effort and was created by American sculptor, Claes Oldenburg. The final version of the poster differed from the one here, listing 1,087 participants, from individual visual artists and collaborative teams, performance artists, poets, filmmakers, curators, art critics and writers, as well as 80 events, including 29 exhibitions, 20 film showings, 7 dance and performance festivals, 6 poetry brigades, 6 video and TV installations, 6 reading series, 2 street actions, 2 window installations, and 2 panel discussions. According to artist, Doug Ashford, "Artists’ Call Against US Intervention in Central America was a nationwide mobilization of writers, artists, activists, artists organizations, and solidarity groups that began in New York in 1983. Quickly mobilizing artists and their organizations across the country, Artists Call collectively produced over 200 exhibitions, concerts and other public events over a period of 12 months. These events increased awareness of our government’s involvement in state terrorism across the hemisphere, linked the notion of aesthetic emancipation to revolutionary politics and provided concrete resources for the cultural workers and public intellectuals in the region and in exile."

Claes Oldenburg

Roz Payne

Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

1984

poster