Political Arts Organization To Present “Picture-Lecture” at Allegheny College
Nov. 11, 2013 – The Beehive Design Collective — a nonprofit, volunteer-driven political arts organization — will present “Mesoamerica Resiste” on Monday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Quigley Hall at Allegheny College. The public is invited.
“Mesoamerica Resiste” is the final poster in the narrative trilogy “Dismantling Monoculture: Tales of Ants and Economics in the Americas,” an innovative graphic campaign that explores globalization and militarism in the Americas.
A high-energy “picture-lecture,” “Dismantling Monoculture” is an anthology of three giant, educational, visual narratives that illuminate the connections between colonization, militarization and industrial development in the Americas. The featured graphics are the culmination of 10 years of firsthand stories shared with the collective on their travels.
To create the images, members of the design collective interviewed hundreds of community members about the effects of globalization on their lives. The designers then craft visual metaphors and weave them together in a patchwork “quilt.”
In the interactive picture-lectures, they lead audiences through a larger-than-life banner version of the graphic, interweaving anecdotes, statistics and histories gathered from Mexico to Colombia. The experience prompts discussion and understanding of contemporary struggles in an era of tremendous change.
The Beehive Design Collective has tackled issues as diverse as biotechnology, corporate globalization, food and agriculture, and colonialism. The group’s mission is to “cross-pollinate the grassroots” by creating images that educate the public and deconstruct complex geopolitical issues.
Their body of work is distributed as “anti-copyright”: individuals and organizations are encouraged to reproduce the graphics for nonprofit use as a means of circulating information and awareness.
Members of the collective will also be participating in a number of classes while they are on campus. Their visit to Allegheny is sponsored by the college’s Department of Environmental Science, Allegheny Student Government and Students for Environmental Action.
For more information visit www.beehivecollective.org.