Interference Archive

History

Interference Archive began as the personal collection of Josh MacPhee and Dara Greenwald, activists who told the New York Times that they had filled their home with so much "social movement memorabilia ... Ph.D. students would visit to conduct research." The idea to turn it into a public resource began in 2008 when the couple was asked to curate an exhibition at the Exit Art gallery in Manhattan. Using the title "Signs of Change," it showcased cultural artifacts produced by those engaged with groups organizing to foment change. The show and research they did in preparation for it is reflected in the Interference Archive mission statement which begins, "Interference Archive explores the relationship between cultural production and social movements." MacPhee and Greenwald also point to archives and libraries of similar scope and purpose as inspiration, including another Brooklyn-based organization, the Lesbian Herstory Archives.

In 2010 MacPhee and Greenwald moved their collection to its current home in a warehouse in Gowanus, in collaboration with activists and artists Molly Fair and Kevin Caplicki. Greenwald named it Interference Archive to capture "the idea that the collection causes static, or interference, in institutional archives and in the larger society." It opened its doors to the public in December 2011 with a punk and feminism themed exhibition in tribute to Greenwald, who had been struggling with endometrial cancer and died the following month.

The rising prominence and popularity of the Occupy movement emerged as one specific motivation around the time of the Archive's opening, when its founders observed among Occupy participants a need for information about social movements of the past.

Interference Archive has broadened its activities significantly since opening, operating as a library and community space and hosting regular talks, art exhibitions, performances, workshops, and other events. As of 2014 it operates on a yearly budget of less than $25,000, supported primarily by donations from a community of financial sustainers. The Guardian's Edward Helmore, assessing the place of the Archive among other arts institutions, described it as "far removed from the realm of commercial art galleries, oligarch collectors, the show-palace museums of billionaire real estate developers, and under the watch of gun-toting revolutionaries from several decades back — and is far the richer for it."

Collection

The archive is housed in a two-room, 725-square-foot (67.4 m²) warehouse space, filled to the ceiling. The collection includes a number of different kinds of media artifacts which provide information and illustration about the histories of radical political movements around the world, with 40% of the archive coming from outside the United States. Among the materials are posters, fliers, pamphlets, zines, stickers, T-shirts, books, graphic novels, newspapers, games, videos, leaflets, buttons, audio recordings, and other ephemera. The topics it covers includes ACT-UP, Occupy Wall Street, Arab Spring, Code Pink, Pink Bloque, Rock for Choice, Latin American art, nature, ecology, feminism, punk rock, criminal justice, prison reform, apartheid, anti-nuclear movement, squatting, anarchist bookfairs, May 1968 events in France, and Dutch anti-fur activism.

MacPhee summarizes the conceptual basis for the collection as "material produced by people organizing to transform the world".

The owners and volunteers take a pointedly nontraditional approach to archivism. In selection and acquisition, no priority is given to particular movements, media types, or well-known artists. Instead, it positions itself as a commons where people can share what they have and benefit from what was donated by others. Whereas most archives stress materials protection and preservation, the Interference Archive promotes access and use: "materials only have meaning when they're in circulation" spreading ideas beyond their boxes and files.

Events and exhibitions

In addition to its primary purpose as an archive and library, Interference Archive also functions as a multipurpose community center, gallery, and events space. Past events and exhibitions have covered prison reform, the Asian American movement in New York, underground newspapers, the anti-nuclear movement, and Art+Feminism edit-a-thons.

Armed by Design, a 2015 exhibition, comprised graphic art from Tricontinental, a magazine published by the Cuba-based anti-globalization, anti-imperialist, anticapitalist organization OSPAAL (Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America). The Guardian described it as "a fascinating tour of 60s and 70s radical politics and its heroes".

In addition to historical materials and preexisting cultural products, the Archive occasionally commissions artists to produce original work. For Armed by Design, the 60s and 70s graphics were supplemented by a new set of topical posters. Another exhibit, if a song could be freedom... Organized Sounds of Resistance, included a series of annotated mixtapes compiled by musicians, historians, and activists.

One exhibit in April 2013 featured "book blocs", home-made cardboard shields glued together by activists for use during college tuition protests. The shields on display as well as others made during a workshop earlier in the month were confiscated as weapons by the New York Police Department the day before they were due to be used at Cooper Union in a protest against the school's decision to begin charging tuition.