Design and capitalism, book presentation CAPS LOCK by Ruben Pater
Thursday 22 June 20:00
At the Bollox Eerste Schinkelstraat 16 Amsterdam
Activist movements are bursting with creativity. Making posters, stickers, magazines and other forms of communication are useful means of achieving political goals. Designers and printers were not only essential in producing material for the leftist movement, they also started the biggest trade unions and questioned the role of capitalism at an early stage. On the other hand, design and branding played an important role in creating today’s consumer society. Graphic documents such as banknotes, cards, contracts and bureaucratic documents were essential for state oppression and the creation of international markets.
Is design just a luxury product or can it exist outside capitalism? Designer and anarchist Ruben Pater undertook a four-year search for answers and interviewed collectives and design cooperatives for his book CAPS LOCK.
Are you a designer, printer, or artist? Are you curious about how design and capitalism are historically intertwined? Do you think design and art should be abolished altogether? Come along on 22 June and join the discussion.
The book presentation will be in English
(presentatie is in het Engels)
