About the part that art plays in a globalising society

Framer Framed

Poster by Asela Perez, International Week of Solidarity with Latin America. Published by the OSPAAAL. Cuba, 1973.

16 Apr 2025
19:00 - 21:00

Book Launch: Armed by Design

Join the book launch of Armed by Design: Posters and Publications of Cuba’s Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America (OSPAAAL) on 16 April at Framer Framed. Armed by Design is a multilingual publication on the graphic and intellectual legacy of the OSPAAAL. It’s edited by Interference Archive (Lani Hanna, Jen Hoyer, Josh MacPhee, Vero Ordaz, Sarah Seidman, Common Notions, 2025).

During the launch, co-editor Lani Hanna will engage in conversation with associate professor Sanjukta Sunderason and artist Canan Marasligil on topics such as anticolonial design, translation as political praxis, social movement archiving, and the relationship between the book and the exhibition Past Disquiet, currently on view at Framer Framed. The event is moderated by Mikki Stelder.

OSPAAAL emerged out of the 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana, a meeting of national liberation movements and leftist political parties predominantly from the Global South. Operating out of Havana, OSPAAAL designed hundreds of posters, magazines, and books between the 1960s and 1980s. Until 2019, OSPAAAL remained a political organising combating US imperialism and supporting liberation movements worldwide through anti-imperialist design practices.

Armed By Design brings together artists and thinkers from around the world whose work has been impacted by the legacy of OSPAAAL. These contributions reflect on impacts of OSPAAAL’s work on regional movements, including in the Arab world and Korea, design iconography and the evolution of tricontinentalism. It also researches our present-day relationship to OSPAAAL posters as a commodity, authorship, and reproduction.

Register here

Image: Poster by Asela Perez, International Week of Solidarity with Latin America. Published by the OSPAAAL. Cuba, 1973.


This event is in English. Admission is free.

Do you also think art should be free and accessible? Please consider supporting us with a donation when registering or by becoming a Framer Framed Friend!

This event may be photographed and filmed. Kindly let us know in advance if you prefer not to have your picture taken.

 Framer Framed is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Amsterdam Fund for the Arts; Municipality of Amsterdam; and VriendenLoterij Fonds.




Book Launch / Chile / Colombia / Art and Activism /

Exhibitions


Exhibition: Past Disquiet

Curated by Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti, this documentary and archival exhibition uncovers a largely forgotten history of politically engaged artists and initiatives

Network


Lani Hanna

Professor

Sanjukta Sunderason

Art Historian

Canan Marasligil

Writer, literary translator and artist