"Democracy is Best Taught by Example Not By War"
A limited edition mail art project by Aaron Stienstra
February 2009
In 2007 IV produced Stienstra’s guerilla billboard intervention “Democracy is Best Taught by Example Not by War” on the commercial billboard that previously occupied our building. The message resonates with greater significance now as the United States welcomes its new President. Taking the billboard design one step further, we opted to use the strategies and techniques of marketing to metaphorically unhinge the billboard from the wall and send it meandering out into the public sphere.
For this mail art project, the artist used his documentation photography of the billboard intervention, executed in West Oakland, to create the design for a limited edition tote bag. Fifty bags were distributed to individuals selected from the Invisible Venue mailing list—a cross section of which includes people from a wide variety of professions, across a spectrum of age ranges and living all over the world.
Aaron Stienstra works in graphic arts, illustration, and photography to explore themes of social injustice. He is a graphic artist for The Focal Point, an organization that provides communication graphics and trial strategies for litigation. In this capacity Stienstra has worked extensively with The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence to provide pro-bono information graphics for their cause. One of his billboard designs for The Brady Center illustrating the state of Florida’s “Shoot First” law was censored by Clear Channel Corporation in 2005 and, as such, was later reproduced in The New York Times. The design for Stienstra’s guerilla billboard intervention “Democracy is Best Taught by Example Not by War” was appropriated from a Project Billboard paid ad for a Times Square billboard, vetoed by Clear Channel in 2003. Invisible Venue produced Stienstra’s use of the design and billboard intervention in the interest of promoting freedom of speech.
Additional bags available for sale. Contact christian[at]invisiblevenue[dot]com for details.
This mail project is supported with funds from an Alternative Exposure Grant, a funding program developed by San Francisco non-profit artist space Southern Exposure in conjunction with the Andy Warhol Foundation to support independent initiatives in contemporary art.