Curated by Megan Wilson and Maw Shein Win in collaboration with Kevin Chen and Intersection for the Arts, Broadside Attractions | Vanquished Terrains featured twelve pairs of visual artists and writers creating new collaborative work inspired by the historical broadside and reflections on current events and contemporary culture using the theme of “vanquished terrains” as a point of departure. 

BROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS | VANQUISHED TERRAINS
APRIL 11 – MAY 26, 2012 
INTERSECTION FOR THE ARTS 
925 Mission Street, Suite 109, San Francisco, CA 94103

History of the Broadside

Historically the broadside has been defined as a large sheet of paper printed on one side and designed to be plastered onto walls in public to announce events, proclamations, or news. Although broadsides were first introduced in England, they became a prime means of communication and the most common form of printed material in the early days of the U.S. before newspapers. In addition to announcements, advertisements, and commentaries, broadsides also came to feature cartoons, poems, and song lyrics. 

A famous example is the Dunlap broadside, the first publication of the U.S. Declaration of Independence printed on the night of July 4, 1776 by John Dunlap of Philadelphia in an estimated 200 copies. Before newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and the internet, there was the broadside, but unlike these other visual forms of communication, the broadside was intended to be ephemeral, i.e. temporary documents created for a specific purpose and intended to be discarded. Over time, artists and writers began to embrace the format and structure of the broadside, working with printers and publishers to create limited edition multiples of their work, oftentimes a short written piece accompanied by an illustration depicting the essence of the writing.

During the 20th Century in the U.S., Harlem Renaissance, Concrete, and Beat writers all claimed the broadside as a below-the-radar way to get their work out onto the streets. However, as printed matter has become more and more obsolete in our digital world, the broadside too has become outdated or less accessible (today poetry broadsides can be purchased as limited edition artworks through venues such as City Lights). 

Endangered, Karrie Hovey & Elise Ficarra (with Evelyn Ficarra), 2012

Endangered, Karrie Hovey & Elise Ficarra (with Evelyn Ficarra), 2012

Vertical Horizons, Eliza Barrios & Myron Michael, 2012

Broadside Attractions | Vanquished Terrains

Broadside Attractions | Vanquished Terrains paid homage to the history of printed matter as a means of public communication, highlighted cross-disciplinary work between artists and writers, and demonstrated a 21st Century reinterpretation of one of the original forms of public communication. 

Artist | Writer pairs:
Eliza Barrios | Myron Michael 
Paul Bridenbaugh | Steve Gilmartin 
Karrie Hovey | Elise Ficarra 
Misa Inaoka | Jaime Cortez 
Keiko Ishihara | Chaim Bertman 
Patricia Kelly | Vince Montague 
Dwayne Marsh | Nana Twumasi 
Nathaniel Parsons | Ly Nguyen 
Christine Ponelle | Annice Jacoby 
Matthew Rogers | Maw Shein Win 
Megan Wilson | Hugh Behm Steinberg 
Liz Worthy | Jenny Bitner

Part One: The Visual Artists provided their writer collaborator with a “playlist” inspired by the theme Vanquished Terrains. The playlist included: One piece of music One movie One location 

Part Two: The Writers created a poem or prose up to 1,000 words based on the playlist provided to them by their artist collaborator.

Part Three: The Visual Artists created a 2-dimensional graphic black & white image inspired by the written piece created by their writer collaborator. 

Part Four: The written and visual works created in Parts Two & Three were paired together and printed as a traditional broadside. The size of the broadside is 15 by 22 inches. The broadsides were printed by Lisa Rappoport/Littoral Press.

Part Five: The Collaborative Teams worked together to create a non-traditional interpretation of the broadside, integrating the written text from Part Two.

Danger, Nathaniel Parsons & Ly Nguyen, 2012

Grey Market 13 Inch Power and Grace, Paul Bridenbaugh & Steve Gilmartin, 2012

Help!, Hugh Behm-Steinberg & Megan Wilson, 2012