What is Interference Archive?
The mission of Interference Archive is to explore the relationship between cultural production and social movements. This work manifests in an open stacks archival collection, publications, a study center, and public programs including exhibitions, workshops, talks, and screenings, all of which encourage critical and creative engagement with the rich history of social movements.
Read more about who we are and what we doOn View
*Our Streets! Our City! Self-determination and Public Space in NYC
May 21, 2022 – September 5, 2022
Our Streets! Our City! explores various struggles over public space in New York City since the 1960s, and engages with past and contemporary strategies used by activists to reclaim or reimagine urban infrastructures. This exhibit is a tribute to those who have resisted top-down city-planning processes; its purpose is to honor collective fights against displacement, privatization, […]
MoreCalendar
*Weed and Seed Walk
Sunday, August 14, 2022 @ 11:00 AM
SUNDAY, August 14th 11am-12:30pmMeet at Interference Archive Join Interference Archive and the Next Epoch Seed Library for a weed and seed walk in Gowanus. We’ll identify and interact with the weedy, urban-adapted plant species that have made a home in the cracks and fissures of this rapidly changing industrial landscape. Along the way we’ll collect […]
MoreFilm + Discussion: 1970s Fiscal Crisis
Monday, August 15, 2022 @ 6:30 PM
This is an in-person event — masks and RSVP required. The 1970s fiscal crisis — when NYC nearly declared bankruptcy — was a defining moment for the city and the country, marking a fundamental shift towards austerity and neoliberalism. As Kim Phillips-Fein writes, “with unions and ordinary citizens refusing to accept retrenchment, the budget crunch […]
MoreSeptember Admin Working Group meeting
Monday, September 12, 2022 @ 7:00 PM
Our monthly admin working group meeting happens virtually, and all are welcome to attend. Email info@interferencearchive.org for a link.
MoreOur Collections
Our collection includes tens of thousands of items created as part of social movements around the world, by the participants themselves: posters, flyers, publications, zines, books, T-shirts and buttons, moving images, audio recordings, and other materials. For us, making this material accessible to the public is an act of preservation, not only of the physical materials, but of the collective history of those struggling for social change. Learn more about our collections and set up a time to visit them in-person in the archive.
About the Collection
Now Streaming
Audio Interference 83: Sister Serpents and Generative Archiving
In this episode, volunteer Jen Hoyer explains how the archive is using donated materials to create an online presence for noteworthy, but digitally absent groups like Sister Serpents. But generating new materials and new discussions is not without a few risks. Stay tuned to find out more. To learn more about Sister Serpents, check out […]
Listen >News & Updates
*How we keep things going at Interference Archive
It takes a lot to keep a place like Interference Archive up and running! Back in 2018 we shared a breakdown of the financial cost of running our space; we’ve also reflected more broadly on finances as part of the bigger picture of sustainability in our work. Somehow we’re now in 2022, and we thought […]
MoreExhibition Tours: Silencio, Fuego, Palabra, Vida
El curador de la Exhibición de Gráficas Zapatistas “Silencio, Fuego, Palabra, Vida”, Eden Bastida Kullick, estará disponible para dar visitas guidas de la exhibición en español durante el horario de atención de Interference Archive del 23 de abril al 7 de mayo. Si está interesado, comuníquese con Eden para programar un visita: edenbastidakullick@gmail.com Curator of Zapatista […]
MoreShop
*Exhibition Catalog: Walkout: A Brief History of Student Organizing
May 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of the Kent State and Jackson State massacres, which set off a historically large-scale student strike across the nation. With the anniversary as an entry point and frame of reference, this 96-page full color publication uses posters, buttons, pamphlets, flyers, zines, and more—to examine the broader scope of student movements that both led up to and followed those of May 1970.