Print on Demand: Evolving Tools for the Creation and Distribution of Activist and Extremist Printed Ephemera.

In the run-up to the 2016 election, "This Machine Kills Fascists" stickers were affixed to Risographs, laser printers, and relief presses across the country. Broadsides featuring the phrase were posted in the windows of cooperative and academic print shops alike, and printmakers' social media feeds were peppered with repurposings of Woody Gutherie's famous slogan. Print, the adage supposed, would save democracy.

Flash forward to the first 2020 presidential debate, where then-President Trump urged the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by." Merchandise pairing the phrase with the hate group's name was available for purchase online almost before the debate concluded.

Through a proliferation of direct-to-garment print services and web-based drop-ship companies, right-wing political movements have effectively embraced printed ephemera to advance ultra-conservative ideologies. This panel discussion will examine the uses of print-on-demand and increasingly affordable low-run printing technology as integral to a resurgence of a far-right, authoritarian political discourse.

As these printmaking technologies continue to spread, a medium that appeared firmly in the camp of leftist, progressive, and countercultural movements now feels hijacked. Where has Print gone wrong, and how might print-based artistic practices respond to this proliferation? This panel discussion brings together artists, art historians, and cultural theorists to critically examine the mechanisms through which speedily produced one-off and low-run print-on-demand merchandise has become integral in spreading domestic hate movements and far-right ideology and asks how historically subversive, radical, and far-left printmakers can best position their presses to counteract this printed toxicity.