For the 2020 campaign season, The Class Action Collective installed billboards in critical election states, and Connecticut (where the group was founded in the 1990s by graphic design graduate students at the Yale School of Art; current active members run independent design studios and teach in the design programs at Yale, Northeastern, Rutgers and University of Pennsylvania). The project confronts current policies that have sidelined science when scientific knowledge and inquiry are needed the most. The billboards urge American voters to take action by supporting "pro-science" candidates in the election (as though science itself should even be a pro or con issue!).
These monumental messages are rendered in red, white and blue, "reassuring voters that a pro-science position is patriotic," asserts the Collective. "They grab attention with uplifting biblical verbs, juxtaposed with a call to support science when voting. These billboards speak individually and as a series." Using biblical language implies "science and religion can, should and do co-exist in a free society."
Science provides practical solutions to urgent issues such as disease, global warming, and an exploding world population. As the Collective maintains, "protecting science is at the core of every major issue in next month’s national and local elections."
Billboards are on view in Orlando, Fla., Richmond, Ind., West Haven, Conn., and Phoenix (with four different messages in rotation) and are on display through the Nov. 3 election. Outdoor media companies in each location have provided the space, production and installation services at a reduced fee.
For more, follow the project on Instagram.