Catalogue Number
NMLH.2023.69.11
Object Name
Poster
Title
Techno Threat
Date
1972-1982
Description
The Poster Collective was a collective formed in 1971 at the Slade School of Art,  a group formed to initially produce posters in response to the miners strike and on the wars in both Vietnam and Ireland. It was formed on the basis of developing a coherent visual style, which addressed the political issues of the time. This included the armed struggles against colonialism in Africa, the struggle of women for equal rights and the continuing struggle against racism. The collective was active in the 70's and 80's, producing posters on a wide range of issues, including for educational purposes. The group was not-for-profit and used a variety of hand-printing techniques to create their posters. This poster is part of a set, 'Future Fictions', produced when the collective moved to the North London Polytechnic is a set of posters reflecting on technological development and leads us to address environmental issues of today. This is a black and white poster. The monkey's head in the centre
links a lot of wires. On the right side of the picture it says "Science is steadily increasing our power to influence, change, mould -in a word control human behaviour. D.B.F. Skinner "I can go into my office and pick up the telephone and in twenty five minutes seventy million people will be dead. Richard Nixon US President 1974. Science and technology have progressively delivered greater and greater means of control over both natural and social forces. At the same time enlarged means of destruction and dysfunction appear to develop as a component of this control. The very possibility of nuclear devastation, growing large scale pollution, massive increases in unemployment, millions upon millions living in absolute poverty, behaviour modification, forms of surveillance programmes, are factors that have lead to a widespread questioning not just of the current application of technology but also the way it has developed historically. The Enlightenment dream of technology and science
providing the solutions to human problems, is increasingly eclipsed by a sense of threat that appears to follow in the wake of the promises.
