PosterFest: Design for Good 2019

April 26–July 16, 2019
The Wolfsonian–FIU @ 1001 Washington Avenue

One of the most versatile, accessible mediums of the modern age, posters communicate urgent messages that speak to time and place. In the 1980s and ‘90s, posters proved an especially important tool as organizations around the world mobilized to meet the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Almost 4,000 of these posters from more than 80 countries are in the Wolfsonian collection, representing a wide variety of languages and cultures. Designed to debunk misinformation, challenge stigma, encourage empathy, and promote safe sex and responsible drug use, they reveal how local values and conditions shaped the way people responded to the crisis.

For PosterFest 2019, we challenged local designers to take inspiration from 10 of The Wolfsonian’s posters and design new ones that speak to the here and now—to a critical health issue still prevalent in Miami, where HIV rates are the highest in the nation. Displayed in our lobby were reproductions of the historic posters together with the contemporary ones chosen by a panel of professional designers and public health experts.

PosterFest: Design for Good 2019 was co-presented with AIGA Miami and Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County, STD/HIV Prevention and Control Program. Sponsored by Southeastern Printing with support from FIU Department of History, FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Unity Coalition|Coalición Unida, and Ambiente magazine. The museum thanks Henry S. Hacker and family for their generous gift of a major collection of international HIV/AIDS posters.