This proposal is an attempt to discuss the period of the so called “Greek debt crisis” that has been located at the centre of the ongoing global financial crisis. This period is examined through the framework of Agitational Visual Languages. The term Agitational Visual Language is utilised to describe visuals and graphics that can critically intervene in the urban and virtual spaces where socio-political discussion takes place. The focus is on artefacts that are employed in support of grassroots movements that emerged in response to economic and social crisis in Greece and in their relation to comparable landmark events elsewhere. In this context, I discuss the work of groups and individuals who design the ‘organs of information’ such as signs, posters, newspapers and other printed or digital media that comprise crucial components of the public sphere.

The term is used as a way to examine both geopolitical characteristics, as well as common visual elements in the pattern of social movements that has arisen in Greece and other parts of world in the recent years. The proposal discusses pivotal moments and important strands identified within a practice-based research, exploring visual strategies utilized by the social movements in response to the global financial crisis during the early part of the 21st century.

This research is conducted from the perspective of a graphic design practitioner who is a supporter and active participant within political spaces related to the investigation. The subject of this research exists in the crossover between two distinct areas of graphic design and socio-political activism. This precise crossover describes the specific area where this term wishes to contribute in the debate about “Geo”- politics and the new visual vocabularies of antagonism and resistance. The analysis of this protest repertoire can reveal networks of solidarity, evidence of visual self-consciousness, as well as a model for future creative action.