La Linterna, (The Lantern) is a letterpress printing workshop based in Cali, Colombia, which was established in 1934. It is dedicated to artisan printing of posters using linoleum engraving and the use of movable types. Each poster is an authentic work of art that represents the craft of printing and handcrafted engraving.
Their workshop in the San Antonio neighbourhood of Cali, Colombia is home to several classic printing machines, including the Heidelberg typographical printing press (Germany, manufactured between 1923 and 1985), Marinoni typographical press (Paris, 1870), Babcock Letterpress (New York, 1890) and the AB Dick Printer (US, Manufactured between 1960-1986).
In 2016, the workshop was facing financial crisis. When the bosses at La Linterna stopped paying their employees, the workers occupied. Ultimately, they got rid of their bosses altogether, and now run the presses themselves.
La Linterna is an icon of popular Colombian and Latin American radical street propaganda that has narrated part of Colombia’s graphic history since 1934 through graphic arts and printmaking and the UK is the last country on their ‘We are Sudamerican Printers’ Euro Tour 2023.
The exhibition will be on display at MayDay Rooms until the 27th of November🎉