Poster

WikiLeaks: Axis of Reputation

  • Metahaven
  • 2011, English
  • Two-colour Newspaper
  • 33 × 22.75 in
  • ISBN 978-0-9868326-9-7
  • Free + Postage

  • $0 + $7 (International Shipping)
  • Order through Paypal

Released in conjunction with Fillip 15, WikiLeaks: Axis of Reputation maps the “soft power relations” of the whistleblower Web site WikiLeaks though its interactions with various media, corporate, and governmental actors. The work is part of Metahaven’s ongoing Transparency, Inc. project (2010–), a research effort investigating the image politics of transparency. Transparency, Inc. began through an attempt to outline the constantly fluctuating image economy of (and potential alternative visual representations for) WikiLeaks. It has since evolved with the aim of addressing the issue of transparency more generally.

The map available as a downloadable file (16meg JPEG) and is also being distributed free at the following select bookstores and galleries:
Artspeak, Vancouver
Golden Age, Chicago
Kadist, San Francisco
Motto Books, Berlin
Múltiplos, Barcelona
Museum of the Image, Breda
Ooga Booga, Los Angeles
Or Gallery, Vancouver
S/F, Auckland

More About the Project

Smashing Windows with Windows: Transparency, Design, and WikiLeaks, Metahaven in conversation with Jeff Khonsary

An earlier version of the map was shown at the 2011 Gwangju Design Biennale, Gwangju Korea.

About the Author

Metahaven is a studio for design and research founded by Vinca Kruk and Daniel van der Velden. Metahaven’s work—both commissioned and self-directed—reflects political and social issues in provocative graphic design objects. In 2010, Metahaven authored Uncorporate Identity, a book on politics and visual identity, published by Lars Müller. Solo exhibitions include Affiche Frontière, CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux (2008); and Stadtstaat, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart/Casco (2009). 
In 2011, Metahaven was selected by Rolling Stone Italia as one of the world’s 20 most promising design studios.



Daniel van der Velden is a Senior Critic at Yale University’s MFA program in graphic design. He is a tutor at the design department of the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam and has lectured at the University of Amsterdam School of Media Studies.


Vinca Kruk teaches Editorial Design 
at ArtEZ Academy of the Arts, Arnhem, and graphic design at Otis College of Arts and Design, Los Angeles.