This protest installation was first used in 2016 at Standing Rock when the community banded together to protect the Missouri River from a Dakota Access Pipeline.
During the public vacation of May Day, also called International Workers’ Day, “For People, Food is the First Necessity: Qiu Zhijie’s Writing in a Market” was launched at the crowded Sanyuanli market in Beijing.
from "Laugh, O Revolution: Humor in the Egyptian Uprising" by Anna Louie Sussman, in 2011.
Revolutions can be messy. They can be tragic. As long as the Internet is working, they can be tweeted. And, as Egyptians demonstrated during their 18 days of protest, they can also be funny.
Gran Fury was an AIDS activist artist collective from New York City consisting of 11 members, all artists - but action, not art, was the aim of the collective. Gran Fury member Loring McAlpin described the collective's mass-market ambition to “...fight for attention as hard as Coca-Cola fights for attention.”
Digital art platform Kinfolk has launched its New York City-wide participatory exhibition Signature Series, the initiative’s largest public endeavour to date. The project places newly created augmented reality (AR) monuments by four New York artists—Pamela Council, Derrick Adams, Tourmaline and Hank Willis Thomas—into designated public spaces across the city.
In 2013, Ghana ThinkTank received a Creative Capital Award for Emerging Fields, enabling them to begin the multi-year ThinkTank at the Border project. In this project, they are collecting problems from civilian border patrols like the Minutemen, "Patriot" groups, and Nativist organizations, and bringing them to be solved by think tanks of undocumented workers in San Diego and recently deported immigrants in Tijuana.
For Women’s History Month 2024, Hysterical Collective presented: Hysterical: Radical Creativity – the third instalment of the annual charity art exhibition and cultural programme taking place in March each year. Co-founded and curated by Eliza Hatch of Cheer Up Luv and Bee Illustrates, Hysterical is a queer and feminist-led exhibition and event showcase; centred around community, collaboration, and activism.
Through their podcast, The Dance Union, Melanie Greene and J. Bouey have been confronting racism in the dance world, and highlighting the experiences of Black artists, since 2018. Their episodes cover a variety of topics and issues, ranging from mental health and sexual harassment to advocating for fair pay.
Eugene Lee Yang is an actor, filmmaker, producer, author, dancer, and digital content creator from Pflugerville, Texas. He received his education at the University of Southern California, and is most known for his contribution to the popular Youtube group, The Try Guys.
We designed a WaterWaysWalk with interactive activity suggestions linked to both a Website and a hardcopy Zine, either of which could be utilised on the walk to raise awareness about Water Sustainability.
Below is an extract from the website explaining what the focus was:
Native American groups are expected to protest the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, calling for the AFC champions to drop their name and logo as they take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57.
The Chiefs wear the arrowhead logo on their helmet and use a large drum to kick of their home games, as fans routinely engage in what’s known as the “tomahawk chop” chant, all of which critics say draw on offensive and racist stereotypes.
Cheril Linett is a female artist from Chile, with a background in performance art and stage performance, who primarily focuses her artwork on feminist issues in Chile, especially ones involving violence, murder, hate crime and different kinds of oppression and assault, but also creates artwork reflecting issues in other parts of Latin America.
Filmed in Harlem, New York, and in Claude Monet's gardens in Giverny, France, THE GIVERNY SUITE is a cinematic poem that advocates for the safety and bodily autonomy of Black women. Employing techniques including hand-painted film animation and montage editing, Gary first developed the work during an artist residency in Giverny, where the gardens offered a space of respite.
Kendick Lamar is known as one of the most prolific, and socially conscious, rappers of our time. 'BLOOD.' is the second track off of Lamar's iconic album 'DAMN.' from 2017. What makes this song stand out is the sample used at the end of part one of the song.
In Pittsburgh, Memphis and Los Angeles, massive billboards recently popped up declaring, “Birds Aren’t Real.”
On Instagram and TikTok, Birds Aren’t Real accounts have racked up hundreds of thousands of followers, and YouTube videos about it have gone viral.
Last month, Birds Aren’t Real adherents even protested outside Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco to demand that the company change its bird logo.
Matthew “Levee” Chavez sits at a table in New York City’s Union Square, sporting a thrift store suit and tie, holding a sign that reads “Subway Therapy.” This act of social practice, which started as an invitation for conversation, went viral after he set up shop at the subway the day after the 2016 presidential election. He wrote “Express Yourself” on a Post-It and stuck it to the tiled wall.
February 24, 2023 will mark one year since the Russian invasion and occupation of Ukraine began. Russia is attempting to take over Ukrainian territory and destroy its rich, vibrant culture. Ukrainians are fighting for their country and right to exist as free, independent people. For months, Ukrainians have endured relentless bombardment, destruction, and hardship.
Jeremy Scott and Moschino may no longer be a thing but the designer is still plenty busy. Case in point, Scott's new partnership with Korean car manufacturer Hyundai, the latest in the latter's ongoing Re:Style upcycling program.
For Hyundai Re:Style 2023, Jeremy Scott has saved discarded Hyundai Motor Car parts from the junk pile, instead transforming them into wearable couture (car-ture?).
In December – as many around the globe were preparing for the holidays – Sama, a former attorney, remained hunkered down in her house in Kabul, Afghanistan, trying to comprehend how her world had changed.
From 1998 to 2004, pro-democracy activist Htein Lin was jailed for challenging the military dictatorship in his home country of Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. Prior to his imprisonment, Lin acted in films and with a theater troupe. While behind bars, he continued to organize performance artworks with his fellow prisoners.
‘Since Plotinus’, writes Joseph Tanke (2019, p. 486), ‘Western art has been consecrated to beauty, and beautiful art has been understood as the achievement of good form’. But alongside this interest in beauty and form, art has been committed to politics and perspectives, equity and rights. Consequently, and particularly since the start of the modern era, artists frequently initiate or participate in ‘difficult conversations’.
Step into the captivating world of Zanele Muholi, the activist and masterful photographer from South Africa. Through their lens, they unveil the realities found within LGBTQI+ stories, challenging norms and reshaping perceptions of beauty. Each intimate and evocative portrait captured by Muholi becomes a vessel for social change, dismantling stereotypes, and amplifying the voices of those historically silenced.
Two members of the Yes Lab brought a dozen thrift-store suits to Zuccotti Park and asked for volunteers. Then, within earshot of the police, the group made a human microphone announcement about a "highly risky, very arrestable" action. Then, together with a brand-new police escort, the group headed towards the Wall Street Bull chanting "Castrate the bull!" and other angry slogans. More police joined.
Just over a decade ago on May 15, 2011, a wave of social outrage began as the Spanish people collectively decided that they had had enough of the corruption, cuts, and inequalities affecting their country.
When dancer Sheen Jamaal saw a video of protestors doing the Cupid Shuffle in New Jersey, inspiration struck to do something similar in New York. He immediately called his friend and collaborator Allison “Buttons” Bedell, and the seed for the Dance For George protest was planted.