Main Gallery

Reversing the Lens: Sexual Harrassment Victim uses social media, leads to harasser's arrest
Practitioner:
Thao Nguyen, Hollaback!
Date:
Aug 20 2005
 A young woman named Thao Nguyen was riding the R train in NYC when a man sitting across from began to masturbate.
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In Brazzaville, Fashionistas Lift Spirits With Apparel And Activism
Practitioner:
La Sape
Date:
Apr 24 2014
When can fashion be considered an act of social activism — even subversion? The streets of Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo’s capital (Congo-Brazzaville), have seen plenty of violence and suffering over the years. But a group of local fashionistas known has “sapeurs” are lifting spirits and celebrating life by following a simple commandment: Dress to impress.
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Odes to Putin were Russian translations of Nazi verse
Practitioner:
Anonymous Russian pranksters
Date:
Jun 26 2024
Pranksters reveal odes to Putin were Russian translations of Nazi verse
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Anti-Capitalism Art on the Louvre's Glass Pyramid
Practitioner:
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Date:
Apr 24 2013
For the first time since its controversial installation in 1989, the I.M. Pei-designed Louvre Pyramid has been decorated in a museum-sanctioned act of anti-capitalist activism.
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#NoFutureNoChildren
Practitioner:
Emma Lim
Date:
Sep 16 2019
As leaders across the world are getting ready to gather together to discuss climate change—and what to do about it—at the UN Climate Change Summit in New York next week, hundreds of young people across the world are going on birth strike to pressure policymakers into action.
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Kozaburo contemplates Japan’s spiritual history for AW21
Practitioner:
Kozaburo Akasaka
Date:
Mar 22 2021
In the four years since launching his eponymous label, Kozaburo Akasaka has established himself as a leader of New York’s new guard of fashion designers. In 2017, just months after graduating from Parsons’ prestigious Fashion MFA programme, his tailored silhouettes -- knife-sharp and steeped in retrofuturistic grunge -- earned him the LVMH Special Prize.
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Girl Be Heard
Practitioner:
Girl Be Heard, Ashley Marinaccio, Jessica Greer Morris
Date:
Sep 5 2013
Girl Be Heard is a theatre company founded by Artistic Director, Ashley Marinaccio and Executive Director, Jessica Greer Morris, which melds talent and background to create social justice theatre. The company has performed throughout New York City and worldwide to tackle global issues. Their productions include 9mm America, a Theatrical Uprising Against Violence, Girlpower: Survival of the Fittest, Trafficked, Project Girl: Congo, and Child Bride.
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SPEAK
Practitioner:
various groups around the world
Date:
Mar 25 2013
Last night I attended an Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Assault Speak Out, where people across campus from the LGBT community and coalitions of color came together in one sacred space to share their stories with strangers. For many, including me, it was the first time we spoke out publicly. It was empowering. It was liberating. Rarely do I let myself shed tears over my repressed memories, yet I cried over every
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How one small Barbie doll took on the art world
Practitioner:
Art Activist Barbie
Date:
Apr 16 2020
Museums and art galleries are not usually the sites of feminist political protest. Yet over the past couple of years, before the lockdown, gallery visitors all over the UK had noticed a small, determined activist whose modus operandi is “Small signs, big questions, fabulous wardrobe”.
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Discongreso
Practitioner:
Enmedio
Date:
Sep 25 2012
"Surround Congress”: as soon as we’d heard this, in our minds we were there. To make the Government resign and demand they start a new constituent process seemed like a great idea. We immediately got to work.
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THE SAHMAT COLLECTIVE: ART AND ACTIVISM IN INDIA SINCE 1989
Practitioner:
The Sahmat Collective is co-curated by Jessica Moss, Smart Museum Associate Curator for Contemporary Art, and Ram Rahman, a photographer, independent curator, and founding member of Sahmat.
Date:
Jan 1 2015
In 1989, playwright, actor, and activist Safdar Hashmi was fatally attacked by political thugs while performing a street play outside of Delhi. His death led to the founding of Sahmat, an influential artist collective that has taken a consistent stance against the threats of religious fundamentalism and sectarianism in India through a vibrant mix of high art and street culture.
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Artists Activists
Practitioner:
Tegan Bukowski
Date:
Jan 1 2011
ArtistsActivists is a youth empowerment and advocacy organization started in 2011 by graduate students at Yale University. Through the various ArtistsActivists programs, artists and designers share their skills with young people around the world. Since more people are joining our team bringing with them certain skills and project ideas, the Artists Activists mission is constantly evolving.
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Rainwater art activism
Practitioner:
Serge Belo
Date:
Mar 22 2013
To raise awareness among the general public about the global clean water crisis, the artist Belo created an image composed of 66,000 cups of colored rainwater simulating levels of impurities found in water all over the planet. This major work of 3,600 square feet, representing a fetus in the maternal womb, emphasizes the necessity of water, even before birth, for each living person.
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The Condom on Jesse Helms' House
Practitioner:
ACT UP
Date:
Sep 5 1991
On September 5th, 1991, I put a giant condom over Jesse Helms’ house. Why? Because, as the condom said, “Helms is deadlier than a virus.” Senator Jesse Helms was one of the chief architects of AIDS-related stigma in the U.S. He fought against any federal spending on HIV research, treatment or prevention.
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No Poisonous Pigs
Practitioner:
the Taiwan Anti-ractopamine Union
Date:
Dec 31 2020
President of Taiwan, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party（DDP）, Tsai Ing-wen, at a press conference with no early forecast on August 28, 2020, announcing that from January 1, 2021, American pigs containing ractopamine (Ractopamine) will be opened for those over 30 months old U.S. cattle are imported. Furthermore, the administrative order has only a 7-day notice period.
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National Memorial for Peace and Justice
Practitioner:
Equal Justice Initiative
Date:
Apr 26 2018
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, opening to the public on April 26, 2018, will become the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence.
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What to do with a statue of Christopher Columbus?
Practitioner:
Tatzu Nishi
Date:
Sep 12 2012
“Discovering Columbus,” by the Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi. Nishi built a living room around the sculpture in Columbus Circle in New York City. The living room is mounted on scaffolding and turns the sculpture into a domestic center-piece.
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The Walk With Amal, Little Amal
Practitioner:
The Walk (Little Amal)
Date:
Jun 1 2021
Little Amal is the 12 foot puppet of a 10 year old Syrian refugee child at the heart of The Walk. Over the last year she has become a global symbol of human rights, especially those of refugees. Since July 2021, Amal has travelled over 9,000km and been welcomed by more than a million people on the street, including hundreds of artists and civil society and faith leaders, as well as by tens of millions online.
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How Mexico Formed A United National Identity Through Art
Practitioner:
Mexican Artists
Date:
Oct 4 2016
"Beginning in 1910, the Mexican Revolution spawned a cultural renaissance, inspiring artists to look inward in search of a specifically Mexican artistic language. This visual vocabulary was designed to transcend the realm of the arts and give a national identity to this population undergoing transition.
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With the Help of an Art Installation, Ukrainian Activists in NYC Canvass Voters for Support
Practitioner:
Ganna Smirnova, Vsevolod Myrnyi and Zhanna Galeyeva
Date:
Nov 4 2024
Four days before the U.S. presidential election, three Ukrainian activists gathered at a stranded fence in New York City’s East Village to hang an expansive information poster. “19546+ Ukrainian Children Abducted by Russia,” reads its headline in bold. From a black canvas, white letters jump out at the passersby, a haunting reminder of the toll the Russian invasion continues to inflict on Ukrainian families.
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