Projects tagged "Activates (people)"

Energizes and organizes people into action. Can include emotion work
“Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)
Practitioner:
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Date:
Jan 24 1991
Felix Gonzalez-Torres produced meaningful and restrained sculptural forms out of common materials. “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) consists of an ideal weight of 175 pounds of shiny, commercially distributed candy. The work’s physical form and scale change with each display, affected by its placement in the gallery as well as audience interactions.
Buses in Seoul install 'comfort women' statues to honour former sex slaves
Practitioner:
Dong-A Transit company
Date:
Aug 7 2017
Buses serving several routes in central Seoul have acquired a new and highly controversial passenger: a barefoot “comfort woman”, wearing a traditional hanbok dress with her hands resting on her knees.
For What It's Worth, Buffalo Springfield
Practitioner:
Buffalo Springfield
Date:
Dec 5 1966
Released as a single on 23 December 1966, Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth became the short-lived but talent-packed band’s biggest hit, reaching No.7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1967.
menstrual pad mutual aid boxes
Practitioner:
Chinese University Students
Date:
Oct 30 2020
Since 2020, university students across China have launched a grassroots initiative to combat menstrual stigma by placing “menstrual pad mutual aid boxes” in campus restrooms. These boxes, often accompanied by signs reading “Take one if you need it, donate if you can,” provide free sanitary pads to anyone caught off guard by their period—offering both practical relief and a symbolic challenge to the cultural silence surrounding menstruation.
Global Jars of Joy
Practitioner:
The Joy Switchboard
Date:
Apr 25 2021
Our project aims to show people that joy can be an act of resistance and resilience in the face of global justice issues when harnessed in the right way. The sharing of joy can also act as a connector in a society that continues to grow more polarised through the division of social media and mainstream media.
Youth Activist Art Archive
Practitioner:
University of Utah
Date:
Jan 8 2022
The Youth Activist Art Archive (YAAA) is a dedicated platform that highlights and celebrates the creative efforts of young individuals (26 years old and younger) actively participating in diverse social movements and causes. YAAA acknowledges the vital role and innovative vision of young activists who employ their artistic talents to envision and advocate for a brighter future.
Sweden to tighten gun control laws after deadly shooting
Practitioner:
Oliver Moody
Date:
Feb 7 2025
The government will introduce more rigorous vetting procedures for firearms licences and restrict access to semi-automatic weapons. Sweden plans to toughen controls on gun ownership after its deadliest mass shooting in at least a century.
STITCHING TOGETHER: GARMENT WORKERS IN SOLIDARITY
Practitioner:
Taslima Akhter, Magnum Foundation
Date:
Sep 12 2018
On April 24, 2013, more than 1,000 lives were taken in the Rana Plaza Collapse. While history remembers this tragic event as the deadliest garment factory accident, activist and photographer Taslima Akhter reveals a story of dreams crushed by structural murder. Dedicating her career to the lives and struggles of garment workers in Bangladesh, she has continued to foster a community rallying together for safer working conditions.
The Utopia of 20 Minutes Embrace
Practitioner:
Gao Brothers from China
Date:
Sep 11 2007
On the afternoon of September 11th, nearly a hundred people hugged each other to feel the beauty of the hug on the Paris Square in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, under the leadership of the Chinese artist Gao Brothers. At the beginning of the event, the Germans have not yet adapted to the behavior of embracing strangers, but encouraged by Gao brothers, people have opened their arms and gave the strangers around them a warm hug.
Fur in Madrid: Controversy and Critique
Practitioner:
Animanaturalis
Date:
Jan 21 2020
During a cold January morning in 2020, Animanaturalis, a nonprofit group focused on ending the suffering of animals across Spain and Latin America gathered to protest the use, production, and sale of fur in Spain. In a blog post on their website, the group discusses the horrid living conditions on fur farms as well as statistics and alternatives related to fur sales (Animanaturalis, n.d.).
Your body is a battleground
Practitioner:
Barbara Kruger
Date:
Apr 9 1989
Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground) is an iconic 1989 silkscreen portrait made by artist, feminist and activist Barbara Kruger . Though the poster was meant for the pro-choice march on April 9th, 1989, in DC, the portrait is now used mainly to voice the artist’s own opinion about gender inequality. The piece is much more relevant in today’s society, where it controls the way we view and treat women’s bodies.
Kissing Doesn’t Kill and other projects
Practitioner:
Gran Fury
Date:
Jan 1 1989
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.”
The French Like Protesting, but This Frenchman May Like It the Most
Practitioner:
Jean-Baptiste Reddé
Date:
Feb 24 2023
A human tide swept through Paris last month for the type of event France knows only too well — a protest. Union leaders led the march, awash in a multicolored sea of flags. Demonstrators shouted fiery slogans. Clashes with the police erupted. And, as in every protest, there was Jean-Baptiste Reddé.
WHAT THE SUICIDE OF AUTHOR LIN YI HAN CAN TEACH US ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH
Practitioner:
Jessie Yang, University of Hong Kong, Break Study Magazine
Date:
May 19 2017
The author behind ‘The First Paradise of Fang Siqi,’ a novel that Han described as ‘a young girl falling in love with her rapist,’ has sent shockwaves through Taiwanese society. On April 27, aspiring Taiwanese author Lin Yi Han committed suicide, leaving behind only her first, and sadly last, novel. The story, entitled “The First Love Paradise of Fang Siqi,” concerns the mental struggles of a young girl who is raped by her teacher.
A TikTok Watermelon Filter Raising Money for Gaza Highlights the Platform’s Potential for Fundraising
Practitioner:
Jourdan Johnson
Date:
Nov 16 2023
A watermelon filter on TikTok is allowing users to raise funds to support civilians in Gaza, where more than 11,000 people have been killed since Israel began an offensive military attack on the Gaza Strip in October, after a Hamas attack killed 1,400 people in Israel and saw roughly 200 civilians taken hostage.
The Pussy Hat Project in The Women's March
Practitioner:
Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh
Date:
Nov 11 2016
The pink "pussy hats" in The Women's March were created by a group of activists and knitters, including Krista Suh and Jayna Zweiman. The hats were designed as a form of protest and a symbol of resistance to the new administration and its policies.
"Graffittied Graffiti"
Practitioner:
Professional Muralist and observers turned participants
Date:
Feb 1 2021
At a gallery within a shopping complex in the South Korean capital, a couple saw paint cans and brushes at their reach and use next to what was actually a finished portrait worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Thinking the available paint and brushes was a signal to be a part of the art, they ended up technically vandalizing the artists' work.
Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Album
Practitioner:
Beyonce
Date:
Jul 9 2022
Beyoncé’s album Renaissance is grounded in black queer ballroom culture. It debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard 200 and had the third highest album debut of 2022.
Mesmerizing Flesh: The Visceral Corporeality of Tamara Kostianovsky's Textile Sculptures
Practitioner:
Tamara Kostianovsky
Date:
Feb 3 2023
For artists exploring themes of violence towards humans and animals, there is a fine line between thoughtfully engaging and needlessly shocking the viewer; being sensationally explicit can turn people away while being tacit or innocuous may fail to make an impact.
Green Day’s “American Idiot”
Practitioner:
Green Day
Date:
Sep 21 2004
Mass media using propaganda to brainwash citizens. Confusion and ignorance causing a divide. People rising up against an oppressive government. Humans being torn between rage and love. These are the themes of Green Day’s widely successful 2004 album, “American Idiot.” These themes still sound familiar. Nearly two decades later, the world, especially the United States, faces these same issues.
A Million Hoodie March for Trayvon Martin
Practitioner:
new yorkers
Date:
Mar 21 2012
A march took place Wednesday evening in Manhattan calling for justice in the case of Trayvon Martin. He was an unarmed black teenager who was shot to death by a neighborhood watch captain in Florida last month.
Birds Watching
Practitioner:
Jenny Kendler
Date:
May 1 2018
Birds Watching I, 2018 was created for Storm King Art Center's Indicators: Artists on Climate Change, in partnership with NRDC, which ran from May–Nov 2018, and featured 100 U.S. climate-threatened species derived from Audubon's first report. That work was reinstalled as a public sculpture in Chicago on the elevated 606 Bloomingdale Trail between St. Louis Ave. and Kimball Ave. and is fully-accessible via the Spaulding Ave. ramp.
Coronavirus Halts Street Protests, but Climate Activists Have a Plan
Practitioner:
Fridays for Future, Greta Thunberg
Date:
Mar 19 2020
The coronavirus outbreak has prompted climate activists to abandon public demonstrations, one of their most powerful tools for raising public awareness, and shift to online protests. This week, for example, organizers of the Fridays for Future protests are advising people to stay off the streets and post photos and messages on social media in a wave of digital strikes.
Otpor Barrel Action
Practitioner:
Otpor
Date:
May 1 2000
The Milosevic regime ruled over Serbia and Yugoslavia for about 13 years. To maintain control, the Milosevic regime was infamous for arbitrary arrests, beatings, imprisonment and even murder of avid opponents.
Papel Machete Fights for Liberation
Practitioner:
Papel Machete
Date:
May 1 2006
The work of a radical theater and puppetry collective, known as Papel Machete, produces and performs throughout Puerto Rico and the United States. Papel Machete was established on May 1, 2006 during protests responding to the government shutdown and political and economic crisis prompted by Puerto Rico’s status as a United States colony.

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