Projects tagged "Cities"

Bristol Activists Use Street Art to Fight Gentrification
Practitioner:
The People's Republic of Stokes Croft
Date:
Feb 8 2016
The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft is using street art to preserve the identity of Bristol’s most culturally diverse neighbourhood.
Urbaneer
Practitioner:
Terreform ONE
Date:
Mar 6 2013
Whose job is it to create a city? Our intention is to jumpstart a new profession that can re-invent and negotiate the complex mix that encompasses a city. We have defined a radical new occupation to regenerate, pioneer, and sustain the future urban realm. These innovative multi-disciplinarian advocates are called Urbaneers. Their immense task is to manifest and facilitate the next expression of city across the globe.
Kinshasa Costumes
Practitioner:
Ndaku Ya La Vie Est Belle
Date:
Aug 20 2021
The collective Ndaku Ya La Vie Est Belle, a group of Kinshasa street performers turn their bodies into living sculptures, and use them to political ends. Among the artists is Jared, who regularly takes to the streets dressed as Robot Annonce. The costume, made from broken radio parts, is designed to raise awareness of fake news. “People receive so much incorrect information and many inaccuracies are spread. I want to fight this,” says Jared.
My World Is In Your Blindspot
Practitioner:
Tenzing Rigdol
Date:
Jul 1 2014
This is a series of paintings reflecting the struggle and sacrifices made by the Tibetan people for independence. The author is Tenzing Rigdol, who is a Tibetan and influenced a lot by the Dalai Lama and traditional Tibetan culture. The paintings are full of Tibetan cultural elements. For instance, the characters created in the paintings are Tibetan monks, who are the typical representatives of their culture.
Belgium Disappears
Practitioner:
Jason Applebaum
Date:
Dec 15 2006
For a brief moment on Wednesday night it appeared that Belgium had disappeared. The main French language television station hoodwinked the country into thinking that it had split in two when it reported that Flanders had issued a unilateral declaration of independence.
Soviet Army Monument - REDUX
Practitioner:
various activists
Date:
Feb 23 2014
Since the beginning of Bulgaria's transition to democracy, the monument’s meaning and future has been the subject of heated debates. Opponents to the monument aren’t happy about the presence of such a dominating foreign army monument in the country that is situated higher and more central than national symbols. In recent years, the monument has turned into a canvas for anonymous political statements on multiple occasions.
"The Body Of Water"
Practitioner:
Desiree Duell
Date:
Jun 19 2015
In November 2016, citizens of Flint, MI filed a historic class action law suit against both city and state for the damages wrought by lead contaminants in the water supply. The city's 100 thousand inhabitants have faced damages not only to their homes for the corrosive qualities of the water, but in myriad physical ailments; skin lesions, hair loss, high lead blood levels, vision loss, depression and anxiety are all reported symptoms.
Instantaneous ownership
Practitioner:
Zou Yaqi, China News
Date:
May 21 2021
"Why should I play a celebrity and live in Beijing for 21 days without spending money?" From May 1st to May 21st, 2021, I spent 21 days in Beijing without spending money, and I was as elegant as a celebrity. I recorded this behavior through video. Video "Instant Ownership" 28-minute graduation exhibition version of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (click to watch)
London’s “Free Butt Plug Catalogue” Confronts Hostile Architecture
Practitioner:
A Chinese Artist
Date:
May 16 2025
Hostile architecture—urban design features like ground spikes that deter the homeless from lying down or slanted benches that prevent lingering—inscribes exclusion into our streets. In response, a Chinese artist will launch the Free Butt Plug Catalogue, an art-activism project that documents fifteen such spikes and anti–loitering benches across London and pairs each with a commercially available butt plug of the same shape.
Ghosts of Union Square - The Contested City
Practitioner:
Not An Alternative
Date:
Oct 1 2011
"This project took aim at a public relations campaign produced by The Union Square Partnership, a local Business Improvement District (BID) attempting to privatize the north end of NYC’s Union Square park and install a high-end celebrity chef restaurant. They hosted historical walking tours of the park for decision-makers, as a means of getting buy-in for their development initiative.
Recycle Flash Mob
Practitioner:
Mall Shoppers
Date:
Jul 1 2015
A group of unidentified guerrilla activists staged a unique pro recycling flashmob in a Quebec mall in July 2015. An actor 'forgot' an empty water bottle on the ground in a food court a couple of feet from a recycling receptacle. Numerous people walked past the bottle and did nothing. Finally a woman walking past it reached down and recycled the bottle. She was then given a standing ovation and thunderous applause from the entire food court.
People's Tours: A social history of the South End walking tour
Practitioner:
People's Tours
Date:
Jun 16 2012
In early 2012, a group of artists, activists and assorted other odd balls got together to form People's Tours. The idea was to give walking tours in the Boston area. Standard enough. But instead of the usual history, we would talk about social justice, contested spaces, important protests, and shady corporations. So far, the group has consisted of Dave Taber, Heather McCann, Kristin Parker, Neil Horsky, and Tim Devin.
Activists and Residents Light Up Bushwick with Anti-Gentrification Signs
Practitioner:
NYC Light Brigade
Date:
Dec 31 2015
Since Christmas Eve, some lights along the streets and in the houses of Bushwick have spelled out a number of messages quite different from the festive wishes one usually finds during the holiday season. “GENTRIFICATION IS THE NEW COLONIALISM,” “NOT 4 SALE,” and “NO EVICTION ZONE,” some read.
Chinatown gets animated in campaign against 76ers arena plan with bevy of protest art on display
Practitioner:
Supporters of the No Arena in Chinatown movement
Date:
Jan 9 2023
Wander around Chinatown and you'll find a simple message plastered along storefronts and the sides of buildings: NO ARENA.
Wall Hunters: The Slumlord Project
Practitioner:
Wall Hunters Inc.
Date:
Oct 4 2013
Wallhunter's Slumlord Project is an innovative project in Baltimore, Maryland that will use street art to expose and publicize vacant and dilapidated housing and the responsible parties for those conditions. The project will use different street art forms to display art that will attract community interest and support community identity.
Occupy Sandy relief effort puts Occupy Wall Street activists in the spotlight again a year after Zuccotti Park
Practitioner:
Occupy Wall Street
Date:
Dec 5 2012
By Rebecca Davis and Meena Hart Duerson Those who believed the Occupy Wall Street movement was all but dead after its dramatic removal from Zuccotti Park last fall may have been surprised to see the group pop up again in the days after Hurricane Sandy. But this time, they weren’t organizing protests – they were calling on their large network to come to the aid of those hit hardest by the storm.
U.S./Iraq War Memorial
Practitioner:
Mark Skwarek and others
Date:
Jan 1 2004
The U.S./Iraq War Memorial is an augmented reality public art project and memorial, dedicated to the thousands of individuals who have died on both sides of the conflict.
Aqua Line
Practitioner:
Heavy Trash
Date:
Jan 1 2000
Creative Time, Social Practice Archive: In 2000 Heavy Trash, an anonymous arts organization of designers, architects, and urban planners, implemented its Aqua Line project throughout various parts of Los Angeles. The project involved the installation of false "Future Station Location" signs in the downtown area, notifying passersby of the impending construction of a subway that would connect the downtown to the Westside.
Tournons le dos ! / Turn our back ! [April 22, 2012 – April 23, 2017]
Practitioner:
Lino Tonelotto, the 22avril2012 collective, the 23avril2017 collective.
Date:
Apr 15 2012
In France, abstention, vote of protest, lassitude or violent reactions rise from all over the crisis of our "representative democracy ». What about thinking the other way round ? What if we reappropriate the iconography of the election?
Circus Amok
Practitioner:
Jennifer Miller
Date:
Jan 1 1989
Circus Amok is a New York City based circus-theater company whose mission is to provide free public art addressing contemporary issues of social justice to the people of New York City.
The Panama Papers
Practitioner:
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
Date:
Apr 3 2016
A giant leak of more than 11.5 million financial and legal records exposes a system that enables crime, corruption and wrongdoing, hidden by secretive offshore companies.
Witness to the ruins/Testigo de las ruinas
Practitioner:
Mapa Teatro
Date:
Dec 15 2002
The starting point of this artistic project, carried out by MAPA within its Laboratory of Artists in Colombia, is the disappearance of one of the oldest "barrios" downtown Bogotá: El Cartucho.
New Walk Ways in New Bell
Practitioner:
Kamiel Verschuren
Date:
Dec 1 2010
The city of Douala in Cameroon had a huge problem associated with malfunctioning water drainage systems. This is due the fact that in many illegally constructed areas of the town, the sewers are without cover, and after heavy rainfall, this would generally lead to floods and related threats to public health.
Iranian Documentary ‘The Gardener', on Religion and Baha’i Garden
Practitioner:
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Date:
Feb 1 2012
The Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf opens “The Gardener” with the declaration: “I am an agnostic filmmaker.” From anyone else, this might seem like a simple statement, but not from the complex Mr. Makhmalbaf. In 1974, when he was 17, religious and involved in a guerrilla group, he stabbed a policeman, for which he received a bullet to the stomach and a prison sentence.
This area will be photographed
Practitioner:
Laura Napier
Date:
Oct 11 2015
"This area will be photographed" is a public performance of implied photographic consent, inspired by Google's street view and satellite surveillance. Posted signs and handbills alerted the public present in Union Square, New York, NY that a photograph would be taken of the area at a precise time.

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