Projects tagged "Civil Liberties"

Response to James Cohan Gallery (October 19th, 2017)
Practitioner:
Chinatown Art Brigade
Date:
Oct 19 2017
October 19, 2017
Tim DeChristopher Thwarts a Land Auction (Bidder 70)
Practitioner:
Tim DeChristopher
Date:
Jul 27 2011
In December 2008, Tim DeChristopher, along with his church group, was protesting outside a Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction of 116 parcels of public land in Utah's red rock country. Tim decided to take his protest inside and disrupt the auction itself. Instead, at the door, he was offered a bidder's paddle — which, after a split second of hesitation, he accepted.
Aboriginal Embassy, Richard Bell
Practitioner:
Richard Bell
Date:
Jan 1 2013
Richard Bell has often called himself ‘an activist masquerading as an artist’. Aboriginal journalist and radio broadcaster Daniel Browning has suggested that Bell is also ‘a megaphone.
This Is Not Your Body
Practitioner:
This Is Not Your Body
Date:
Nov 25 2014
Two reflective stickers in a bathroom stall. When you sit down you can see your face in the bottom one. When you stand you can see your face in the top one, your groin in the bottom one. The top one says "Public", the bottom one says "Private". Or maybe the top one says "Private", and the bottom one says "Public". Which one is correct?
Sex Strike
Practitioner:
Liberal Ladies Who Lunch
Date:
Apr 23 2012
Mockery: Women’s New Weapon 
Iconic artists release 'Toast To Freedom' song for Amnesty's 50th anniversary
Practitioner:
Amnesty International
Date:
May 3 2012
No description available
Journal Rappé
Practitioner:
Xuman & Cheikh “Keyti” Sene
Date:
Jan 1 2015
A TYPICAL EPISODE of Journal Rappé begins with Senegalese rapper Makhtar “Xuman” Fall dressed in a suit and seated behind a news desk. At first glance, the show looks like an ordinary newscast. But then Xuman (pronounced human) launches into his intro, rapping in French instead of talking. “Welcome! Make yourself comfortable. These are the news for you. Some good ones and bad ones too. But they’re all news for you.”
Slashing the Rokeby Venus
Practitioner:
Mary Raleigh Richardson, WSPU
Date:
Mar 10 1914
On March 10, 1914, Mary Richardson slashed Velasquez's "Rokeby Venus" with a small axe during public hours at the National Gallery in London. A militant suffragette protesting the force-feeding of imprisoned suffragettes in prison (and the Cat and Mouse Act which released the starving women only until they were slightly healthier only to imprison them again), Richardson released this statement after her arrest:
After their slogan was outlawed, pro-Palestinian activists turned to a karaoke classic
Practitioner:
Pro Palestinian Activists
Date:
Apr 26 2026
Brisbane, Australia — The flash mob descended on Brisbane’s city square, wearing double denim and blond wigs in the style of a legendary Australian singer as they danced with wild abandon to one of his 1980s hits.
"STAND UP FOR SOMETHING" Oscars 2018
Practitioner:
Common, Andra Day & Special Guests
Date:
Mar 4 2018
The American rapper’s performance of 'Stand Up for Something' with singer Andra Day has gone down as one of the highlights of this year’s Academy Awards. Common used his Oscars performance to condemn Donald Trump’s “hate” and the National Rifle Association. The American rapper’s performance of “Stand Up for Something” with singer Andra Day has been held up by many as one of the highlights of this year’s Academy Awards.
The Scheherazade Project
Practitioner:
The Scheherazade Project
Date:
Jun 9 2020
The Scheherazade Project is a Performing Arts Non-profit based in Washington DC. Co-founders Lisa Leibow and Julia Alvarez were inspired by Scheherazade in the Arab classic 1001 Nights and created The Scheherazade Project. For more information, our website is https://thescheherazadeproject.org/The-Scheherazade-Project
This Ain't a Eulogy: A Ritual for Re-Membering
Practitioner:
Taja Lindley
Date:
Apr 30 2016
"This Ain't a Eulogy" is both a staged performance and a durational, outdoor, public performance that reclaims and takes public space. The artist statement is as follows:
Adrian Piper, Mythic Being, 1973 - 1975
Practitioner:
Adrian Piper
Date:
Jan 1 1973
Adrian Piper disguised her identity, changing her race, sex, and social class in order to experiment in public situations and gauge people’s reactions. She investigated how outwardly visible identity markers (like skin color) impacted others’ perceptions of her character. By manipulating her (apparent) identity to produce reactions, she demonstrated the power and influence of stereotypes (Piper, 1996).
Threads of Resistance
Practitioner:
Artist Circle Alliance
Date:
Jul 15 2017
A juried exhibition of fiber art created by the Artist Circle Alliance to protest the Trump administration’s actions and policies. This is a traveling exhibition to 13 venues across the U.S. All work in the exhibition, as well as the nearly 560 pieces submitted for jurying, are shown on our website.
Photographing the hidden – Violence Unseen
Practitioner:
Alicia Bruce, Zero Tolerance
Date:
Sep 3 2018
UK photographer Alicia Bruce collaborated with Zero Tolerance, a Scottish non-profit to end GBV, to produce a new version of the Violence Unseen campaign, launched for the first time in the 1990s and created by Franki Raffles. The new one was launched in 2018, 25 years after the original iconic Zero Tolerance campaign, shot by the late Franki Raffles.
Poetry and silence: Iran's Kurds tread the line between art and activism
Practitioner:
Iranian Kurds
Date:
Feb 26 2016
In a sleepy town in Iranian Kurdistan, people take off their winter coats. It is evening, and outside one can just about discern the silhouettes of the mountains that lead to the Turkish and Iraqi borders. Inside, some 60 people fill the small community centre with a clammy heat. But it is not just warmth they are after. They have come for poetry.
Gravity of Equilibrium, an exhibition about Mass Shootings in USA
Practitioner:
Arts Letters and Numbers / Adela Wagner
Date:
Aug 3 2019
“Gravity of Equilibrium” revolves around Mass Shootings in USA. Mass shootings and guns are an incredibly divisive topics, one that is nearly impossible to engage opposing viewpoints in a discussion about. The majority of gun related debates devolve into charged arguments with parties feeling threatened. This effectively creates an environment where new perspectives and inputs are unable to be processed.
Musicians trade in boycotts for activism to fight North Carolina's 'bathroom bill'
Practitioner:
Animal Collective, Duran Duran, Mumford & Sons, Beyonce
Date:
May 11 2016
Animal Collective, Mumford and Sons and Duran Duran among performers who have turned concerts in state into fundraisers as part of NC Needs You movement Even as North Carolina’s governor, Pat McCrory, refused to comply with federal officials over his state’s so-called “bathroom bill”, experimental pop group Animal Collective went forward with its scheduled show in the state over the weekend.
Inside Out Project
Practitioner:
JR
Date:
Mar 2 2011
After winning the TED Prize on March 2, 2011, the French-artist JR launched the Inside Out Project, in his first TED Talk. Using his own artistic practice as inspiration, this participatory platform helps individuals and communities to make a statement by displaying large-scale black and white portraits in public spaces. Through their “Actions,” communities around the world have sparked collaborations and conversations.
Turkey's Artists Protest Islamist Censorship After 'Secret Obscenities'
Practitioner:
Turkish Artists
Date:
May 2 2012
Tsinghua students use Women’s Day to joke about ending presidential term limits
Practitioner:
students from Tsinghua University
Date:
Mar 8 2018
Students at China’s prestigious Tsinghua University are celebrating International Women’s Day with banners making light of a proposed constitutional amendment to scrap term limits for the country’s president. One banner joked that a boyfriend’s term should also have no limits, while another said, "A country cannot exist without a constitution, as we cannot exist without you!”
Myanmar's Young Artists and Activists
Practitioner:
New Zero Artists
Date:
Mar 1 2012
In the country formerly known as Burma, these free thinkers are a force in the struggle for democracy. By Joshua Hammer Photographs by Adam Dean Smithsonian Magazine, March 2011
The Tragic Story Behind Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit"
Practitioner:
Billie Holiday
Date:
Apr 15 1937
In March 1939, a 23-year-old Billie Holiday walked up to the mic at West 4th's Cafe Society in New York City to sing her final song of the night. Per her request, the waiters stopped serving and the room went completely black, save for a spotlight on her face.
Dancing Is The New Protest In Iran
Practitioner:
Iranian Activists
Date:
Mar 14 2023
The Islamic Republic has always frowned upon dance but recently even a simple choreographed or ‘synchronized movement’ – as the regime calls it – has become an act of protest.
You don't like me? I'm gonna throw a party in front of your office window
Practitioner:
Trans children and teenagers
Date:
May 22 2023
On Monday, May 22nd, trans children and teenagers from across the country threw a prom on the National Mall, a youth-led public celebration of trans joy at a time when more and more states are adopting viciously anti-trans legislation. The Meteor’s Mik Bean spoke to Daniel Trujillo, 15, one of the event’s organizers, about the power a little party can have.

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