This modestly scaled exhibition, featuring work by three (then) young and relatively unknown photographers named Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, and Garry Winogrand, had a lasting influence on modern photography.
One of the most critical artists on the contemporary art scene is Zhang Huan. His works are of great social insight and unique in how he applies his artistic expression. He thus makes them an almost visual feast with a peek into the multilevel structure of modern society. One such work is the masterpiece "Family Tree," which shows how art can mould our social cognition through multilayered symbolism and profound imagery.
She seeks to utilize her feminist art to spread awareness on mental health issues. Sravy is a nomad in her own right, and throughout her experiences in Asia she has noticed that there are stimas surrounding women's autonomy and how they handle mental health struggles.
All those who practice surfing know firsthand the serious problem our beaches face: pollution. While some only complain, others do something about it. Two Brazilian surfers decided they could help raise public awareness of the need to protect nature of the proliferation of plastics used in the oceans through a novel idea: create surfboards plastic bottles.
Conscious Lee is a public awareness project to help people value and protect their rivers. Rivers are rich sources of life and are vital for clean water. They are beautiful spaces to connect with nature. We all need to appreciate our rivers. We can all help river wildlife and protect this natural amenity for future generations.
Artist Bryan Lewis Saunders took it upon himself to draw a self portrait every time he took a psychoactive substance. These ranged from zoloft to morphine to marijuana and it is an amazing subjective experience to witness. We can almost get a taste of what each drug must feel like on the inside, at least to Saunders, and an experiment like this raises some important questions like what are drugs and what place do they have in society?
"Featuring giant ocean dice that originally appeared in the booklet "drift" by Max Mulhern, these dice were launched in international waters to create a visually stunning ode to chance and luck. This project can also be found under the title: "the greatest floating craps game on earth"." --AquaDice website
Faith Ringgold is a successful painter, sculptor, mixed-media artist, author, feminist, and political activist. She is particularly known for her narrative quilts, as she explores identity, race, family ties, as well as cultural and political topics through her many different forms of storytelling.
“I have always wanted to tell my story or, more to the point, my side of the story” - Faith Ringgold
The minaret of the Jara Mosque in Gabes towers over its surroundings. Formed of golden brick, it jolts up from the flat, sand-colored cityscape around it, all the better to broadcast the call to prayer across the coastal city.
Daniel Hewson describes the use of protest posters and the work of collective, Burning Museum, and artist, Faith47, in the Fees Must Fall movement taking place in South Africa:
The Wuming Painting Collective, formed in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), was a clandestine group of artists who defied the authoritarian control over art and expression. In a time when all art was harnessed as propaganda to glorify the state and Chairman Mao, Wuming artists turned their gaze toward everyday life, painting still lifes, street scenes, human figures, and most iconically, serene landscapes.
In Tunisia, a country gripped by economic uncertainty and still in the midst of rebuilding its identity after the Arab Spring, hip-hop culture is viewed as part of an ongoing dissident movement. Just a few events, such as the recent Mafia Wallitili Festival in the heart of downtown Tunis, offer the local hip-hop community an opportunity to share their values with the broader population.
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has recreated the image of drowned infant Alan Kurdi that in 2015 became the defining symbol of the plight of Syria’s refugees.
For the recreation, Ai lay on a pebbled beach on the Greek island of Lesbos. His pose was similar to that of Kurdi’s lifeless body, which washed up on a beach near the Turkish town of Bodrum and was captured in a September 2015 photo.
In July 2015, the Empire State Building's famous light displays were used to draw attention endangered wildlife. Along with Cecil, whose death has sparked international outrage, a snow leopard, tigers, lemurs, and various snakes, birds and sea creatures were projected onto the building.
Amongst the European network of cultural institutions there has been widespread recognition that the climate crisis is a cultural crisis. In 2019 members of the European Theatre Forum convened and adopted the Dresden Convention, a revolutionary text that aimed to lower the carbon footprint and better the sustainable practices of the theatre and cultural sector at large.
ARTS/CULTURE
FOKAL is the hub in Haiti where locals and international visitors from all walks of life -- artists, writers, citizens, activists-- come together to discuss the most pressing nation- and community-building issues, enjoy cutting edge artistic expressions, and share their ideas.
Paris inaugurates its first fresco, on the Human Rights Wall, in tribute to six contemporary activists. To be discovered in the capital's 12th arrondissement, this XXL work of committed street art is by Mahn Kloix.
Louise Bourgeois is a well known French-American artist born in Paris in 1911. Much of her artwork is geared towards female empowerment as she puts focus on the trials and tribulations of what it is like being a woman in a patriarchal society. As a result, many people associate her with the feminist movement. This idea of feminism can be seen in some of Bourgeois’ artwork, which resembles women empowerment.
Anjali Mehta is an illustrator from New Delhi, India. She is primarily known for her graphic shapes, gentle lines, bold colors, and strong female subjects. She is also designing a series titled Enroute Extinction that uses the same bright colors and familiar layout of a postage stamp. This series highlights animal species in India that are at risk of extinction.
A couple of weeks ago Danish chef Rasmus Munk made Michelin-starred dishes, now he prepares pasta salad and tartlets for the homeless in Copenhagen.
In the past few weeks, COVID-19 has forced several restaurants in Denmark to close, including the well-known Alchemist.
Sunaura Taylor is an artist, writer and activist. Through painting, printmaking, writing and other forms of political and artistic engagement her work intervenes with dominant historical narratives of disability and animal oppression. Taylor's artworks have been exhibited at venues across the country, including the CUE Art Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution and the Berkeley Art Museum.
The new exhibit “MESH” at Portland Art Museum features Indigenous contemporary artists advocating for change
Visual artist, writer and activist Ka’ila Farrell-Smith says she considers herself a wartime artist.
She is a member of the Klamath tribes and lives in Modoc Point, Oregon. When asked about how history influences her work, the answer weaves through over 150 years of white colonization and Indigenous struggles in the West:
This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of this country’s most beloved theater companies. Founded in New York City in 1963, the Bread and Puppet Theater’s first productions ranged from puppet shows for children to pieces opposing poor housing conditions. The group’s processions, involving monstrous puppets, some about 20 feet high, became a fixture of protests against the Vietnam War. "We don’t have playwrights in the theater.
A group of Syrian artists in Damascus has created the world's biggest mural made of recycled materials, a rare work aimed at brightening public space in a city sapped by war and sanctions.
The brightly coloured, 720-sq metre work was constructed from aluminum cans, broken mirrors, bicycle wheels and other scrap objects and displayed on a street outside a primary school in the centre of the Syrian capital.
Up Against the Wall: Art, Activism, and the AIDS Poster is the traveling version of the first major exhibition devoted to the University of Rochester's collection of HIV/AIDS-related posters. It illustrates to a broad audience that "AIDS affects everyone" and through the use of language and imagery, shows how messaging and information around HIV is shared to different groups, audiences, and people throughout the world.