Activism
The policy of active participation or engagement in a particular sphere of activity; spec. the use of vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change.
Protest
To make a statement or gesture in objection to
Civic Engagement
Actions people take to improve their communities, social groups, or society as a whole. It can include a wide range of activities, such as:
Heidenry, Rachel. "Role of Online Archives in Contemporary Art and Activism." Art21 Website. January 24, 2017. https://art21.org/read/the-role-of-online-archives-in-contemporary-art-and-activism/
In tumultuous times, art can serve as a bridge for understanding, while also providing tools for dissent. “Think like us. Hate like us. Fear like us.” These are some of the slogans featured in the work of Barbara Kruger, who is known for making bold statements. “I want my work to create commentary,” she explains. While some artists may intentionally create works that respond to political circumstances, others may do so by default. “What I’m doing is absorbing and processing the world around me and it’s becoming political,” reflects Stephanie Syjuco. “I don’t think I have a choice anymore. It’s just my reality.”
Protesting policy, war, or social norms, the artists in this playlist challenge the status quo and give voice to a movement. From documentary photography illustrating the contradictions of American life to the theatrical retelling of world history, these artists create works that provide urgent points of reflection.
ART21 Take a Stand Playlist (14 videos)
https://art21.org/playlist/taking-a-stand/
ART21 Take Action Playlist (10 videos)
https://art21.org/playlist/take-action/
Felice Regan (MassArt alum): It was just a total protest. Day and night printing, printing, printing. The energy was astounding. But it was really exciting because we were able to do something with our art and express our political opinions in the most amazing way.
The Graphic Workshop at MassArt was founded in 1970, as part of the nationwide student strike protesting the Vietnam War. The Workshop produced hundreds of silkscreen posters from 1970-1992 tracing the group's activism from the anti-war and civil rights protests of the 1970s to the environmentalist movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The MassArt Library holds many examples in its poster collection.
Stevens, Carol. "A Passionate Response." Print (1992) v. 46: 56.
Goodrich, Courtney. "Archival Revival." Boston.com. August 18, 2015.
Posters American style / Therese Thau Heyman. Washington, D.C. : National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution ; New York : in association with Harry N. Abrams, c1998.
NC1807.U5 H49 1998
Art and Activism in the Age of Globalization by
What roles can art and activism play in a post-Fordist "society of the spectacle"? Can activist art effect real change? Art & Activism in the Age of Globalization asks these and other pressing questions facing contemporary activist art, through case studies by established artists and filmmakers such as Steven Cohen and Christoph Schlingensief, as well as emerging voices such as Renzo Martens and Les Chiens de Navarre. It investigates issues of urban activism and the activism of anonymous networks, giving special consideration to the effects of the War on Terror upon the activist agenda. In our era of unchecked globalization and the extreme crisis of global warming, this indispensable reader concludes by proposing a theoretical scaffolding for modern-day activism, making a passionate appeal for a truly political art.
Art and Activism: projects of John and Dominique de Menil by
This lavishly illustrated book is the first to examine the significant contributions of John and Dominique de Menil to art, architecture, film, and the civil and human rights movements. The de Menils, who moved to Houston from France in 1941, amassed one of the world's great private art collections and became passionately involved in the cause of human rights. The volume includes a discussion of the building of the de Menils' art collection; their patronage of modern architecture in Houston; their embrace of modernism; their leadership in Houston's civil rights movement and in human rights projects worldwide; their commissioning of works of art; their involvement in early film education and documentary filmmaking; and their establishment of the Rothko Chapel, the Menil Collection, the Cy Twombly Gallery, the Dan Flavin Installation, and the Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum. Vintage photographs, including those taken by Henri Cartier Bresson and Eve Arnold, previously unpublished correspondence with artists, and an illustrated chronology all add to this textured tribute to the de Menils' extraordinary achievements. Distributed for The Menil Collection
Seeing Power: art and activism in the 21st century by
A fog of information and images has flooded the world: from advertising, television, radio and film to the information glut produced by the new economy. With the rise of social networking, contemporaries, peers and friends are all suddenly selling us the ultimate product: themselves. Curator and critic Nato Thompson interrogates the implications of these developments for those dedicated to socially engaged art and activism. How can anyone find a voice and make change when the world is flooded with images and information?
Art and Agenda: political art and activism by
This text explores the impact of political activism on contemporary art. It introduces a variety of artists who are advocating political and social reform on a local or a global scale.
Art and Activism in the Age of Systemic Crisis by
This book examines how renewed forms of artistic activism were developed in the wake of the neoliberal repression since the 1980s. The volume shows the diverse ways in which artists have sought to confront systemic crises around the globe, searching for new and enduring forms of building communities and reimagining the political horizon. The authors engage in a dialogue with these artistic efforts and their histories - in particular the earlier artistic activism that was developed during the civil rights era in the 1960s and 70s - providing valuable historical insight and new conceptual reflection on the future of aesthetic resilience. This book will be of interest to scholars in contemporary art, history of art, film and literary studies, protest movements, and social movements.
Adjusted margin : xerography, art, and activism in the late twentieth century by
How xerography became a creative medium and political tool, arming artists and activists on the margins with an accessible means of making their messages public. This is the story of how the xerographic copier, or "Xerox machine," became a creative medium for artists and activists during the last few decades of the twentieth century. Paper jams, mangled pages, and even fires made early versions of this clunky office machine a source of fear, rage, dread, and disappointment. But eventually, xerography democratized print culture by making it convenient and affordable for renegade publishers, zinesters, artists, punks, anarchists, queers, feminists, street activists, and others to publish their work and to get their messages out on the street. The xerographic copier adjusted the lived and imagined margins of society, Eichhorn argues, by supporting artistic and political expression and mobilizing subcultural movements. Eichhorn describes early efforts to use xerography to create art and the occasional scapegoating of urban copy shops and xerographic technologies following political panics, using the post-9/11 raid on a Toronto copy shop as her central example. She examines New York's downtown art and punk scenes of the 1970s to 1990s, arguing that xerography--including photocopied posters, mail art, and zines--changed what cities looked like and how we experienced them. And she looks at how a generation of activists and artists deployed the copy machine in AIDS and queer activism while simultaneously introducing the copy machine's gritty, DIY aesthetics into international art markets. Xerographic copy machines are now defunct. Office copiers are digital, and activists rely on social media more than photocopied posters. And yet, Eichhorn argues, even though we now live in a post-xerographic era, the grassroots aesthetics and political legacy of xerography persists.
Love and Justice: a journey of empowerment, activism, and embracing Black beauty by
The deeply personal story of artist, activist, and influencer Laetitia Ky, told through the powerful sculptures she creates with her own hair that embrace Black culture and beauty, the fight for social justice, and the journey toward self-love. Laetitia Ky is a one-of-a-kind artist, activist, and creative voice based in Ivory Coast, West Africa. With the help of extensions, wool, wire, and thread, Ky sculpts her hair into unique and compelling art pieces that shine a light on, and ignite conversation around, social justice. Her bold and intimate storytelling, which she openly shares with her extensive social media audience, covers issues like: * Sexism and internalized misogyny * Racial oppression * Reproductive rights and consent * Harmful beauty standards * Shame and its corrosive effect on mental health * And more Love and Justice is equal parts memoir, artwork, and feminist manifesto. Ky's striking words, combined with 135 remarkable photographs, offer empowerment and inspiration. She emerges from her exploration of justice and equality with a message of self-love, showing readers the path to loving themselves and their bodies, expressing their voices, and feeling more confident. Through this celebration of women's empowerment, Ky extends a generous invitation to love ourselves, embrace our unique beauty, and to work toward a more just world.
Curating Access: disability art activism and creative accommodation by
This book is an interdisciplinary collection of twenty-four essays which critically examine contemporary exhibitions and artistic practices that focus on conceptual and creative aspects of access. Oftentimes exhibitions tack on access once the artwork has already been executed and ready to be installed in the museum or gallery. But what if the artists were to ponder access as an integral and critical part of their artwork? Can access be creative and experimental? And furthermore, can the curator also fold access into their practice, while working collaboratively with artists, considering it as a theoretical and practical generative force that seeks to make an exhibition more engaging for a wider diversity of audiences? This volume includes essays by a growing number of artists, curators, and scholars who ponder these ideas of ad-hoc, experimental and underground approaches within exhibition-making and artistic practices. It considers how, through these nascent exhibition models and art practices, enhanced experiences of access in the museum can be a shared responsibility amongst museum workers, curators, and artists, in tandem with the public, so that access becomes a zone of intellectual and creative "accommodation," rather than strictly a discourse on policy. The book provides innovative case studies which provide a template for how access might be implemented by individuals, artists, curators, museum administrators and educators given the growing need to offer as many modalities of access as possible within cultural institutions. This book shows that anyone can be a curator of access and demonstrates how to approach access in a way that goes beyond protocol and policy. It will thus be of interest to students and scholars engaged in the study of museums, art history and visual culture, disability, culture, and communication.
Chicana Movidas: new narratives of activism and feminism in the movement era by
Winner, Best Multiauthor Nonfiction Book, International Latino Book Awards, 2019 With contributions from a wide array of scholars and activists, including leading Chicana feminists from the period, this groundbreaking anthology is the first collection of scholarly essays and testimonios that focuses on Chicana organizing, activism, and leadership in the movement years. The essays in Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activisim and Feminism in the Movement Era demonstrate how Chicanas enacted a new kind of politica at the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality, and developed innovative concepts, tactics, and methodologies that in turn generated new theories, art forms, organizational spaces, and strategies of alliance. These are the technologies of resistance documented in Chicana Movidas, a volume that brings together critical biographies of Chicana activists and their bodies of work; essays that focus on understudied organizations, mobilizations, regions, and subjects; examinations of emergent Chicana archives and the politics of collection; and scholarly approaches that challenge the temporal, political, heteronormative, and spatial limits of established Chicano movement narratives. Charting the rise of a field of knowledge that crosses the boundaries of Chicano studies, feminist theory, and queer theory, Chicana Movidas: New Narratives of Activisim and Feminism in the Movement Era offers a transgenerational perspective on the intellectual and political legacies of early Chicana feminism.
Women in Revolt!: Art and activism in the UK 1970-90 by
Tate Britain exhibition: 8 November 2023 - 7 April 2024 National Galleries Scotland: Modern, Edinburgh: 25 May 2024 - 26 January 2025 Whitworth Art Gallery, the University of Manchester: 7 March - 1 June 2025 A timely exploration of the work and lived experiences of a postwar generation of women artists that have largely been omitted from art historical narratives, Women in Revolt! surfaces the wealth and diversity of work created in the UK during the 1970s and 80s, a period of seismic social and political change. Showcasing a wide variety of mediums including painting, drawing, sculpture, performance, film and photography, this richly illustrated book demonstrates how women's needs were marginalised within mainstream culture and reveals how these artists used radical ideas and methods to confront issues that will resonate with contemporary audiences - from access to healthcare and class struggles to ecological disaster, racism and misogyny. Exploring themes and issues such as the Women's Liberation Movement, maternal and domestic experiences, the Greenham Common and the peace movement, the intersection of punk, feminism and art, the visibility of Black and South Asian women artists, feminist film distribution, Section 28 and the AIDS pandemic, Women in Revolt! celebrates the full diversity of what was a highly creative, politically engaged and determined community of women that paved the way for future generations and, ultimately, changed the face of British culture.
Asians on Demand: mediating race in video art and activism by
Does media representation advance racial justice? While the past decade has witnessed a push for increased diversity in visual media, Asians on Demand grapples with the pressing question of whether representation is enough to advance racial justice. Surveying a contemporary, cutting-edge archive of video works from the Asian diaspora in North America, Europe, and East Asia, this book uncovers the ways that diasporic artists challenge the narrow--and damaging--conceptions of Asian identity pervading mainstream media. Through an engagement with grassroots activist documentaries, experimental video diaries by undocumented and migrant workers, and works by high-profile media artists such as Hito Steyerl and Ming Wong, Feng-Mei Heberer showcases contemporary video productions that trouble the mainstream culture industry's insistence on portraying ethnic Asians as congenial to dominant neoliberal values. Undermining the demands placed on Asian subjects to exemplify institutional diversity and individual exceptionalism, this book provides a critical and nuanced set of alternatives to the easily digestible forms generated by online streaming culture and multicultural lip service more broadly. Employing feminist, racial, and queer critiques of the contemporary media landscape, Asians on Demand highlights how the dynamics of Asian representation play out differently in Germany, the United States, Taiwan, and Spain. Rather than accepting the notion that inclusion requires an uncomplicated set of appearances, the works explored in this volume spotlight a staunch resistance to formulating racial identity as an instantly accessible consumer product.
Dear Earth: art and hope in a time of crisis by
Artists from Agnes Denes to Hito Steyerl address ecology and humanity's new imperative to reenchant the world. Lavishly illustrated, with texts by Rebecca Solnit and Greta Thunberg which explore the role that art and artists can play in climate activism. Dear Earth: Art and Hope in a Time of Crisis is printed on 100% recycled paper that's certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), with EU Ecolabel and Blue Angel accreditation. The images are printed using vegetable inks, and the production has been carbon offset. The books have travelled without shrink-wrapping to avoid single use plastic. The essays and 'tapestry' sections are printed in a single colour to reduce the number of times the sheets pass through the press, saving energy in the production. After looking at many books that featured greens and browns, we chose a vibrant blue as a symbol of hope and healing. The book features texts on each artist, and essays by Rachel Thomas, Rebecca Solnit, Maja and Reuben Fowkes, Greta Thunberg and Imani Jacqueline Brown. It also includes a conversion between artist Jenny Kendler and birder J. Drew Lanham, a manifesto by Agnes Denes, poetry by Deena Metzger and an extract from an interview on activism by Andrea Bowers. Dear Earth is designed by Melanie Mues, and the cover features a detail of the drawing Reconciliation (2018) by Otobong Nkanaga. 'I'm telling you there is hope. I have seen it, but it does not come from the governments or corporations. It comes from the people.' Greta Thunberg