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Practitioner:

Date:

Jan 1 2019

The US-Mexico border wall has become a battleground for political theater, but also various artistic interventions. One of these outstanding artworks is the pink seesaws. They went viral after they were installed by the two creative architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello. Between the erect giant steel posts of the border fence lie small gaps a couple of inches apart. It is this space where they installed the seesaws.

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The Wisdom of the Universe

Practitioner:

Christi Belcourt

Date:

Jan 1 2014

The Wisdom of the Universe was painted in 2014 by Métis artist, author, and activist Christi Belcourt. Based in Northeastern Ontario, Belcourt is best known for her large-scale acrylic paintings — like this one — that use hundreds of thousands of tiny dots to simulate Métis beadwork. At the Art Gallery of Ontario, where The Wisdom of the Universe lives, the painting has become a popular sight.

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TRANSummer Camp and the Ethical Clinic for Gender and Sex Characteristics

Practitioner:

Arian Kajtezovic & Trans Mreža Balkan

Date:

Oct 29 2017

The TRANSummer Camp on the Croatian coast inspired members of the Croation trans community to become creative activists, and led to a public media campaign, video series and event advertising the “opening” of a (fake) clinic for trans health. The project included an ambitious survey on the healthcare experiences and needs of trans and gender variant people in the Balkans in multiple languages.

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The Peace Piece

Practitioner:

Adelle Lutz

Date:

Apr 1 2003

The Peace Piece was conceived by artist Adelle Lutz as a reaction to the declaration of the American war with Iraq in the Spring of 2003. Lutz combined her talents as a costume designer and artist to create a project that would remind the Americna public that the majority of war victims suffering in Iraq were women and children.

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Protesters Occupy Brooklyn Museum Atrium, Demanding Decolonization Commission

Practitioner:

multiple groups

Date:

Apr 29 2018

On Sunday, April 29, dozens of protesters occupied the Beaux-Arts Court at the Brooklyn Museum as they reiterated demands for a decolonization commission, about which the art institution has remained silent. The calls for the commission come after the criticisms that followed the appointment of two white curators to the museum, including in the field of African art.

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Mtendo MweMa Project

Practitioner:

Correne Gichuru

Date:

Oct 17 2013

Mtendo MweMa Project's mission is to provide a safe house and educational opportunities to girls, especially those in danger of female circumcision, early marriage and pregnancy, whom otherwise have no alternative but to return to their villages during the holiday seasons in Kenya, East Africa.

Favorite

American Prison Perpestives

Practitioner:

Christoph Gielen

Date:

Apr 11 2010

With American Prison Perspectives, Gielen intends tol illustrate how prison complex designs reflect the politics, economic priorities and anxieties of society, yet there would be so much more to say with pictures inside the prisions.

Favorite

Anti-Trump protesters lay ‘body bags’ outside one of his New Jersey golf clubs

Practitioner:

Refuse Fascism Philly

Date:

Apr 4 2020

Social distancing guidelines didn’t stop members of Refuse Fascism Philly from criticizing President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic on Saturday. Rather than march as a crowd through Center City, a handful of protesters from the group, which has repeatedly called for Trump’s removal, drove their cars through Philadelphia before arriving at the Trump National Golf Club in Pine Hill, N.J.

Favorite

H&M Ad-busting

Practitioner:

Daniel Soares

Date:

Jan 1 2014

Artist Daniel Soares pasted Photoshop toolbar stickers on these H&M posters as a nice little reminder that not all is as it seems. Y'all know how Photoshop messes with our perception of beauty, and I think this is a smart little stunt to snap us back into reality when we start to wonder why we never look like the girls on the posters we walk past every day.

Favorite

Regina José Galindo- Performance Art Guatemala

Practitioner:

Regina José Galindo

Date:

Feb 3 2000

Regina Galindo is a Guatemalan performance artist that uses her body as a means to explore many of the human rights violations in Guatemala. In one of her performances, " no perdemos nada con nacer," or " we don't lose anything by being born," the artist "disposes" of herself in a plastic bag.

Favorite

Vivienne Westwood: Fashion and Activism

Practitioner:

Vivienne Westwood

Date:

Jan 1 1971

Vivienne Westwood began designing in 1971 along with her then partner Malcolm McLaren in London. At the time, they used their shop at 430 Kings Road, London, to showcase their ideas and designs. With their changing ideas of fashion came the change of not only the name of the shop but also the décor. It was in 1976 when Westwood and McLaren defined the street culture of Punk with Seditionaries.

Favorite

Candid Call Centre

Practitioner:

Angel Chen

Date:

Mar 29 2012

From March 29 to April 28, 2012, artist Angel Chen transformed Toronto's Whippersnapper Gallery into a pop-up call centre to field questions on the financial crisis. Phone lines were manned by passers-by, volunteers and guest operators, all of whom solicited callers for discussion about the current economic climate.

Favorite

Marisela Escobedo and the quest for justice

Practitioner:

Marisela Escobedo

Date:

May 11 2010

Marisela Escobedo was 52 when she was shot dead on a sidewalk outside of the Government Palace of Chihuahua City, northern Mexico. She had set up camp in one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities – a place where people won’t leave their homes at night to protest day and night against corruption and impunity in her daughter’s murder case.

Favorite

Santa Claus Army

Practitioner:

Solvognen

Date:

Dec 25 1974

In the early 1970s, Denmark was hit by the energy crisis sweeping the globe. A rise in the price of oil led by the nations of OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) led to a global economic slow-down, especially in industrialised nations.

Favorite

Clippers fans protest Donald Sterling

Practitioner:

Clipper's fans, Lakers fans

Date:

Apr 29 2014

"By yesterday afternoon, news of Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s lifetime NBA ban had already settled in. But there was still plenty of anger among the protesters who gathered outside the Staples Center Tuesday.

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A Piece of Red Cloth - Rock n' Roll Performed in 1989

Practitioner:

Cui Jian

Date:

Jun 19 1989

“I performed at Tiananmen Square in 1989, 15 days before the crackdown. I sang A Piece of Red Cloth (一块红布), a tune about alienation. I covered my eyes with a red cloth to symbolize my feelings. The students were heroes. They needed me, and I needed them. After Tiananmen, however, authorities banned concerts. We performed instead at “parties,” unofficial shows in hotels and restaurants”.

Favorite

Bikini-clad Peta 'bunny' braves minus 10 degrees cold to protest fur trade in South Korea

Practitioner:

Ashley Fruno, reporters

Date:

Feb 6 2018

An animal rights activist sporting only a white bikini, bunny ears and tail has been spotted protesting against fur in Pyeongchang, South Korea, which is hosting the Winter Olympics 2018. Ashley Fruno discussed the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (Peta) stance on fur in front of the Olympic rings at the Alpensia Resort.

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