Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (around 1503-19) was attacked at the Musée du Louvre, in Paris, today by environmental activists who threw soup over the world's most-recognised and most-viewed painting. The celebrated portrait, which has been protected by security glass for the past 70 years, was not damaged in the attack.
Bob and Roberta Smith has been at the forefront of activist art for 2 decades; so who better to ask about how art is responding to these politically bleak times?
April 2nd, 2016, organized by members of the Aids Coalition to Unleash Power faction in London, five activists stormed London's Gilead Pharmaceutical offices and frantically disrobed to reveal painted backs spelling out the word 'Greed." About 30 other activists rallied outside the building.
Environmental activist Ella Daish has created a giant tampon applicator as part of a protest against single-use plastic. The piece is made out of period plastic found polluting beaches, waterways, and local ecosystems in the UK. Daish sourced 1,200 applicators from 15 different locations across the United Kingdom. Of the plastic applicators collected for the project, 87.5 percent came from one brand, Tampax.
In 2023, it is impossible to be an apolitical artist in Eastern Europe. As war rages on in Ukraine, art serves as a powerful and necessary tool, according the members of the Sunflower Solidary Community Center in Warsaw: Maria Beburia, Sebastian Cichocki, Kuba Depczyński, Taras Gembik, Yulia Krivich, Kaja Kusztra, Natalia Sielewicz, and Bogna Stefańska.
Russia is the midst of a strict COVID-19 lockdown. Although protesters cannot take to the streets, they are still holding mass demonstrations — digitally.
Her name is ISIS-chan. And she's how nerds around the world are trying to silence violent ISIS terrorist propaganda.
It starts with the vibrant worldwide community that loves Japanese anime. Some of them have created a cute animated character as a sort of ISIS mascot.
The goal? Hijack the terrorist group's message and replace it with a girl that's oh-so-adorable.
The KLE - Kit de Libertad de Expresión (or Freedom of Speech Kit), is a portable digital device that allows people from all over the world to participate to remote protests by sending and displaying text messages in public space. The interactive banner is (unsurprisingly) inspired by the record number of social protests that took place in Spain in 2011. It is estimated that over 23.000 demonstrations have been organised that year around the country.
Pepe Espaliú was an artist from Cordoba who made various art from paintings to sculptures and public actions. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1990, and up until 1993 when he died, he focused on drawing attention to those affected by AIDS. The Reina Sofía had a small exhibition of some of his work in 1994, in which the work on display had a lot of symbolism about his condition and suffering.
Gender equality charity Women of the World (WOW) is launching a one-day festival of activism that invites people from all generations, genders and backgrounds to take part in conversations around sexual violence.
Brandalism, an organization out of the UK that aims to reclaim public spaces from advertisers, used Black Friday to protest "partner" brands to the COP21 Climate Conference.
Anonymous artists contributed subvertisements that criticized these brand for their hypocrisy in saying they are advocates for the environment when more often than not they are the worst contributors to the problem.
John Heartfield began to make photomontages as a member of the Berlin branch of international Dada around 1920. Schooled in graphic arts and having worked briefly in animated film, Heartfield (who had anglicized his given name, Helmut Herzfeld, in 1917 as a protest against wartime nationalism) subsequently developed a cinematic effect in montages that he made for book illustration.
Pablo Picasso painted Guernica in just five weeks in the spring of 1937.
Then living in Paris, Picasso, fifty-five, was already well-known. Born in Spain in 1881, he went to Paris in 1900; he had visited Spain in 1934 but would never return.
LEGOVC is a fictional, made up, 100% fake, plastic, 'pantomime villain' Vice Chancellor of a fake British University struggling as his utter managerial brilliance crumbles in the face of sustained strike action by his staff after their pension scheme is slashed.
SERIE A players are once again doing their bit to raise awareness for a campaign against violence to women.
They have teamed up with Italian organisation WeWorld Onlus, and will promote the cause at all ten Serie A matches this weekend.
Players will have red stripes on their cheeks as they play their matches.
The striking look seeks to promote WeWorldOnlus' Red Card to Violence campaign.
Keith Haring is known to be one of the biggest artists raising awareness for HIV and AIDS, considering he had also passed away from HIV. Starting his career covering ads with spray paint and chalk in subway stations in New York City, his work started trending and he became an activist for this cause.
"Politaoke is non-partisan political karaoke project in which participants can respeak real contemporary political speeches from local, national and international politicians. Now you too can deliver the great rhetoric filled speeches of today’s most important politicians in this audience participation performance! Just come to a show, select a speech and take the mic when your name is called.
Italian museum burns artworks in protest of budget cut An Italian museum on Tuesday began burning its collection of contemporary artworks in a singular protest against harsh budget cuts that have left many cultural institutions out of pocket.
It appears Elon Musk has enemies all over the world.
The tech billionaire — currently the planet’s richest man and CEO of Tesla — has integrated himself into U.S. politics, becoming Donald Trump‘s head of a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and aligned himself with far-right politicians in Europe.
Voina conducted a wake for absurdist poet and Soviet-era dissident Dmitry Prigov, featuring a table with food and vodka, in a Moscow Metro car. Originally, they had planned an action involving Prigov but he died before they were able to implement it. They later carried out a similar action on the Kiev Metro. As an art collective, Voina is testing the boundaries of performance art. As activists, they are testing the patience of Russian authorities.
The project associating the contemporary movement of the people with the Gilgamesh journey focuses on the contemporary global crisis of the political systems and humanistic values, with the goal to contribute to the prevention of radicalization of our respective societies mobilized around recent conflicts, enhancement of the wellbeing of immigrants, through opening a space for creative expression and questioning the role of culture in contemporary polit
Miles Greenberg is a performance artist from Canada who specializes in time, endurance, and the human body. His art is often complicated and deep into the human experience, with physical endurance mixed into visual metaphors that create deep, profound statements of the human condition.
The government will introduce more rigorous vetting procedures for firearms licences and restrict access to semi-automatic weapons.
Sweden plans to toughen controls on gun ownership after its deadliest mass shooting in at least a century.
Play Safe is a documentary film series created and directed by NYU alum Eddie Einbinder. The film, much of which now appears for free on YouTube, was originally released in 2013 after being filmed between 2011 and 2012. It debuted at the International Harm Reduction conference in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2013.