Does it vex you, the environmental impact of Olafur Eliasson’s Ice Watch? Do you hear about the transportation of 30 icebergs from the Nuup Kangerlua fjord in Greenland to be displayed in London as a memento mori for our inhabitable environment and judge the project a bit of an own-goal, sustainability-wise? You would not be alone – on personal evidence, this seems a popular response.
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir is a New York City based radical performance community, with 50 performing members and a congregation in the thousands. We are wild anti-consumerist gospel shouters and Earth loving urban activists who have worked with communities on four continents defending community, life and imagination. Our Devils over the 15 years of our "church" have remained the same: Consumerism and Militarism.
Boricua artist Castorillo discusses the crisis, diaspora, and the enduring significance of the Young Lords Party for Puerto Rican social movements today using illustrations:
Covenant House has started a ‘Sleep Out’ movement that shines light on the youth homelessness crisis and raises funds for young people who seek shelter. "Covenant House empowers young people to overcome homelessness and trafficking by providing them with safe housing, food and clothing, and relentless support. Sleep Out events are held for people who want to join the movement as they give up their bed for one night in NYC.
Independent blogger, Kristy Powell, decided to begin a digital action, beginning on January 3rd, 2011 and ending on January 3rd, 2012, where she would wear one dress for an entire year to call attention to the politics of fashion's dominance over our quotidian lives and relationships with our own bodies.
Asian Americans standing up for themselves, the Black Lives Matter movement, and their home: New York City
In 2020, as COVID-19 flared through New York City and NYC hospitals saw a spike of nearly 200,000 patients, Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) faced an added threat: blame, racism, and xenophobia.
In the early 1980s Keith Haring created hundreds of drawings in the New York subway system. He used chalk to paint on unused advertising space, which was covered with black sheets of paper. Haring was caught and fined numerous times.
Originally written for the Onion, “Amèrikan Takes Over the Fashion New World,” is an article that speaks of a fictitious company that has broken through the clothing market. This company was created as a way to inform the consumer of the appropriation different companies often get away with due to their consumers lack of knowledge.
The Guerrilla Girls tactic was well thought-out and was effective in creating a spectacle to draw attention to the issue at hand, which is the lack of female representation in the museum. Where I think the campaign has some drawbacks is in the actual message on the billboard. The rhetorical and ironic message is subtle and really only reaches those who are privy to the art world and/ or the museum.
Over 1100 black “body bags” fanned out over a section of grass on the National Mall in Washington D.C. on March 24 in a plea for sanity. Each represented roughly 150 individuals who have died from gun violence since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14, 2018 which left 17 people dead and 17 more injured – most of the victims in their teens.
Stop Telling Women to Smile is a street art project by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh that addresses gender based street harassment.
Street harassment is a serious issue that affects women world wide. This project attempts to take women's voices, and faces, and put them in the street - creating a presence for women in an environment where women are a lot of times made to feel uncomfortable and unsafe - outside in the street.
By Will Potter
Multiple states have considered “Ag Gag” bills that criminalize investigators who document animal welfare abuses on factory farms. Iowa and Utah are the latest to approve them. These bills, lobbied for by Big Ag groups, are part of a long line of attempts to blame activists for exposing abuses, rather than hold corporations accountable.
The frontier between the United States and Mexico is the busiest land border in the world. It is also among one of the world’s most heavily regulated and policed border zones—the arid climate of which is responsible for many migrant deaths each year.
It was 1967, and sentiment against the Vietnam War was in the air nationwide. The counterculture was flourishing on the heels of the Summer of Love. Organizers from Mobe — the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam — initially called for a massive march on Washington.
It was a classic summit protest at the height of the anti-globalization movement. Thirty-four heads of state from across the Americas were gathering in Québec City to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a sweeping trade deal with deeply anti-democratic provisions.
Police dogs and firehoses is, for most of the world, the image of Birmingham made by Bull Connor and the Birmingham Police Department during the Birmingham Campaign of the African American Civil Rights Movement.
WASH CLOTHES :: MAKE ART :: BUILD COMMUNITY
The Laundromat Project brings engaging, community-responsive art and artists into local coinops across Greater New York City. By helping turn imaginations into creative fuel, we empower communities of color living on modest incomes to dream new visions for their own neighborhoods.
February 24, 2023 will mark one year since the Russian invasion and occupation of Ukraine began. Russia is attempting to take over Ukrainian territory and destroy its rich, vibrant culture. Ukrainians are fighting for their country and right to exist as free, independent people. For months, Ukrainians have endured relentless bombardment, destruction, and hardship.
For third world artists who are forced into exile, the creativity process could be greatly challenged due to displacement in language, community and history. Many filmmakers in exile tend to look at their connection to the homeland in strictly political terms, or give up making films overall.
I really enjoy the events that we host at The Sanctuaries. They're well planned but not over-planned, so there's space to just be yourself. On Monday, January 19th, we held a wonderful event that celebrated the teachings and life of Martin Luther King, Jr. The turnout was strong!
By David Gonzalez
Leslie Thomas wants to shock you. She wants to anger you. And above all, she wants you to do something.
She’s not talking about run-of-the-mill, “Hey buddy, watch your step” angry or TMZ sleaze shock. She’s talking about the great humanitarian and social crises of our time, like in Darfur, Afghanistan or Myanmar. And yes, she’s talking to you.
Artists: Cindy Maguire, Assistant Professor Art Education Adelphi University and Teaching Artist with Artistic Noise and girls ages 13-17 from the Brentwood Residential Center on Long Island.