Projects tagged "East Asia"

Pork Bun Restaurant Turned Protest Site
Practitioner:
Chinese petitioners
Date:
Jan 4 2014
Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s latest attempt to cultivate his image as a man of the people is creating some unintended consequences. Qingfeng Restaurant, an unassuming local eatery where Xi ate a meal of pork buns, fried pig liver and vegetables last month, has since become a staging ground for residents to protest against their local governments.
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Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei
Practitioner:
Ai Weiwei
Date:
Mar 12 2025
“Everything is art. Everything is politics.” Globally renowned artist Ai Weiwei (Chinese, b. 1957) is celebrated as a disruptor of artistic canons and a champion of free expression. In his work—ranging across performance, photography, sculpture, video, and installation—he deploys humor and provocation, calling upon his viewers to examine history, society, and culture.
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TikTok's teen communists are reclaiming the hammer and sickle
Practitioner:
TikTok's Gen Z Users
Date:
Feb 11 2021
20-year-old Ilyssa, from New York, sees communism as the only viable alternative, one that will improve the societal issues we currently face. “From a young age, I was very aware of the stark class differences that existed,” she says. “I grew up with a single mother in a very poor family.
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People of Japan is a snapshot of daily life across Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka
Practitioner:
Mark Manzi
Date:
Mar 1 2021
For his latest project, Mark Manzi found himself outside of his comfort zone. For the Amsterdam-based photographer and designer, People of Japan was an attempt to break from his photography-first portfolio. “In the past, my work was very image-focused, whereas with this book I wanted to scan objects, collect receipts, record noises, add copy, and really create something visually striking,” he says.
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Video Art on China's Demolished Urban Scenery
Practitioner:
Cao Fei, Gucci
Date:
Feb 3 2015
Rumba II: Nomad (3'24'' excerpt) 2015 / video / 14mins 16secs Sound by Dickson Dee Commissioned by GUCCI
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Chinese Artists Protest Against Japan's Nuclear Wastewater Release Through Visual Arts
Practitioner:
Chinese Artists
Date:
Aug 24 2023
Japan has begun discharging nuclear wastewater into the ocean four times a year, each time lasting 17 consecutive days. Under their 30-year plan, it is estimated that approximately 1.34 million tons of wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant will be released into what was once a clean and fertile sea. Countless marine species are forced to leave their natural habitats. About 7.6 billion people in the world face life threats.
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Daughter of China
Practitioner:
Date:
Nov 1 1949
Chen Boer's first heroine film, which she co-wrote and directed, was "Daughter of China," about female soldiers in the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. They didn't have much filmed material at the time, but as a feminist, Chen Boer clearly wanted to record the sacrifices and contributions of Chinese women in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
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"100 Sexual Questions from Children" , interactive sex education exhibition
Practitioner:
Maylove
Date:
May 16 2021
"100 Questions About Sex from Children" is an annual touring sex education exhibition founded and curated by Se A, a leading advocate of inclusive sex education in China. Since its launch in 2021, the exhibition has been held in major cities such as Shenzhen and Guiyang, with plans to expand into regions where sex education and gender awareness remain underdeveloped.
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Unleashing the Power of Art Through Artistic Resources: PIGMENT TOKYO Creates a Canvas Embracing People, Knowledge, and the Art of Tomorrow
Practitioner:
PIGMENT TOKYO
Date:
Jan 1 2015
Established in 2015 in the Tennōzu neighborhood of Tokyo, and attracting industry professionals and art enthusiasts from both Japan and abroad, PIGMENT TOKYO has emerged as an art supply store specializing in the materials and tools used in traditional Japanese painting, such as mineral pigments, washi paper, and brushes. However, it’s more than just a store.
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Claiming Territory with Ink_ a street calligraphy graffiti artist in Hong Kong
Practitioner:
Tsang Tsou-Choi
Date:
Jul 5 1980
A toothless garbageman who once wandered Hong Kong’s streets with dingy bags of ink and brushes tied to his crutches is now the subject of a major retrospective. About 300 calligraphic works by the late Tsang Tsou-choi — who is best known by his self-dubbed title, the King of Kowloon — are showing at the ArtisTree art space in a high glass tower.
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“Rice Bunny” (米兔) #MeToo Code on Chinese Social Media
Practitioner:
Chinese Netizens
Date:
Apr 5 2018
Women in China are covertly resisting government crackdowns on discussions over their Me Too movement with a clever workaround. The phrase “rice bunny” (米兔), pronounced as “mi tu,” has popped up on social media networks after censors removed posts that mentioned sexual harassment or the hashtag #MeToo. While those phrases are heavily monitored, Rice Bunny isn’t.
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North Korean Artist Hopes Reverse Propaganda Will Change Lives Back Home
Practitioner:
Song Byeok
Date:
Jan 1 2018
Song Byeok is one of the most acclaimed Korean artists living today. He is from North Korea, where he was a propaganda artist for the North Korean government for two decades. After defecting in 2002, Byeok has turned his prolific creativity into powerful, satirical art using North Korea’s ruling culture as motifs.
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Red Envelope Movement in London
Practitioner:
World Microphone (Chinese 世界麦克风)
Date:
Feb 14 2021
World Microphone (世界麦克风) is an organization created by students (most of them are Chinese) located in London. The organization has an account in RED, which is a popular social media in China. It often holds interviews and movements on the street in London, talking about world culture, food, and travel. Then, it makes short videos based on these interviews and movements and posts the videos on RED.
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‘Stand by Her’: a compaign fight period poverty in China
Practitioner:
Students and Teachers
Date:
Jan 1 2024
HONG KONG — It started when a single box of free sanitary pads appeared in a middle school classroom in October. Then a plastic container with pads was attached to the walls of four bathrooms in a university in Shanghai. By Monday, boxes and bags of individually wrapped pads had popped up outside bathrooms in at least 338 schools and colleges across China. Each carried a version of the same instructions: “Take one, then put one back later.
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OurGoods Trade School
Practitioner:
Rich Watts, Louise Ma, OurGoods
Date:
Jan 1 2010
Trade School is a self-organised, alternative learning space that runs on barter. It was started in 2010 in New York’s Lower East Side by Rich Watts, Louise Ma, and Caroline Woolard of OurGoods.org, a creative barter network. Over 800 students participated in 76 single-session classes during 35 days. Anyone can teach a class, and students sign up by agreeing to meet the barter requests of teachers.
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Pandas on Tour
Practitioner:
Paulo Grangeon
Date:
Jul 1 2008
Grangeon's long-running traveling exhibit, Pandas on Tour, features 1600 papier-mâché pandas. That's approximately one for as many as there are left in the world (recent estimates actually place the number slightly below that, at 1596).
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Xuexi Qiangguo
Practitioner:
Chinese Government
Date:
Apr 4 2019
If there’s one thing we know for certain about China in 2019, it’s that people there love their apps. They use WeChat to talk with friends; they spend hours battling virtual enemies on PUBG; they binge-watch short videos on Douyin. And so why shouldn’t the Communist Party get in on the action?
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A Straight Journey: days and nights in their kingdom
Practitioner:
Masamojo
Date:
Apr 23 2015
A Straight Journey is a documentary of Chinese homosexual people. It is the first time for Chinese gays and lesbians to make their debut and speak out via one of the largest Chinese Internet service providers. Two Chinese photographers Masa and Mojo took a journey across 11 China's cities making portraits of 48 gays, lesbians and their families from 2014-2015.
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Chinese Air Quality Images Exhibition: The Breath of China
Practitioner:
Siyuefeng Photography Studio
Date:
Sep 19 2014
The Breath of China is a thematic photo exhibition of thousands of air-quality images taken by 44 photographers in 34 Chinese capital cities. The exhibition was displayed on the 14th Pingyao International Photography Festival (PIPF) in Shanxi Province, from September 19th to 27th, 2014.
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Rectification of names
Practitioner:
Everyone
Date:
Aug 6 0400
Rectification of names "If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything." Confucius
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Chinese High School Students Making Film about Trans Gender
Practitioner:
Hu Ranan
Date:
Oct 23 2017
A high school student from The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China Made a Movie about "Sexual Minorities", a Topic Avoided By Almost Every Parent. How Should We Start Talking About This?" was widely circulated among people on Wechat. The topic "High School Students Made a Trans Movie" went viral and ranked highly on Weibo’s most searched topics.
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After a Military Coup, Artists Across Myanmar Are Making Protest Art to Share Their Struggle for Democracy With the World—See Images Here
Practitioner:
Artists civilians in Myanmar
Date:
Feb 16 2021
"Myanmar has been engulfed in protest since February 1, when Burmese army general Min Aung Hlaing seized control of the government in a military coup, refusing to accept to the landslide election victory of the National League for Democracy and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
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Gangnam Style Used in Protests in China
Practitioner:
Chinese construction workers in Wuhan, and people of Henan Provence
Date:
Jan 13 2013
In early January, constructions workers in Wuhan, China staged a Gangnam Style protest in front of their employer's building. Using the Gangnam Style dance, the men sought to bring media attention to their mounting unpaid wages.
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"Stand Up, Sisters (《姐姐妹妹站起来》)": The Miserable Past of Chinese Prostitutes
Practitioner:
Xihe Chen (陈西禾)
Date:
Jan 1 1951
"Stand Up, Sisters" tells the story of a rural girl who journeys to Beijing for a family visit, only to be deceived and forced into prostitution, suffering unthinkable hardships. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, these women are rehabilitated. The narrative reaches its peak with her and her younger sisters' victorious achievement of self-reliance.
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Memes, Jokes and Cats: South Koreans Use Parody for Political Protest
Practitioner:
South Korean citizens
Date:
Dec 20 2024
As South Koreans took to the streets this month demanding the ousting of their president, some found an unexpected outlet to express their fury: jokes and satire. They hoisted banners and flags with whimsical messages about cats, sea otters and food. They waved signs joking that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law had forced them to leave the comfort of their beds. Pictures of the flags spread widely on social media.
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