"I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project, and together we'll turn the world...INSIDE OUT."
– JR, TED2011
A deaf man was moved to tears after learning that his neighbourhood had learned sign language just for him to promote the heartwarming message: 'A world without barriers is our dream'.
Muharrem was unwittingly placed at the centre of an elaborate stunt in which he was secretly filmed encountering a host of strangers in a series of staged meetings through Istanbul.
In response to a memo from Afghanistan's education ministry, Ahmad Sarmast, the founder of Afghanistan's Institute of Music, began a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #IAmMySong. In response to the hashtag, Afghan girls have taken to Twitter with videos of themselves singing tagged with Sarmast's hashtag and spreading petitions against the ban. The ministry memo banned girls 12 years old and older from singing at school functions.
"The Scream: 21st Century Edition" was created by New York-based artist Jim Costanzo in response to the Iraq War. The piece is directly inspired by Edward Munch's painting, "The Scream." Costanzo expresses anger and frustration at the illegal American war and the attack on our civil liberties.
The exhibition "Unpacking the 21st Century: Artists Engaging the World" included work by five New York City area artists that examined a range of social and political issues and offered companion special events.
Whether your family’s traditional dress is a Mexican huipil, an Indian saree, or a Scottish kilt, where do you usually wear these clothes?
In Ukraine, the traditional attire is a vyshyvanka. Typically made of cotton or linen, these shirts feature embroidered patterns along the front, collar and sleeves.
An A.I. generated video of Donald Trump sucking Elon Musk's toes was broadcast at the Department of Housing and Development headquarters in DC in February of 2025. As an actual art piece, we can debate if the video itself is art. However, the caption, subject matter of the fake video, and chosen location to broadcast is definitely a strategic work of creative activism.
From the New York Times:
Using Performance Art to Alert Drivers to Look Out for Pedestrians
A series of three street performances taking place this Thursday and Friday carries a simple message - remember to see and stop for pedestrians.
Iran is a nation with a fine art tradition that stretches back thousands of years; its reputation for contemporary fashion design less so. Writing that from an external, Western perspective may read unduly dismissive, but it’s a statement that holds up even from within the country’s borders, Shiva Vaqar assures us. “Being a designer has never really been considered a serious job here,” she says over the phone from Tehran.
There are over 200,000 migrant domestic workers living in Lebanon
today — a large number when you considered that Lebanon’s population is
only a little over 4 million. Most migrant workers live with their
Lebanese employers, cleaning their houses, washing their clothes,
cooking their food and looking after their children. Yet these workers
are not included under Lebanon’s labor laws — they are not entitled to
We have learnt that Barbie’s body is literally unattainable, but in a role reversal, Pennsylvania-based artist Nikolay Lamm shows us what Barbie would look like if she had the body of a real woman.
Using the measurements of an average 19-year-old woman, Lamm created a 3D model, which he photographed and compared next to a standard Barbie doll.
According to the Daily Mail, it reported that Lamm’s 3D model looked “a lot more natural”.
"Since March 2011, the artist Tim Devin has been putting broadsides (small posters) up around the Boston area.
The posters come in different kind of flavors: Street Surveys, Mappy Facts or Poems by Paul Johns.
The Story of Stuff Project launches a new video. What is instructional, educational, and inspirational is a call for all the people in America to exercise their citizenship rather than their right to consume.
Here is what Annie Leonard (co-founder and spokes person for the project) has to say about this new film:
“Hello,” says the news presenter, as she effortlessly switches from Spanish to English to give her audience a summary of the day’s biggest stories. With her clear intonation, smart appearance, and friendly-yet-serious expression, she seems the very image of a news anchor. Except, perhaps, for her name.
On October 2nd 2012, World Farmed Animals Day, three animal rights activists in Israel got branded with a hot steel brand, in the same way that farmed animals are branded in factory farms.
A Chinese Independent Photographer, Xiyouxiu (Twitter ID@xiuxiukong) published a set of photos called "Father" on both Chinese social platforms like Weibo and Little Red Book, and international platforms like twitter.
A protest on June 18, 2022 took place in the Guadalquivir River in Seville, where fifty Greenpeace activists used their bodies and environment to stage a demonstrative performance, highlighting the water crisis that the Andalusian region is predicted to face as a result of anthropogenic climate change. The area is at extreme risk of increased temperatures and pervasive droughts, which will impact the river that is the subject of the demonstration.
Another incredible artist determined to change the world for animals is Dana Ellyn. This DC-based artist started being a full-time painter in 2002 after leaving a corporate job. Her paintings do not shy away from showing the exploitation of animals, as well as critiquing society in general. Her paintings are meant to start a conversation, and they are certainly doing that as effective advocacy for animals.
Jeff is an animation storyboard artist from Los Angeles, previously working as an animation artist on several famous Disney movies. He uses his talent to produce work highlighting environmental and social issues worldwide with Disney characters, called Unhappily Ever After. His work includes images of Elsa from Frozen on melting ice caps and Alice from Alice & Wonderland taking drugs down a dark alley.
From creativetimereports.org:
Artist-activist collective MTL's clickable collages connect disparate aspects of Palestine's geographical and political landscape, offering provocative insight into "how Palestinians suffer and struggle in ways that are parallel to those elsewhere" according to philosopher Michael Hardt.