Claudio Abbado was an Italian orchestra director (1933 - 2014) who served as chief director at La Scala Theater in Milan from 1968 - 1985. After 18 years of absence, in 2009, he was invited to conduct a concert there. He accepted upon condition that, instead of paying him a monetary honorarium, the city would commit to the planing of 90.000 trees in the city of Milan.
The Atacama Desert in northern Chile — the setting of Patricio Guzmán’s transfixing cinematic essay “Nostalgia for the Light” — is a place where heaven and earth converge. Or some might say heaven and hell.
In 2010, the College Republicans used tens of thousands of dollars from student fees to bring Ann Coulter to speak at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Haeryun Kang reported the following for NPR on February 24, 2016:
"On the eve of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's third anniversary in office, protesters gathered in Seoul... to condemn the administration's increasing crackdown on free speech. These protesters were unlike any others Seoul has seen. They were holograms"
Creative Time, Social Practice Archive: In 2000 Heavy Trash, an anonymous arts organization of designers, architects, and urban planners, implemented its Aqua Line project throughout various parts of Los Angeles. The project involved the installation of false "Future Station Location" signs in the downtown area, notifying passersby of the impending construction of a subway that would connect the downtown to the Westside.
To some, the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA) might appear to be but a ragged bunch of activists sporting false noses, a smudge of grease paint, camouflage pants and bad wigs. And those people may be right. But it is also a highly disciplined army of professional clowns, a militia of authentic fools, a battalion of true buffoons.
Following the controversy around Rick Ross's date rape lyrics in his rap on Rocko’s song U.O.E.N.O, the rapper lost his contract with Reebok and was the target of the media, anti-rape activists Ultraviolet, hip hop activists, and even his fans.
Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- They've been described as the voice of their generation -- though not one that everyone is comfortable hearing.
Mashrou' Leila, whose name translates as "The Night Project," is a controversial alternative rock band from Lebanon, whose music has served as something of a soundtrack to the Arab Spring for many young people throughout the region.
From Time Magazine:
It's not a dress—it's a cape
We’ve all seen the woman in the triangle dress that marks women’s bathrooms. But what if that triangle silhouette isn’t really a dress?
The creative fusion of art and activism in urban spaces has propelled the British collective Led by Donkeys into the spotlight, garnering millions of views for their interventions on social media. Their critical visual occupations - whether billboard messages during the day or large-scale projections at night - raise a compelling question: which medium holds the greater persuasive power?
It’s almost no surprise that the Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade happened this past week.
Since its enaction in 1973, there have been numerous occasions where politicians and people alike have tried hacking away at its success in reaffirming a women’s right to choose.
Richard Bell has often called himself ‘an activist masquerading as an artist’. Aboriginal journalist and radio broadcaster Daniel Browning has suggested that Bell is also ‘a megaphone.
DAMN. Kendrick Lamar opened the 2018 GRAMMYs with a powerful and political performance of his hit, "XXX.'" The rapper featured an army of face-covered soldiers marching in the background of an American flag, that quickly turned into a "satire" taking a jab at the current political climate in the United States.
Most nights since a coup returned Myanmar to military rule on Feb. 1, a spectral symbol of protest has glowed on a mildewed side of a building.
Where the next illumination will appear in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, is a mystery. But, suddenly, a projected image appears in the dark. Three fingers raised in a rebellious pose. A dove of peace. The smiling face of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose government was ousted in the army putsch.
On an unnamed part of the internet, young adult author Gwen C. Katz found a delightfully deluded male author claiming that his facility with writing natural women characters constituted an unassailable rebuke to the idea that we need diverse authors to write diverse viewpoints. If a male author can write a woman this convincing, surely there’s no need for the #OwnVoices movement!
A New York blogger impersonating David Koch successfully prank called Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. David Koch is one of the two wealthy brothers who were big donors to his political campaign and GOP efforts generally.
The face of Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam is falling apart: an eyeball has fallen out of its socket and the flesh of her left chin has been ripped off. Black-clad protesters in yellow hard hats are standing on top of her head, hanging a banner with ‘Hong Kong add oil’ on her forehead and shouting into her ear with a megaphone.
The “Perceiving Freedom” glasses sculpture on Cape Town’s Sea Point promenade looking towards Robben Island, commemorates late President Nelson Mandela and the values of freedom and equality.
Last Friday, Pablo Picasso’s Buste de Femme, (1943), was put on display at the International Art Academy Palestine in Ramallah. Marking the very first time that the Picasso’s work has been shown in Palestine and as the result of a loan request to the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, this project is the tenacious vision of artist Khaled Hourani (also the Artistic Director of IAAP).
Comic artist Huda Fahmy has been breaking down walls with her hilarious comic "Yes, I'm Hot in This."
In her own words, "What started as my therapeutic way of dealing with the Islamophobia and prejudice I encounter on the daily has now turned into this amazing opportunity to tell the story of the American hijabi."