Projects tagged "Amplifies (issue or campaign)"

Brings public and political attention to an issue or campaign.  Can include prefigurative action, making the invisible visible.

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD PUTS PROTEST BEFORE THE CLOTHES FOR SPRING 2016
Practitioner:
Vivienne Westwood
Date:
Sep 20 2015
While the designer may be more focused on bigger issues, her fashion business is churning on.
Private Dinner Party: Clothing Not Allowed
Practitioner:
Charlie Ann Max
Date:
Jan 1 2020
Private Dinner Party: Clothing Not Allowed The Füde Dinner Experience gathers those who want to meet, eat and drink — only after leaving their clothes at the door.
It Looks Like Bansky Has Struck the Wall of England’s Reading Prison, Which Once Detained Oscar Wilde, in His Latest Mural
Practitioner:
Banksy
Date:
Mar 1 2021
"It appears that Banksy has struck again, this time painting the brick wall of the former Reading Prison in Berkshire, England, where Oscar Wilde was jailed for two years over his “indecent” affair with Lord Alfred Douglas.
My vagina says, “I want freedom.”
Practitioner:
Beijing Foreign Studies University Students
Date:
Nov 12 2013
In November 2013, a group of 17 female students at Beijing Foreign Studies University sparked national debate when they staged a bold social media campaign in support of an upcoming performance of The Vagina Monologues, a feminist play by Eve Ensler.
Kissing Doesn’t Kill and other projects
Practitioner:
Gran Fury
Date:
Jan 1 1989
Gran Fury was an AIDS activist artist collective from New York City consisting of 11 members, all artists - but action, not art, was the aim of the collective. Gran Fury member Loring McAlpin described the collective's mass-market ambition to “...fight for attention as hard as Coca-Cola fights for attention.”
Big Tech CEOs Become 7ft Capitol Rioters
Practitioner:
Sum Of Us
Date:
Mar 25 2021
As tech leaders faced tough questions from Congress, SumOfUs, an 18 million member advocacy organization, was right outside with a larger-than-life installation of the January 6th Capitol riot that shows the role Big Tech played in sparking the insurrection.
Tim DeChristopher Thwarts a Land Auction (Bidder 70)
Practitioner:
Tim DeChristopher
Date:
Jul 27 2011
In December 2008, Tim DeChristopher, along with his church group, was protesting outside a Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction of 116 parcels of public land in Utah's red rock country. Tim decided to take his protest inside and disrupt the auction itself. Instead, at the door, he was offered a bidder's paddle — which, after a split second of hesitation, he accepted.
#NoFutureNoChildren
Practitioner:
Emma Lim
Date:
Sep 16 2019
As leaders across the world are getting ready to gather together to discuss climate change—and what to do about it—at the UN Climate Change Summit in New York next week, hundreds of young people across the world are going on birth strike to pressure policymakers into action.
Local artist stages demonstration inspired by protesters in China
Practitioner:
Yolanda He Yang
Date:
Dec 11 2022
Late last month, Chinese citizens took up a creative means of protest over the nation’s strict “zero-COVID” policy. In a place with little tolerance for large public demonstrations, protesters have been holding up blank pieces of paper. Their ingenuity inspired a local artist Yolanda He Yang to stage a public art demonstration to subtly communicate their dissent.
Tinder Hack - Bros Swiping Bros
Practitioner:
Anonymous
Date:
Mar 1 2015
Man is a thirsty beast, and nowhere is that thirst more acutely exemplified than on Tinder, the matchmaking app that lets users swipe right in their quest to find love, lust, bots, or viral marketers. Now a California-based programmer has tweaked the app’s API, creating a catfish machine that fools men into thinking they’re talking to women — when in fact they’re talking with each other.
MESOAMÉRICA RESISTE
Practitioner:
Beehive Collective
Date:
Jul 16 2019
The Beehive Design Collective is a wildly motivated, all-volunteer, activist arts collective dedicated to “cross-pollinating the grassroots” by creating collaborative, anti-copyright images for use as educational and organizing tools. We work as word-to-image translators of complex global stories, shared with us through conversations with affected communities.
Climate Protestor Smears Pink Paint on Tom Thomson Painting at National Gallery of Canada
Practitioner:
On2Ottawa
Date:
Aug 29 2023
A climate activist smeared pink paint on a Tom Thomson artwork at the National Gallery of Canada as part of activities this week drawing attention to demands for a national firefighting service. A video uploaded to Facebook by the group On2Ottawa appears to show Kaleb Suedfeld, 28, splashing paint onto Thomson’s 1915 landscape Northern River, kneeling and gluing his hand onto the floor before pulling a written speech from his pocket.
Lynn Neuman: Showing How Quickly Plastic Amasses
Practitioner:
Lynn Neuman
Date:
Jan 1 2011
Lynn Neuman, director of New York City–based Artichoke Dance, became preoccupied with single-use disposability after she started wondering about waste and who was responsible for it. For some of her performances, she has collected massive quantities of discarded plastics, like bags and six-pack rings, and invited community members to contribute their own. “There’s a real aha moment when people see how quickly plastic amasses,” she says.
Cultural Diplomacy through Food: Olia Hercules and Razom's Culinary Journey in Louisiana
Practitioner:
Razom for Ukraine
Date:
Mar 27 2025
Food transcends language—it brings people together, bridges cultures, and tells stories words cannot. In early March, the Razom Advocacy team, alongside renowned Ukrainian chef Olia Hercules, embarked on a journey through Louisiana—visiting Shreveport and New Orleans—to foster connections, celebrate Ukrainian culture, express gratitude to local first responders, and advocate for Ukraine.
Napalming a Dog!?
Practitioner:
Kiyoshi Kuroma, Bill Arthrell
Date:
Apr 10 1968
In 1968, with the US war against Vietnam raging, anti-war veterans and the anti-war movement as a whole in the US increasingly put the spotlight on the US use of napalm. Napalm is burning jellied gasoline dropped on humans engineered to stick to skin and cause horrible burns. According to the wikipedia page on napalm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napalm "388,000 tons of U.S.
For What It's Worth, Buffalo Springfield
Practitioner:
Buffalo Springfield
Date:
Dec 5 1966
Released as a single on 23 December 1966, Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth became the short-lived but talent-packed band’s biggest hit, reaching No.7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1967.
Against Excessive Quarantine
Practitioner:
The Dorr Brothers
Date:
Apr 1 2020
Protests against state stay-at-home orders have attracted a wide range of fringe activists and ardent Trump supporters. They have also attracted a family of political activists whom some Republican lawmakers have called "scam artists."
Occupy the Men Bathroom
Practitioner:
Maizi Li, Churan Zheng
Date:
Feb 19 2012
On February 19, 2012, the Chinese young feminism leaders, included Maizi Li and Churan Zheng, initiated an activity, "Occupy the Men Bathroom." The protesters occupied the male public restroom and invited the women waiting for the women restroom to use the male one.
"Do You Hear Women Sing"
Practitioner:
Qingnianhezi
Date:
Nov 24 2013
On Nov 24, 2013, more than 10 Chinese feminist activists sang the feminist song "Do You Hear Women Sing" in the cabin of Beijing Metro Line 13 (adapted from the famous song "Do You Hear the People Sing" in the musical "Les Miserables". Beijing has the most stringent control on society.
NIU requirement of insurance on-campus
Practitioner:
NIU students
Date:
Nov 10 2021
For a class project at Northern Illinois University, we were tasked with performing an act of artistic activism on campus. We choose to raise awareness about the student health insurance policy. The policy at NIU states that if you do not have your own form of insurance, you are automatically charged for the university’s insurance plan, which costs $1,224 per semester.
Activist Artists Hack the New Museum’s Hans Haacke Survey in an Effort to Expose the Museum’s Hidden Capitalist Agenda
Practitioner:
Grayson Earle and M
Date:
Jan 22 2020
The long-awaited New Museum retrospective of conceptual art pioneer Hans Haacke fell victim to internet hackers over the weekend trying to make a political point. The intervention drastically skewed the results of an iPad-based artwork that was meant to record real-time visitor responses.
Immortal Fans
Practitioner:
Sport Club Recife
Date:
Jan 1 2014
From this article: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27632527 A campaign by one of Brazil's biggest football clubs to encourage fans to become organ donors has led to a massive rise in the number of life-changing transplants and reduced waiting lists for organs in the area almost to zero.
James Luna’s “The Artifact Piece” (1987)
Practitioner:
James Luna
Date:
Jan 1 1987
The performance artist James Luna, who died in 2018 at age 68, had a wicked sense of humor, which made his explorations of the way that Indigenous people have long been objectified, especially in museums, painfully piquant.
‘It brings out the best in humanity’: the rescuers saving pets from LA’s wildfires
Practitioner:
Dani Anguiano
Date:
Jan 24 2025
Rescue workers have swung into action to board, feed and treat displaced animals – and find those who may be trapped. As the wildfires besieged Los Angeles, marauding through hillside suburbs at an impossibly fast and ferocious pace, 500 miles away Garrett Needles and the volunteers with the North Valley Animal Disaster Group started making plans.
‘Not Yours’
Practitioner:
Beata Kruszynski
Date:
May 1 0000
“My image was inspired by the #MeToo Revolution, my personal experiences with the male gaze and a healthy amount of frustration and repulsion. What I hope to convey in this image is the sense of verbal, physical and energetic male ownership that is placed on women in society.” — Beata Kruszynski is a freelance illustrator and art teacher in Ontario, Canada.

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