Projects tagged "Amplifies (issue or campaign)"

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

Breathing lights
Practitioner:
Adam Frelin and architect Barbara Nelson
Date:
Nov 1 2016
In October and November 2016, Breathing Lights illuminated the windows of hundreds of vacant buildings in Albany, Schenectady and Troy, NY. Warm light filled each window with a diffuse glow that mimicked the gentle rhythm of human breathing. Concentrated in neighborhoods with high levels of vacancy, Breathing Lights transformed abandoned structures from pockets of shadows into places of warmth.
Waste Land Project
Practitioner:
Vik Muniz
Date:
Feb 5 2008
The project involved creating portraits of garbage pickers from the Jardim Gramacho landfill near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, using materials found in the landfill itself. Muniz worked with the garbage pickers to create the portraits, which were then photographed and exhibited in galleries around the world. The project aimed to raise awareness of the plight of the garbage pickers and the environmental issues associated with landfill waste.
Fit For Work
Practitioner:
Void One
Date:
Jan 1 2018
Graffiti art is particularly viewed as a powerful form of social protest, and the (illegal) act of defacing can be as important as the message itself. Artist Void One has been arrested on numerous occasions for his politically-charged interventions. “I didn’t set out to make political art but art is a platform where I can vent my frustrations” – Void One.
Zone à Défendre, or “zone to defend” (ZAD)
Practitioner:
local community groups
Date:
Jan 26 2017
The ZAD (zone à défendre, or “zone to defend”) in Western France is 4000 acres of wetland, farmland and forest that was originally intended to be built into an airport in 1965 but is now an autonomous territory occupied by 40 different collectives looking to reclaim the land. There are around 200 people living permanently on the zone, in addition to some 2,000 people coming and going.
"We stand in solidarity"-Asian American Artist Confront Racism
Practitioner:
Mike Keo, Monyee Chau, Godzilla: Asian American Art Network
Date:
Apr 2 2020
Unleashed by anxiety over the pandemic, the nationwide rise in anti-Asian hate has served as a call to action for many Asian American artists to take a stand: To actively challenge the historic negative stereotype of the vice- and disease-ridden Yellow Peril; to dismantle the pernicious and divisive myth of the model minority that pits achievements by Asian Americas as judgements against other communities of color; and to advocate for social justice, eq
'0 to 1939 in 3 seconds’: Why Anti-Elon Musk Satire Is Flourishing in Britain
Practitioner:
Center for Political Beauty and others
Date:
Apr 5 2025
The mischievous posters began appearing all over London in the past two months. On the side of an East London bus stop, one of them shows Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, emerging from a Tesla’s roof with his hand pointing upward in a straight-armed salute. “Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds,” the ad reads. “Tesla. The Swasticar.”
Knitted Statues
Practitioner:
Louise Moerup and others
Date:
Mar 1 2026
The yarn bombing started with Louise Moerup’s school run in central Copenhagen. On the walk through the park each morning, she and her 10-year-old son would often discuss a naked statue of the goddess Venus there and wonder why there weren’t more statues of real women instead.
Performance Art “Not to Leave the Cage Unless You Have to” in Beijing Film Academy
Practitioner:
An anonymous student from Beijing Film Academy
Date:
Nov 22 2021
Direct Cause: Students' freedom to enter and leave the campus has been restricted for two weeks, but the university has not even issued an official document, only a verbal rule of "not leaving the campus unless necessary." Objective: To protest the arbitrary closure policy of Beijing Film Academy.
Ghen Cô Vy / Corona Hand Washing Song
Practitioner:
Khac Hung, Min x Erik, Vietnam Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health
Date:
Mar 1 2020
'Jealousy Ms. Vy' is a creative project of the Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health, in collaboration with musician Khac Hung, singer Min and singer Erik. Through this project, we look forward to empowering and trusting the community, so that we can join hands to combat COVID-19 (aka nCoV-2019).
Young Latinas are using their quinceañeras to get Texas voters to the polls this election
Practitioner:
Ride to the Polls
Date:
Oct 29 2022
A group of young Latinas donned their quince gowns on Oct. 29 and led their families and friends along the streets of San Antonio, urging them to harness their electoral voice and vote in the upcoming midterm elections. The event was part of Ride to the Polls, a national campaign from the nonprofit organization Harness that aims to encourage young BIPOC voter turnout through cultural milestone celebrations.
#MyNameIs
Practitioner:
Sister Roma
Date:
Oct 1 2014
Facebook came under fire when its authentic-name policy led to San Francisco drag queen Sister Roma and others being barred from the social network. The policy allows users to report people they believe are using fake names. This caused a stir when a group of drag performers suddenly found that their Facebook accounts had been deactivated. Among them was Sister Roma, who had not registered on the site under her legal name, Michael Williams.
This ‘Plastic Man’ Has a Cape and a Superhero’s Mission: Cleaning Up Senegal
Practitioner:
Modou Fall
Date:
Jan 1 2022
Dressed head to toe in plastic, Modou Fall is a familiar sight in Dakar. But however playful his costume, his goal couldn’t be more serious: ridding the capital of the scourge of plastic bags.
Detroit Industry, North Wall
Practitioner:
Diego Rivera
Date:
Jan 1 1933
Almost all of Rivera's art told a story, many of which depicted Mexican society, the Mexican Revolution, or reflected his own personal social and political beliefs, and In the Arsenal is no different. The woman on the right side of this painting in Tina Modotti, an Italian photographer and revolutionary political activist, who is holding ammunition for Julio Antonio Mella, a founder of the internationalized Cuban communist party.
Paint the Protest at Off Paradise
Practitioner:
Nancy Spector, curator
Date:
Jan 30 2023
What happens to explicitly political art when it’s placed inside of the White Cube? Paint the Protest, a group show curated by Nancy Spector at Off Paradise self-consciously poses this question, and further aims to reveal the place and purpose of activist art in general.
'I am not your scapegoat': See the art created by Asian Americans in a year of anti-Asian hate
Practitioner:
Kezia Gabriella, Andrew Kung, Kathleen Namgung, Cindy Trinh, Christine Fang, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya
Date:
Dec 27 2021
In mid-November, the nonprofit group Asian American Federation released 10 travel posters designed to subvert a question that can instantly get under the skin of any person of Asian descent in the United States: “Where are you really from?”
London’s “Free Butt Plug Catalogue” Confronts Hostile Architecture
Practitioner:
A Chinese Artist
Date:
May 16 2025
Hostile architecture—urban design features like ground spikes that deter the homeless from lying down or slanted benches that prevent lingering—inscribes exclusion into our streets. In response, a Chinese artist will launch the Free Butt Plug Catalogue, an art-activism project that documents fifteen such spikes and anti–loitering benches across London and pairs each with a commercially available butt plug of the same shape.
Black Lives Matter to Gaming
Practitioner:
BLM protestors
Date:
Aug 7 2020
During the pandemic of Covid protestors have found many different ways in which they can express themselves. Some examples of which are the BLM rallies that took place in the video game The Sims to the China / Hong Kong protests in Animal Crossing. During the period of time where street protests against anti-black racism was rampant around the world, Animal Crossing players were taking their own stand against racism.
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.
Climate activists bring Trojan horse to British Museum in BP protest
Practitioner:
Climate Activists, Theatrical protest group: BP or not BP?
Date:
Feb 7 2020
Activists have taken a Trojan horse into the grounds of the British Museum to protest against its sponsorship deal with the oil corporation BP. Protesters dressed as ancient Greek warriors snuck their 13ft-tall wooden horse through a side gate at 7.30am on Friday and pulled it on to the forecourt in front of the museum’s entrance.
Free the vaccine for COVID-19
Practitioner:
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines and the Center for Artistic Activism
Date:
Feb 1 2020
Free the Vaccine for COVID-19 is a campaign aimed at securing everyone access to Covid-19 vaccine.
Caleidoscópica Violeta (Feminist Art Festival)
Practitioner:
La Paloma Feminista
Date:
Dec 2 2016
Caleidoscópica Violeta, is a creative space for reflection, dialogue, critique, and praxis of pop contemporary feminism. It is also an initiative that seeks to reflect on the role of women in the history of modern art. Historically, the role of women in art has been stolen by the patriarchy. Recognizing this as a feminist artist, I propose this festival as a way to open new spaces for women protagonists in the arts.
If Not Now, When?
Practitioner:
Wakefield London
Date:
Apr 3 2023
If Not Now, When? is an ongoing exhibition that showcases the work of 31 female sculptors, employing diverse materials and forms to address social and environmental issues such as gender equality, nuclear disarmament, and electronic waste. The Hepworth Wakefield in England is hosting the exhibition from April 3 to July 4, 2023.
After 38 attacks on art, climate protesters have fallen into big oil’s trap – it’s time to change tack
Practitioner:
Last Generation and Just Stop Oil
Date:
Apr 1 2022
How many of the 38 environmental protests staged in museums in 2022 can you remember? How many of the more recent ones only generated widespread outrage? Did any of them lead to tangible change? The protesters’ cause is serious, the threat is very real, the message is important and urgent. But is it not getting through to the public?
Missing Faces for Missing Girls
Practitioner:
Peju Alatise
Date:
Jul 1 2014
Born in Nigeria in 1975, Péju Alatise, is a multimedia artist focusing on the experience of women and girls, particularly in her native country but with resonance across the world.
Mika Rottenberg: Cosmic Generator
Practitioner:
Mika Rottenberg
Date:
Jan 1 2017
Cosmic Generator presents a network of characters working in nonsensical, and at times absurd, economies. Artist Mika Rottenberg uses footage from actual discount dollar stores in Calexico, CA; Mexicali, Mexico; and Yiwu, China to recreate the imaginary “life” of a product, from its production in the factory to the moment it is sold.

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