Projects tagged "Civil Liberties"

Edward Snowden Hologram
Practitioner:
The Illuminator
Date:
Apr 7 2015
NEW YORK — Hours after police removed an illicit bust of Edward Snowden from its perch in a Brooklyn park on Monday, artists replaced it with a hologram. The group of artists — who collectively call themselves "The Illuminator" and are not related to the trio behind the original sculpture — used laptops and projection equipment to cast an image of Snowden in a haze of smoke at the spot where the sculpture once stood.
New Beijing, New Marriage: A Milestone Film in China’s LGBTQ Movement
Practitioner:
Fan Popo, David Cheng
Date:
Feb 14 2009
New Beijing, New Marriage is a documentary shot by Fan Popo, a Chinese gay rights activist in 2009. The film recorded that a gay couple and a lesbian couple, who were volunteers instead of real homosexual couples, were having their wedding photos taken at Qianmen Street on Valentine’s Day. Qianmen Street is a crowded and famous shopping street in Beijing.
Sister Activism: The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
Practitioner:
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
Date:
Jan 9 2014
If you've been to a Bay Area protest or community event, you've probably seen -- or even met those nuns in whiteface -- The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Devoted to human rights globally and locally, AIDS education, and respect for diversity, this controversial Order of Queer Nuns has long been a staple of San Francisco's cultural fabric. They join host Joseph Pace for the hour. Guests:
MTA 'See Something, Say Something' Posters Get #Resist Makeover
Practitioner:
Anonymous
Date:
Mar 9 2017
If you scanned the public service announcements in your subway car this morning—and happened to be adequately caffeinated—you might have noticed something slightly off. There's Melissa C., of small-time "See Something, Say Something" fame, with her gold hoops and salmon-pink hoodie. She's smiling next to the familiar MTA logo, but her message isn't just about reporting a suspicious bag on the platform and feeling heroic.
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.
The Wheelbarrow
Practitioner:
The Wheelbarrow Collective
Date:
May 1 2020
Empathy may be the cornerstone of any Global Justice movement, but how do we cultivate the conditions for empathy to thrive? The wheelbarrow symbolises something universally useful, practical and pleasingly straightforward. A space to deliver things in an efficient and direct manner - no packaging and completely people powered.
Sima Qian: China's 'grand historian'
Practitioner:
Chinese historians, Carrie Gracie
Date:
Oct 7 2012
Sima Qian: China's 'grand historian' By Carrie Gracie BBC News, Beijing Speaking truth to power has always been a high-risk strategy in China. Its rulers tend to prefer flattery, and writers who forget this do so at their peril. China's "grand historian" - 2,000 years ago - was one of many who have paid a terrible price.
Art of the Umbrella Movement
Practitioner:
civil disobedience movement
Date:
Sep 26 2014
Art of the Umbrella movement refers to artistic works created as part of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong which demanded democracy in the election of the territory's top leader. Most of the physical works of art are located within the three main protest sites of Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok.
Band Invoices US Government for Using their Music at Guantanamo
Practitioner:
Skinny Puppy
Date:
Feb 1 2014
Veteran Industrial band Skinny Puppy have objected to their disturbingly dark music being played to discombobulate inmates at Guantanamo, and plan to “charge” the government for doing so. They are not the first band to express such objections.
Protest in Inner Mongolia against CCP's Mandarin-only Education
Practitioner:
Ethnic Mongolians in China
Date:
Sep 1 2020
Thousands of ethnic Mongolians have protested across northern China in opposition to Beijing plans to replace the Mongolian language with Chinese in some school subjects.
How Art Gives Shape to Cultural Change
Practitioner:
Thelma Golden
Date:
Jul 2 2009
Thelma Golden, curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, talks through three recent shows that explore how art examines and redefines culture. The "post-black" artists she works with are using their art to provoke a new dialogue about race and culture -- and about the meaning of art itself.
#BeyChella
Practitioner:
Beyonce
Date:
Apr 14 2018
Beyoncé delivered an intensely, unapologetic celebration of Black and HBCU culture at the Coachella Festival 2 weekends in a row. Not only were her performances some of the best live performances to date but they sent a pretty significant message to the world. Here are some assessments of this beautiful demonstration of Blackness and Black Girl Magic: From BBC News:
The Art of Heroin Bags
Practitioner:
VICE
Date:
Mar 28 2012
Heroin sold in the northeast, specifically in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey tends to come in little glassine baggies. The art comes from the individual and unique "stamp" on said baggie sold to a user.
Smuggling Books Across The Border
Practitioner:
Leila Abdelrazaq on ForThePeople
Date:
Apr 1 2016
For the People Artists Collective is a collaborative network of radical artists of color in Chicago.
"Who is afraid of Aiweiwei?" stencil graffiti spread in Hong Kong
Practitioner:
activists
Date:
Apr 3 2011
Free Ai Weiwei street art campaign is a "guerilla methods" of political street art protest against the PRC government's secret detention of world famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei since April 3, 2011, organized by Hong Kong artists and art supporters, calling for the immediate release of the artist.
Climate Activists Deface Constitutional Monument in Germany with Black Paint, Posters
Practitioner:
The Last Generation
Date:
Mar 4 2023
Climate activists defaced a work of art near Germany's Parliament Saturday in the latest act of vandalism by protestors concerned with environmental policy. Members of The Last Generation threw black liquid over a series of glass plates displaying 19 articles of the German constitution. The protestors then affixed posters to the facade that read, "Oil or fundamental rights?" in German.
Russians Launch Mass Virtual Protests Using SatNav Application
Practitioner:
Yandex.Navigator
Date:
Apr 20 2020
Russia is the midst of a strict COVID-19 lockdown. Although protesters cannot take to the streets, they are still holding mass demonstrations — digitally.
THE SAHMAT COLLECTIVE: ART AND ACTIVISM IN INDIA SINCE 1989
Practitioner:
The Sahmat Collective is co-curated by Jessica Moss, Smart Museum Associate Curator for Contemporary Art, and Ram Rahman, a photographer, independent curator, and founding member of Sahmat.
Date:
Jan 1 2015
In 1989, playwright, actor, and activist Safdar Hashmi was fatally attacked by political thugs while performing a street play outside of Delhi. His death led to the founding of Sahmat, an influential artist collective that has taken a consistent stance against the threats of religious fundamentalism and sectarianism in India through a vibrant mix of high art and street culture.
Tyre Nichols Murder Draws Social Justice Activists to Irvington Rally
Practitioner:
Black Lives Matter
Date:
Jan 29 2023
Some 70 or 80 lo­cal ac­tivists, politi­cians and other con­cerned cit­i­zens gath­ered out­side Irv­ing­ton Vil­lage Hall Sun­day evening, two days af­ter the re­lease of gut-wrench­ing video of the mur­der of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols at the hands of po­lice­men in Mem­phis.
Artists mark Trump's inauguration anniversary with day of protest art
Practitioner:
The Federation, a volunteer-run arts organization spearheaded by artist Laurie Anderson and producers Tanya Selvaratnam and Laura Michalchyshyn
Date:
Jan 19 2018
This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump's inauguration. It also marks the one-year anniversary of the Women's March his election inspired, the largest single-day protest in the nation's history.
Literatura Exposta (Literature Exposed)
Practitioner:
Álvaro Figueiredo
Date:
Jan 15 2019
Artists in Rio de Janeiro have staged a pop-up street show to protest against the closure by the new far-right state government of an exhibition because of a performance attacking dictatorship-era torture.
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Practitioner:
Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin, NAACP
Date:
Dec 1 1955
In 1900, Montgomery, Alabama had passed a city ordinance to segregate bus passengers by race, and conductors were empowered to assign seats to achieve that goal. The first four rows of seats on each Montgomery bus were reserved for whites, and buses had "colored" sections for black people generally in the rear of the bus, although blacks composed more than 75% of the ridership.
Iranian Documentary ‘The Gardener', on Religion and Baha’i Garden
Practitioner:
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Date:
Feb 1 2012
The Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf opens “The Gardener” with the declaration: “I am an agnostic filmmaker.” From anyone else, this might seem like a simple statement, but not from the complex Mr. Makhmalbaf. In 1974, when he was 17, religious and involved in a guerrilla group, he stabbed a policeman, for which he received a bullet to the stomach and a prison sentence.
Red Paint Splashed on Roosevelt Statue after second “Anti-Columbus Day Tour”
Practitioner:
Monument Removal Brigade
Date:
Oct 26 2017
Just weeks after activists staged an alternative tour of the American Museum of Natural History to call for its removal, among other things, the equestrian statue of Teddy Roosevelt was vandalized early Thursday morning.
A Haunting Artistic Tribute to Garment Workers Killed in Bangladesh and the US
Practitioner:
Artist Rachel Breen, Poet Alison Morse
Date:
Apr 1 2018
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Exactly 1,281 white garments hang from the ceiling of the Perlman Teaching Museum’s Braucher Gallery. The collared shirts, knit sweaters, tights, and other items of clothing glow with an eerie luminosity.

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