Projects tagged "North America"

This Historic Marian Anderson Performance Made Her an Icon of the Civil Rights Movement
Practitioner:
Marian Anderson
Date:
Apr 9 1939
Marian Anderson, the legendary African American contralto, sang at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday in 1939 after she was refused a performance at Washington’s Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution because she was black. Over 75,000 people attended the performance, which was broadcast live on the radio and arranged in part by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt with the support of her husband, President Franklin D.
Vietnam comes to Washington
Practitioner:
Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Date:
Jun 15 1971
It’s the summer of 1971 and tourists flock around one of Washington DC’s most famous hotspots – the Capitol steps. Journalist Art Goldberg recalls ‘a squad of soldiers moving through the space. They are grubby-looking troopers, clad in jungle fatigues. Jumping a low fence, they begin shouting at a group of tourists. “All right! Hold it! Hold it! Nobody move. Nobody move!” Their voices full of tension and anger. A man runs from the crowd.
Recycle Flash Mob
Practitioner:
Mall Shoppers
Date:
Jul 1 2015
A group of unidentified guerrilla activists staged a unique pro recycling flashmob in a Quebec mall in July 2015. An actor 'forgot' an empty water bottle on the ground in a food court a couple of feet from a recycling receptacle. Numerous people walked past the bottle and did nothing. Finally a woman walking past it reached down and recycled the bottle. She was then given a standing ovation and thunderous applause from the entire food court.
Teeter-Totter Wall, 2019
Practitioner:
Rael and Virginia San Fratello
Date:
Jan 9 2019
hot pink see-saws installed along the US-Mexico border where one person on each side can sit and see-saw with the other. installed at Sunland Park, nine miles northwest of El Paso, on the 18 feet slats border wall between Mexico and the United States. It is at this site where the US Border Patrol detained about 300 migrants from Mexico. (Public Delivery) the installation lasted only 1 day and was done without permission.
Fairy Tales (with guns)
Practitioner:
National Rifle Association
Date:
Mar 25 2016
The National Rifle Association has recently decided that the way to promote their gun rights among the American people is to retell the classic stories with guns. Thus far, they have rewritten The Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel, handing guns into the hands of the children protagonists, resulting in, surprisingly, significantly less bloodshed.
Water Bar
Practitioner:
Works Progress Studios
Date:
Mar 6 2016
Northeast Minneapolis is going to have the first full-fledged water bar of its kind, an establishment where you can sit and drink a variety of local tap waters to your heart’s content. Their delightful motto: “Water is all we have.”
Fighting Violence with Art
Practitioner:
Sam Ryu, Ethan Regan
Date:
Dec 11 2023
One of the oldest forms of human expression is art, so it’s no surprise that art is constantly used to critique another of humanity’s oldest practices, violence and war. In the world of art activism, the power of creativity and innovation has been used to create commentary about war since the beginning of time. Art that speaks out against the atrocities of violent conflict embodies empathy, care, and a plethora of other human emotions.
Emerging Indigenous artists are mixing tradition with an urgent, organized message
Practitioner:
Ash-Milby, Ka’ila Farrell-Smith, Portland Art Museum
Date:
Dec 4 2021
The new exhibit “MESH” at Portland Art Museum features Indigenous contemporary artists advocating for change Visual artist, writer and activist Ka’ila Farrell-Smith says she considers herself a wartime artist. She is a member of the Klamath tribes and lives in Modoc Point, Oregon. When asked about how history influences her work, the answer weaves through over 150 years of white colonization and Indigenous struggles in the West:
Ghosts of Union Square - The Contested City
Practitioner:
Not An Alternative
Date:
Oct 1 2011
"This project took aim at a public relations campaign produced by The Union Square Partnership, a local Business Improvement District (BID) attempting to privatize the north end of NYC’s Union Square park and install a high-end celebrity chef restaurant. They hosted historical walking tours of the park for decision-makers, as a means of getting buy-in for their development initiative.
Brain Work: A Meditation on the Painting of Katherine Sherwood
Practitioner:
Georgina Kleege
Date:
Jan 1 2008
Brain Work: A Meditation on the Painting of Katherine Sherwood by Georgina Kleege
Building an Ark for the big climate rally
Practitioner:
Auburn Seminary
Date:
Sep 19 2014
Four months ago, I was in a multifaith brainstorm for the People’s Climate March when someone said, “What if we had a giant ark?” I think we all had the same reaction: Great … but how do you build an ark?
APEC World Leaders Dinner Gets Occupied
Practitioner:
Makana
Date:
Nov 13 2011
Honolulu - A change in the programmed entertainment at last night's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gala left a few world leaders slack-jawed, though most seemed not to notice that anything was amiss.
“Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)
Practitioner:
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Date:
Jan 1 1991
Artist: Félix González-Torres Media: Candies in variously coloured wrappers, endless supply, ideal weight of 175 lb Date & Location: 1991 Where can I find this item?: Art Institute of Chicago, Contemporary Art, Gallery 293 Source: Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons)
The Uni Project
Practitioner:
Street Lab
Date:
Sep 11 2011
"The Uni Project aims to do one thing and do it well: temporarily transform almost any available urban space into a public reading room and venue for learning. We start with the conviction that books and learning should be prominent, accessible, and part of what we expect at street-level in our cities." (From site.)
The Dance Union
Practitioner:
Melanie Greene, J. Bouey
Date:
Jun 1 2020
Through their podcast, The Dance Union, Melanie Greene and J. Bouey have been confronting racism in the dance world, and highlighting the experiences of Black artists, since 2018. Their episodes cover a variety of topics and issues, ranging from mental health and sexual harassment to advocating for fair pay.
ISIS-chan : Anime nerds' efforts to influence online search results for ISIS-related messages
Practitioner:
Anime fans from Japan and around the world
Date:
Jan 24 2015
Her name is ISIS-chan. And she's how nerds around the world are trying to silence violent ISIS terrorist propaganda. It starts with the vibrant worldwide community that loves Japanese anime. Some of them have created a cute animated character as a sort of ISIS mascot. The goal? Hijack the terrorist group's message and replace it with a girl that's oh-so-adorable.
#TeamTrees
Practitioner:
MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) and Mark Rober
Date:
Oct 25 2019
When And Where Will #TeamTrees Plant 21.5 Million Crowdfunded Trees? Two months after reaching one of the most ambitious crowdfunding goals in YouTube history, #TeamTrees is getting closer to delivering on behalf of its 800,000+ unique donors.
Instant Grant Program
Practitioner:
The Federation of Students and Nominally or Unemployed Artists
Date:
May 12 2008
We all learn art in school. Every kid loves to draw at some point. People get fascinated with the details of their new camera, or spend free time writing poems. But eventually, there’s a not a teacher telling you how great your are, or the camera gets put away, or you just plain get busy and stop. Years could go by before you start again, if you ever do at all.
Young Boricua & Proud
Practitioner:
Castorillo / Pedro Lugo Vazquez
Date:
Mar 6 2016
Boricua artist Castorillo discusses the crisis, diaspora, and the enduring significance of the Young Lords Party for Puerto Rican social movements today using illustrations:
Circus Amok
Practitioner:
Jennifer Miller
Date:
Jan 1 1989
Circus Amok is a New York City based circus-theater company whose mission is to provide free public art addressing contemporary issues of social justice to the people of New York City.
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
Practitioner:
Malik Yakini
Date:
Mar 11 2014
From the site's "About Us:"
"Your body is a battleground"
Practitioner:
Barbara Kruger
Date:
Jun 30 1989
A woman’s head is bisected by a line that splits her face into positive and negative halves. Over the image, a commanding text, stated in the second person, reads: “Your body is a battleground.”
8-Year-Old Creates ‘Buddy Bench’ For His Classmates Who Don't Have Playmates
Practitioner:
Christian Bucks
Date:
Dec 6 2013
"Eight-year-old Christian Bucks from Roundtown Elementary School noticed that some of his classmates did not have any friends to play with during recess. His solution was to introduce a “Buddy Bench”, where lonely classmates could choose to sit if they wanted a playmate. If two children were seated there, they could ask each other if they wanted to play or talk.
New York City Food Not Bombs
Practitioner:
Food Not Bombs
Date:
May 19 2014
New York City Food Not Bombs Food Not Bombs--NYC is now working out of a kitchen provided by the Catholic Worker: 36 East First Street, between First and Second Avenues. Every Sunday they start cooking around 1:00pm and are in Tompkins Square Park to serve around 3:30pm.
See Saws installed on Border Wall
Practitioner:
Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello
Date:
Jul 29 2019
"ALBUQUERQUE — For a brief moment — just a half-hour over the weekend — a simple piece of playground equipment served as a bridge between the United States and Mexico." “Actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side,” Ronald Rael

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