Projects with Clear Long-Term Goals

These projects have long-term goals for change. Long-term goals tend to be things like: end racism; end homophobia; make the sun stand still in the sky. A campaign with a long-term goal also needs to have some kind of theory of change.
The Climate Clock
Practitioner:
Andrew Boyd & Gan Golan
Date:
Sep 15 2020

For more than 20 years, Metronome, which includes a 62-foot-wide 15-digit electronic clock that faces Union Square in Manhattan, has been one of the city’s most prominent and baffling public art projects.

My Calling (Card) #1 Meta-Performance (1987-88; 00:58:00)
Practitioner:
Adrian Piper
Date:
Jan 30 1987

Adrian Piper created 'calling cards' that can stand alone as individual works, but Piper also used them in performances.

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.

In Burma, dogs ridicule the regime
Practitioner:
Burmese dissidents
Date:
Sep 15 2007

Dogs featured in one ruse to ridicule the regime—pictures of dictator Than Shwe were hung around the necks of the stray dogs that roam the streets of Rangoon. The pictures, which rapidly found their way onto the Internet, are the work of an exiled Burmese satirist who goes by the name of Mr Creator. Downloaded copies of his pictures and cartoons are popular items among cyber dissidents.

Freedom riders
Practitioner:
Hundreds
Date:
May 4 1961

The first legislative victory of the Civil Rights era was obtained by hundreds of people going where they weren't invited. In 1961, Black and white Freedom Riders, well trained by SNCC in nonviolent action, rode Greyhound buses from Washington DC southwards primarily in order to wait, together, in waiting rooms that were still unconstitutionally segregated.

Mother's Power
Practitioner:
Moms
Date:
Jul 25 2020

When mothers take to the streets — particularly those from privileged groups — governments take note. The “wall of moms” in Portland has taken up the cause against police violence.

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