Projects with Clear Short-Term Goals

These projects all have short-term goals. Ideally each contributes to a campaign with a clear, well-defined path to a goal. Ideally, there are targets—people, institutions—that the project (and/or campaign) pressures and which, if pressured, can help achieve the goal.
Living and Killing in Modern China: "A Touch of Sin"
Practitioner:
Zhangke Jia (贾樟柯)
Date:
May 17 2013

"May you live in interesting times" is the familiar Chinese saying, usually spat out as a curse. You can see why in "A Touch of Sin," a film by renowned director Jia Zhang-ke. That kind of time is now, in the history of his country. With four vignettes inspired by real-life "ripped from the headline" events, he shows what the great economic expansion of China is doing to the majority of its people.

Dior accused of ‘culturally appropriating’ centuries-old Chinese skirt
Practitioner:
Oscar Holland, CNN
Date:
Jul 28 2022

CNN
—
Dior is facing accusations of cultural appropriation after Chinese social media users – and protesters outside one of the label’s Paris stores – claimed that a $3,800 skirt was inspired by a centuries-old traditional garment.

French Farmers Throw Sh*t Fit
Practitioner:
FNSEA (National Federation of Agricultural Holders' Unions)
Date:
Dec 18 2023

"Energy costs surged with the Feb. 2022 launch by Russia of full-scale war in Ukraine and hit hard for farmers reliant on tractors, harvesters and other fuel-guzzling equipment. Prices also soared for other inputs that underpin intensive farming, notably fertilizers. French farmers were already struggling to compete in the increasingly globalized economy.

CAMILO GODOY: RENACEMOS A CADA INSTANTE
Practitioner:
Camilo Godoy; the New Museum
Date:
Jan 1 2024

As the New Museum’s 2023–24 Artist-in-Residence, Camilo Godoy will create a performance exploring movement, breathing, and mourning practices. The title of his residency is borrowed from an embroidered work made by the queer Paraguayan artist Feliciano Centurión in 1995, the year before he died of AIDS-related complications.

The body as a living artwork: Olivier de Sagazan’s Transfiguration
Practitioner:
Olivier de Sagazan
Date:
Jan 1 2024

As the audience enter, Olivier de Sagazan is pacing the stage, deep in thought. A slight, barefooted figure dressed in suit and tie, he circles in and out the shadows, head bowed, sometimes muttering to himself. As the audience settle and hush, his footsteps gradually become more audible (the floor is mic-ed) and begin to pound like a calling drum.

North Hall Takeover at UCSB
Practitioner:
a group of 12 black students at UC Santa Barbara
Date:
Oct 14 1968

For some, October 14, 1968, was a clarion call to the future.

On that day, a group of 12 black students at UC Santa Barbara, tired of the unequal treatment and passive-aggressive racism they received as Black athletes — and as members of the campus community at large — barricaded themselves in the university’s North Hall.

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