Artivism

Artivism - 'art' plus 'activism' - is a modern form of protest art in which creative practice drives political action. The term entered US English through a 1997 meeting of Chicano artists from East Los Angeles with Zapatista supporters in Chiapas, and was spread by musicians and collectives such as Ozomatli and Mujeres de Maiz and by spaces like Self Help Graphics & Art; it grew with the anti-globalization and antiwar movements. Artivists culture-jam, subvertise, occupy streets and screens, and stage performances that reframe political messages, raising awareness of social, environmental, and technological problems. By 2005 the word was in academic use, and a 2018 public experiment in Copenhagen suggested artivism can move people more than conventional campaigning.

Defining characteristics

• Message-first work in which the political claim shapes the aesthetic form
• Public, street-based tactics: murals, stencils, wheatpaste, banners, occupation
• Culture jamming and subvertising: appropriation of corporate and media imagery
• Participatory and performative action rather than static display
• Rapid, cheap reproduction designed to spread and be copied

Key figures

• Eve Ensler (b. 1953) — Playwright-activist whose work models artivism's fusion of stage and cause
• M. K. Asante (b. 1982) — Writer who theorized the 'artivist' in It's Bigger Than Hip Hop (2008)

Example works

• Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum? — Guerrilla Girls (1989)
• Kissing Doesn't Kill — Gran Fury (1989)

Sources

• Artivism - Wikipedia encyclopedia

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