Question

1. Based on what we covered in lecture, how can art be a form of activism?

Answer 1

Artistic Activism is a collaborative movement incorporating the artistic force of the arts to emotionally move us with the activism's strategic planning needed to bring about social change. In the world, art and advocacy work differently. Activism, as the name suggests, is the practice of defying and altering ties of power. There are many forms of advocacy and advocacy but the basic element is an action directed at a discernible goal. In short, activism's aim is action to produce an Effect

Art, on the other hand, does not seem to have such a simple target. It's hard to tell what art is for or against; its purpose is always to give us insight and new ways of imagining our world. Its influence is often subtle and difficult to quantify and it may add ambiguous or conflicting messages into the work. There's always a surplus of sense in good art: something we can't quite explain or place on our finger, but always moves us. If we can even use that term, its purpose is to trigger a feeling, emotionally move us or shift our perception. Art is an expression that creates Affect

We would like to think of politics as a strictly reasonable endeavor, where intelligent people objectively analyze and debate the problems at hand, come to a informed conclusion and then act judgmentally. This is definitely how our civics classes taught us politics. But as recent advances in cognitive science indicate, humans do not think and behave in this way: through stories and symbols that frame the knowledge we obtain and then act accordingly, we make sense of our environment. In the realms of popular culture and entertainment, and in creative speech and reception, the values guiding public action are more likely to be found than in political science textbooks.

Although Creative Activism is especially well tailored for the contemporary moment, the most influential political actors have married the arts throughout history with movements for social change, using visual strategies to offer a critical viewpoint of the world as it is and envision the world as it might be. In the fight for civil rights for African Americans in the US, for example, activists drew on the black churches' stories and songs and participatory culture, orchestrated media-savvy stunts such as Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus, played white racial reaction against nonviolent demonstrators as a sympathetic play of passion during the Birminghamcampaign

Since creative activism crosses borders, it not only provides multiple entry points for producers and fans, but also for mainstream media outlets that can cover arts and political activities as well as funders that can support arts and culture grants initiatives as well as social justice portfolios.