What happens when 4 of the greatest minds in Æfficacy get together and brainstorm around creative activism? The Axes of Arts and Activism, that’s what! This is Artistic Activism Technology (AAT) so advanced even we aren’t sure what it means yet. But to be clear – when it is ready we’ll know how to use it.
Category Archives: Research Blog
Avram Finkelstein
“That’s the thing about history, you know, history is capital. The reason why I think the distinctions are worth knowing about is while communal responses, political responses, like ACT UP are incredibly valuable and noteworthy, there’s also power in the individual voice. It was six gay men, who had no idea that they were surrounded …
And what do I do now? Using Data Visualization for Social Change
Last week, the C4AA’s Steve Lambert attended the Responsible Data Forum on Data Visualization. In this article, Lambert discusses how data visualizations for social change can leverage emotion to achieve objectives. Those who visualize data can be reluctant to sully themselves in the messy world of emotions and empathy. If your goal is social change …
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Koch Quits!
Two days ago, in a big win for cultural institutions everywhere, it was announced that David H. Koch has resigned in his role on the board of the American Museum of Natural History. You may be familiar with Koch, the ‘the fourth richest person in America’ the billionaire who has given millions in ‘philanthropy’ to …
Guerilla Girls on Colbert!
The anonymous feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Wednesday night and talked about gender inequality in the art world. The collective is known for wearing gorilla masks and using the names of deceased female artists as monikers. Kathe, Zubeida, and Frida were the members that spoke with Colbert. …
Play the Game!
Grand Theft Auto gets patriotic In the interests of efficacy, a great deal of politics in recent years has been professionalized. Experts devise policies, lobbyists make the case to politicians, politicians fight for legislation, and lawyers file lawsuits in the courts to either enforce or overturn regulations. On the level of pure results it is …
P.T.S.D. ACTION MAN! PARALYZED ACTION MAN! DEAD ACTION MAN!
http://battlefieldcasualties.co.uk/ Great use of comedy as an entry point for veterans issues. A Veterans for Peace UK film, directed by Price James, written by Darren Cullen, featuring Matt Berry.
Awareness | 99% Invisible
99% Invisible did a 20m piece on the AIDS Awareness ribbon last month. The ribbon was a project of an art collective, Visual AIDS. The story is well done and worth your time – and this is coming from the guy who hates “awareness.” Source: Awareness | 99% Invisible By the late 1980s, AIDS had …
Reclaim the suits!
Steve Jobs in his trademark jeans and sneakers Back in 2002, Center Co-Director Stephen Duncombe took part in a “Rant-a-Thon” held as a fund raiser for the direct action protest group Reclaim the Streets at the KGB bar in New York City. He chose to rant about leisurewear, and for a reclamation of formal attire …
The Donald gets duped: Harvard Lampoon tricks Trump with phony endorsement — and he’s not happy about it | Salon
The Donald’s been duped. In what’s been called a “a prank of presidential proportions,” the staff at Harvard University’s humor magazine, the Harvard Lampoon, targeted Donald Trump for their latest prank in a longstanding rivalry with the University’s daily student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. Trump, the real-estate mogul turned Republican presidential frontrunner, inadvertently became the center of …
Edward Snowden monument placed (and removed) in New York City
There’s a Massive, Illicit Bust of Edward Snowden Stuck to a War Monument in Brooklyn While most people slept, a trio of artists and some helpers installed a bust of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in Brooklyn on Monday morning. The group, which allowed ANIMAL to exclusively document the installation on the condition that we hide …
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What are your Super Powers?
It can sometimes be easier to focus on our weaknesses than our strengths – but like every Superhero, there might be some talents laying dormant just waiting for us to discover them, or that we already use, but don’t give ourselves credit for. Here’s a little tip we found from corporate management site Inc. (like we …
Steve’s Super Hero Exercise
Here’s a great exercise to help realize your inner superhero! Super Hero Exercise Curriculum by Steve Lambert Introduction The purpose of this exercise is to help young and old discover: they have things they care about they want to communicate to others art is a form of communication as artists, they have a unique power …
ACTIPEDIA REVISITED: THE PINK CHADDI CAMPAIGN
It’s International Women’s Day! So this week, we’re taking a look at a really powerful piece of collective creative activism that managed to have a real material impact on a very troubling and potentially violent situation. The Pink Chaddi Campaign was an action devised by the “Consortium of Pub-going, Loose, and Forward Women” (PLFW) in …
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ACTIPEDIA REVISITED: WOMEN ON WAVES
So this week we’re doffing our caps to the work of Women on Waves, who worked with our good friends at Yes Lab to create the www.diesalforwomen.com website ‘Misopolis’, a fabricated fashion brand which claimed to provide free abortion pills to its female workers in order to set them free and to create a fun …
Formula for Success
The formula is quite simple: if attained aeffect matches desired aeffect, then we’ve succeeded. If it doesn’t we’ve failed. If attained aeffect comprises a fraction of desired aeffect, then we are on the right path. Expressed as a mathematical formula (that we just made up) it might look like this: …
ACTIPEDIA REVISITED: McDONALD’s VIDEOGAME
This week we’re taking a look at the McDonald’s Videogame, where you own and operate a McDonald’s restaurant. In the game you have the choice to try to operate ethically or make decisions like using genetically modified soy or administering bovine growth hormone. If you go the ethical route, you bankrupt the company and lose. The …
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Actipedia: Pigasus for President
CHICAGO At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, the Yippies (Youth International Party) nominated a pig for president, with the campaign pledge: “They nominate a president and he eats the people. We nominate a president and the people eat him.” This porcine political maneuver was the brainchild of sixties activists Abbie Hoffman and …
ACTIPEDIA REVISITED: PRINCESS HIJAB
‘My art has nothing to do with religion.’ This week we’re throwing the spotlight on the guerilla street art of Princess Hijab. Princess Hijab détournes advertising in public spaces: superimposing black veils onto the iconography of popular culture. ‘The Hijab is very powerful, not just religiously. It has been used in fairytales. It is part of the …
ACTIPEDIA REVISTED: PRO-CHOICE TROLLING
From the vaults of Actipedia this week we’re looking at a subtle way of subverting your local store to do your messaging for you! When Hobby Lobby, the US craft store, filed a lawsuit against a federal mandate requiring employers to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives Jasmine Shea and Nathaniel Peck decided to take action. …
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