Acts of Resistance Fall 2023: Activism, Protest Art and Memes

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Activism, Protest Art and Memes

Class Discussion for September 6, 2023

What is Activism?

What is Art?

What is Advocay?

What is Protest?

What is Protest Art?

FORMS it can take?

Guerrilla Girls – 'You Have to Question What You See' | Artist Interview | TateShots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uKg7hb2yoo

Complain creatively. | The Guerrilla Girls | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i5cEhd6Vt8

What is a Meme?

Are MEMES art? | RijksTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnEj6rMegXA

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DUE WEDNESDAY 11/22

++FINISH your INTERVENTION 2 Performance. Be sure to spend some time on the short writing portion as this is also part of the project grade. Be sure to read through the assignment and be sure to connect your project to the class readings.

READ:

Chapter 5 Cognition and Chapter 6 Persuasion, History from The Art of Activism, Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert
-3 quotes for each chapter and short response for each quote

-Choose one project from the textbook or otherwise shared this semester that you have responded to and write a brief description (including artist, title, date) and why this project has affected you as an art intervention.

INTERVENTION FINAL!! due 11/29
PROJECT Using all of the methods and issues we have discussed in class, design an art intervention that addresses a socio-political topic you have chosen that you are inspired to share, perform and/or distribute to an audience. These projects can be elaborations or extensions of your previous interventions but must be worthy of a FINAL! Your art and activism projects must use the methods and ideas we learned in class of engaging an audience to raise awareness about your chosen topic. Your projects must live in the world outside of our class and be available to a larger audience. Your project can use any medium or method: performance, website, photograph, painting, zine, interactive installation, podcast, music, video, event, workshop or any other forms we have discussed. Find artists that help inspire your project and include them in your research. Revisit our class textbooks to push your project! You must share your project on the class blog.
For your final you must also create a written post about your project and present the project in a brief presentation "pitch" to the class in person.

WRITTEN POST on blog ~500 words, 3 quotes from the class readings, ~4 inspirational artists/projects and 5 resources (articles, books, essays, etc.) that informed the project.
Create a written POST for your final project on the class blog that explains your project and includes a link (embedded) to the project. Prepare a succinct and exciting summary of the project that is clear and makes the class want to look further at your project and potentially share the project, promote it and even get involved in it. You must connect your project to the class readings and include 3 quotes from the class readings with citations. Explain how these ideas connect to or inspired your project.
In your writing summary please be sure to answer these questions:
*What is your project? Why you have chosen this topic and form of outreach?
*What is your message for the audience?
*How did you reach an audience (ie "publish" the project)? How did the audience engage with the project? What feedback have you received?
*How does this project fit into your professional aspirations and your portfolio?
*What artists or other projects have influenced or inspired your own project? List 4+ artists that connect with your project with brief explanations of why they connect or inspired your own project.
*What research has helped you inform this project? List 5+ resources that informed or inspired your project in a resource list at the end of your project summary.

PRESENTATION in person Be prepared to present your projects to the class in ~3 minute presentations in the classroom VA B07. You will use the post you create to present to the class. You can also bring props and copies of your project to share with the students in class - if applicable. YOU MUST post several images (screen shots etc) on the project post. You can show these images as part of your presentation. Please include a link to your project if online, be sure it is public so it can be accessed from the blog. For those who create videos, you can choose what section of videos you will play (if longer than 3 minutes) to try to stick to the 3min time limit. You may choose to create a short slide presentation to better explain your project during your presentation. These should be online and linked from the final project post. Remember you are ”pitching” the project to the class. Prepare a clear and exciting presentation. These must be edited and functioning before class begins on 4/27. Practice what you will say!
GO BIG! Get outside your comfort zone. Do the research. Be creative. Be bold. Think about what you are passionate about. Make it connect to your goals. Make it for you! Make it awesome!

DUE WEDNESDAY 11/15

INTERVENTION 2 PERFORMANCE !! MUST BE POSTED on the blog BY 11/14

Take inspiration Chapter 3 of The Art of Activism and from the exhibition catalogue The Interventionists: Users’ Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Lives edited by Nato Thomson and Gregory Sholette and the career of Kimberly Drew as well as the artists in our Performance Art readings and videos including: Yoko One, Shaun Leonardo and Marina Abromovic. Choose several specific projects that feel inspirational from these sources. Design and plan an intervention that takes the form of video content or a short performance in public or that will be shared in public. You must plan something that involves you and others in a performance (can be visual, audio/musical, educational, comedic, protest) preferably in public. You must plan and create the video yourself but you can get help from others or work as a team. Think of the intervention as a personal expressions of your own politics or passions. The content can be made as various interventions in public that work as a series or as a single performance that can be repeated with instructions.

Choose an issue(s) that you are passionate about creating advocacy for and addressing to your own friends and family. The performance can be seen as a political art expression that "intervenes" with others lives in some way. Post the video (or series of photographs) to the blog with a 3-5 paragraph explanation of why you chose this content and how the performance can be seen as activist art. Use the readings to help your explanation. Include 2+ quotes from the readings the in your post. Be creative, work hard to connect the readings to your project! READ CLOSELY to help elevate your project. Think about what you are passionate about, the kinds of videos and performances that have stuck out to you, and chose an issue carefully so that passion inspires you to make something powerful. Edit your video and your writing carefully.

Post your project link, video, audio, images
3-5 paragraph project description
2+ quotes

Works Cited

___________________________

NO CLASS WEDNESDAY 11/1!! see below for assignments due.

!! Be sure that your Essay Assignment that was due 10/25 is posted no later that 11/1 to receive credit.

DUE WEDNESDAY 11/8

READ:
Introduction and Chapter 3, History from The Art of Activism, Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert
3 quotes and short response for each quote

Look through the exhibition catalogue: The Interventionists: Users’ Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Lives edited by Nato Thomson and Gregory Sholette
A (somewhat glitchy) pdf which can be found here: http://www.gregorysholette.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Interventionists_03_14_041.pdf

Khan Academy Performance Art An Introduction webpages(look through the various sections of this online course) https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/conceptual-and-performance-art/performanceart/a/performance-art-an-introduction
2 quotes or 2 examples of performance art that stand out to you with a short response for each

Widewalls | Yoko Ono - A Groundbreaking Artist, Activist and Fighter
https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/yoko-ono-art-story
2 quotes and a short response to each quote

Hispanic Executive | Interview with Shaun Leonardo - Performance, Pedagogy, and Philosophy
https://hispanicexecutive.com/shaun-leonardo/
2 quotes and a short response to each quote

WATCH:
The Case For Performance Art PBS Art Assignment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmMTKdUAokM

Yoko Ono
Who is Yoko Ono? short documentary about Yoko Ono:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoU0E_ab36Q

Cut Piece performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sa1y-PAAzE

Shaun Leonardo | art21

https://art21.org/watch/new-york-close-up/shaun-leonardo-the-freedom-to-move/

++ Choose one project from any of the readings above (the textbook and exhibition catalogue included) and post it to the blog with the details about it. Describe how this work is a 'performance' and how it engages or addresses the audience. Post this to the blog with an image of your chosen artwork and your quotes from the readings.

_________________________

DUE WEDNESDAY 10/25

ESSAY

This Is What I Know About Art {in exhibition}

Part 1 In a short essay use the readings in the class thus far to help form an analysis of the book, This Is What I Know About Art, by Kimberly Drew. How does her autobiographical story help illustrate some of the themes and issues we have been discussing? How can authors, historians and curators also be activist? Use some of the other projects and readings we have seen so far to connect to her activism and her journey. What moments in her book felt particularly pivotal and meaningful to you? Share these in your essay. Explain why these where important. What quotes from her writing stuck out to you and why?

Part 2 Using her story as inspiration, think about ways that the art in the exhibition Artistas de Latinoamérica Sueños y Posibilidades (Latin American Artists: Dreams and Possibilities) connects to our discussions of art and activism as well as the mission of Kimberly Drew's work and her experience in her book. In what ways is the exhibition itself activist? Could we describe the curators as activist? How?

Part 3 Choose two works in the exhibition that connect to our readings of Kimberly Drew as well as previous readings about art and activism. Describe the two artworks (be sure to include the details about the artist, title, medium etc) and how these works can be seen as activist. What messages can these works be conveying that connect to our discussions thus far? Include two images of the works you selected in your essay.

Be sure to use the readings: Kimberly Drew Book, bell hooks reading, Susan Sontag, and our Art of Activism textbook chapters to help analyze the works for this essay. Begin to connect to a plan you may have to insert activism into your own life. Cite the quotes (author, page) from the readings in your essay. Edit your work and be sure to include the sources at the bottom of your essay in a short works cited. Use a few images of examples to illustrate your writing.

~600 words

3+ images with captions and 4+ quotes from class readings

Citation + works cited

________________________

DUE WEDNESDAY 10/18

We will be visiting the art galleries in VA Building and Hepburn Hall to see the two part exhibition on view. Dr. Midori Yoshimoto will be giving us a gallery talk about the exhibition(s). Please be sure to get to class ONTIME next week!

READ: the entire book This is What I Know About Art by Kimberly Drew

Choose three quotes from the book and write a short response for each quote. Choose one artwork that you found either from reading the book or from her blog and explain why this artwork is interesting to you. Post an image of the artwork, your quotes and responses to the blog.

Look through Kimberly Drew blog: https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/

WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWK-fP9t0s&ab_channel=NowThisEntertainment

___________________________

DUE WEDNESDAY 10/4 - presentations will continue on 10/11

>>>PROJECTS MUST BE POSTED BY 10/11 to receive credit!

INTERVENTION 1: POSTER/INTERACTION/WEARABLE

(10% of course grade)

++Written description and images must be posted on the blog before class

Inspired by our readings from the Art and Activism textbook and the pdf from Signs of Resistance as well as the videos linked below, think about a way that you can insert or use activism and art in your own professional journey. Choose an issue that you have been activated to participate in raising awareness. Think about a community you would like to create the intervention to support or motivate.

Create a physical poster(s), interactive installation OR a wearable object or outfit that acts as protest art. How can we use signs and wearables to inspire advocacy in others? Use the readings on the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter movement to inspire your own protest art piece. As we continue to face this global pandemic, various issues of climate crisis, war, violence etc, address this moment with your own act of protest in the form of a sign/poster/wearable message. Choose an issue(s) that is the most important to you. You must create a physical project and share it in some way with others. Place it in a public place, carry it as a sign of resistance and awareness, put it on your car, draw on the sidewalk, put it outside for others to read, etc. Have a clear message and idea for how it will be seen by others. Test out your strategy.

Take good images of your poster(s) and its place in public and post it on the blog with a brief explanation of the sign, your intentions and your thoughts about signs and protest. Use the readings to help you connect your intervention to the history of protest. Include at least two quotes from the readings. You must include at least one image of your intervention in public.
~400+ words, 2+ quotes (with citation), 2+ images (with captions)

BRING YOUR PROJECTS TO CLASS TO PRESENT IN A SHORT PRESENTATION ~3min.

______________________

DUE WEDNESDAY 9/27

READINGS:
Chapter 2, Process by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert
3 quotes and short response for each quote

**(OPTIONAL) reading was not available on BB and so is not due.

ON BLACKBOARD: Siegler "Signs of Resistance" pdf under 'Content' on blackboard

WATCH:

Art as Activism: Statements of Democracy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jDZaREk74

Art + Activism = Artivism: Art can Dismantle Hate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYQNMAEhDxw

Human Rights Watch: Art + Activism Initiative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PXyHoih1M8

Creating Change: Art as Activism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiQ39t2v6u8

PBS Behind the Activist: https://www.pbs.org/video/behind-the-activist-feat-rachel-cargle-ijeoma-oluo-dlbpcz/

Case for Political Art https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfXad3HVox4

*OPTIONAL* WATCH - ACTIVISM in recent history:

PBS documentary on Black Panthers https://www.pbs.org/video/independent-lens-black-panthers-vanguard-revolution-full-episode/

Dolores Huerta https://www.pbs.org/video/dolores-huerta-sgtkxu/

Civil rights pioneer Ruby Bridges on race in America https://www.pbs.org/video/race-matters-1610668572/

Mary Church Terrell a Civil Rights Activist and Co-Founder of the NAACP https://www.pbs.org/video/she-was-civil-rights-activist-and-co-founder-naacp-q3ypkj/

++POST A PROJECT IDEA ON THE BLOG (in class)
Prepare a short description of your idea for the project below, which is due 10/4. Describe the idea(s), the process and how you will physically interact with an audience. we will be discussing your ideas and post your idea on the blog with two inspirational quotes from your assigned reading above - during class. Have an idea(s) ready!!

_____________________

DUE WEDNESDAY 9/20

MEMES POST

Post the meme that you created with your group. Then create a second meme on your own and post them together. Write a short description that describes the two memes and their messages and addresses the use of memes as activism. Connect your memes with the readings we did for class last week and this week by including at least two quotes or references to the readings in your description.

+++Post the quotes from the readings below (due 9/20) and your responses for this week below your meme and description.

READINGS:
Susan Sontag, excerpt from On Photography
http://www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/books/onPhotographyExerpt.shtml
2 quotes and short response

Introduction and Chapter 1, The Art of Activism, Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert
2 quotes and short response

WATCH:
Yoko Ono https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCWr_iDh114&ab_channel=TheArtAssignment
Kate DeCiccio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyNX1bX-6dU&ab_channel=AdobeCreativeCloud

GET THE BOOKS!
The Art of Activism, Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert, OR Books, New York 2021
This is What I Know About Art by Kimberly Drew, Penguin Workshop, New York 2020

As a PDF:
The Interventionists: Users’ Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Lives edited by Nato Thomson and Gregory Sholette, MIT Press, Cambridge 2004
No need to buy or print this book we will use a pdf which can be found here: http://www.gregorysholette.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Interventionists_03_14_041.pdf
________________________

DUE WEDNESDAY 9/13

INTRODUCTION
Post your short introduction with one image on the blog. Add the 6 quotes and responses from the readings onto your blog post.

READINGS (3 total):

1- Understanding Patriarchy by bell hooks (on BLACKBOARD)

2- How Memes Are Making Protest Art More Powerful. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-memes-making-protest-art-powerful

3- Memes Are Our Generation's Protest Art. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbzxa3/memes-are-our-generations-protest-art

Choose 2 quotes from each reading (6 quotes total for the three readings) and write a short reaction to each quote**

**You do not need to hand-in these quotes. Be sure to have them prepared for class. I will ask students to share quotes and their reactions in class. Have these available for class discussion.

WATCH:

Guerrilla Girls – 'You Have to Question What You See' | Artist Interview | TateShots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uKg7hb2yoo

Complain creatively. | The Guerrilla Girls | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i5cEhd6Vt8

GET THE BOOKS!

The Art of Activism, Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert, OR Books, New York 2021

This Is What I Know About Art by Kimberly Drew, Penguin Workshop, New York 2020

As a PDF:

The Interventionists: Users’ Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everyday Lives edited by Nato Thomson and Gregory Sholette, MIT Press, Cambridge 2004

Used copies are available - no need to buy or print this book we will use a pdf which can be found here: http://www.gregorysholette.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Interventionists_03_14_041.pdf

_________________________

LINK TO SYLLABUS

The course material and discussions can often be provocative and challenging. We must therefore be careful to be respectful of each other and of our viewpoints.

Discussion guidelines We must come to class prepared and ready to discuss the readings. Please keep discussions focused on the readings and class materials and keep examples relevant and appropriate. If you have not done the readings you are not to participate in the discussion.