Title: Why Artistic Activism? – The Center for Artistic Activism
Headings: Why Artistic Activism?
Why Artistic Activism?
Why Artistic Activism: Nine Reasons
1: Artistic Activism Mobilizes Affect and Effect
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2: Artistic Activism Thrives in the Contemporary Landscape
3: Artistic Activism Has Been Used Throughout History
4: Artistic Activism Creates Openings
5: Artistic Activism is Accessible
6: Artistic Activism Stimulates a Culture of Creativity
7: Artistic Activism Energizes People and Organizations
8: Artistic Activism is About the Long Game
9: Artistic Activism is Peaceful and Persuasive
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Content: Many activists know this intuitively, but by naming it “artistic activism” we take what would be a folk art and turn it into a defined practice — giving it the attention and study it demands. 4: Artistic Activism Creates Openings
Art and activism often conforms to expectations — and for many people those expectations are, unfortunately, negative. Artistic activism is activism that doesn’t look like activism and art that doesn’t look like art. The ability of artistic activism to surprise us – to show up in unlikely places (e.g. not a gallery) or take on unfamiliar forms (e.g. not a protest march) provides an opportunity to disrupt people’s preconceived notions of art and protest, and their predetermined ideas about the messages we are trying to communicate. Artistic activism creates an opportunity to bypass seemingly fixed political ideas and moral ideals and remap cognitive patterns. Surprise is a moment when hearts can be touched and minds reached, and both changed. Artistic Activism’s ability to escape easy categorization is a benefit in societies where protest is commonplace. Whereas traditional forms of protest, like marches, need to constantly increase in size or scope, or descend into violence, to become noticed (and newsworthy), the creative innovation at the heart of artistic activism provides something uncommon, or out of place, that can attract attention and become memorable. The boundary slippage of artistic activism works equally well in repressive regimes where overt political protest is prohibited, yet artistic practices are tolerated.