The Importance Of Activism In The Art Of Art

1. Clary, Greg. “Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei’s art becomes his messenger”. CNN. CNN, 25 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 Sep. 2014. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/13/us/weiwei-exhibit-washington/

Activists make their messages and movements known through art in order to express messages, validate identities, and to make struggles known, calling themselves ARTivists to show that there is an often undervalued intersection between the two. But before the coining of the term, activists have been creating art to advance themselves and their communities. ARTivists within the Chicano community have especially been creating art in order to validate and record their own experiences. ARTivism is crucial in today’s society and culture as it intersects art and politics in order to emphasize injustices that are deeply rooted within these structures. By decolonizing and deconstructing exploitive structures, ARTivists liberate the oppressed while creating a more socially conscious future by allowing the oppressed to create their own voice and tell their own stories.

Ai Weiwei was born during the Cultural Revolution in China of 1950s, he inherited a lot of his political knowledge from his father who was a poet called Ai Quig. Ai Quig was then later exiled with his family to re-education camps on the out reaches of a desert in 1958 for questioning government authority. After the Cultural Revolution, Chinese citizens were allowed to travel outside their borders again in 1970s. As a young man, the place that Ai Weiwei dreamed about going to was New York. He went to New York and was exposed to its western influences, its liberty and freedom of expression (Springford, 2011).Using photography Weiwei recorded and documented everything that inspired him. Weiwei visited galleries and art museums that exposed

“Public Art,” written by Patrick Frank, is an essay that claims public art is in everyday life and it satisfies the needs of society. First, Frank discusses the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, designed by Maya Lin, and the significance of the piece of art because it gives comfort to those who visit the monument. Next, Frank presents a humorous piece of art that is found on the rooftop of the Museum of Modern Art; this camouflage rooftop design was developed for office workers who complained about the ugly structure of the previous rooftop. Readers then learn that most of the art found on public buildings is a result of a mandate, which can result in undesirable outcomes; on the other hand, effective products can develop as a result of the mandate.

Ai Weiwei is a famous international artist and a most outspoken regional critic in China. Ai express his opinions though social media, visual arts and performing arts. In order to stop Ai’s criticism，Chinese authorities have shut down Ai’s blog, beat him, and take him to secret detention centers.

Art most definitely should question the status quo. Art is a form of someone's expression on a particular issue, and our expression and beliefs on a issue is what makes us all individuals. We are all not the same so art shouldn't be either.

Ai Weiwei was born in August 28, 1957, a time period in which the chinese government attacked enemies who did not like the government. His father was sent into exile along with his family away from China due to some of his work being not liked by the government. He was sent to do hard labor. Artists who did not put art that the government did not like were put into a prison. After Mao Zedong died, his policies were abandoned, and Ai Weiwei’s family was brought out of exile. Ai Weiwei then left China and went to New York. He made art that were objects with changes that made it different in New York. He moved back to China later. He stayed in China for his father. In China, he changed furniture and made it like art that was strange. He helped

Ai Weiwei, a Chinese contemporary artist as well as a political activist was born in Beijing on May 18, 1957. When Ai was only one year old him and his family were sent to a labor camp. It was not for sixteen years later at the end of the Cultural Revolution until his family moved back to Beijing. He studied animation at the Beijing Film Academy in 1978. After his studies he spent about twelve years in the United States and studied at the Parsons School of Design where he soon dropped out. For income he became a street artist, doing drawings on the side. When his father had become sick in 1993, Ai returned to Beijing from New York City. He then became the artist director and co-founder of the China Art Achieves and Warehouse. This is about the time when some controversial pieces are now starting to come about. In 1993, Ai Weiwei then had moved to the North side of China in a town called Coachanghdi, this is where he started to do architectural work, including his studio house. This is when he founded the FAKE design, which is an architectural studio. Ai’s biggest controversial issue is when he was arrested on false tax evasions and detained for three months. After his arrest Ai Weiwei is no longer permitted to leave China and is under tight security by the Chinese government. He is not allowed to leave the country because he is under other criminal investigations, which include pornography, illegal exchange of foreign currency, and bigamy. Everyone in support of him is

Positioned alongside Central Park within the heart of New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most influential art museums in the world. The Met houses an extensive collection of curated works that spans throughout various time periods and different cultures. The context of museums, especially one as influential as the Met, inherently predisposes its visitors to a set of understandings that subtly influence how they interpret and ultimately construct meanings about each individual object within a museum. By analyzing two separate works on exhibit at the Met, I will pose the argument that museums offer a unique expression of a world view that is dictated through every element of its construction.

Art is a catalyst of change. It can confront both social and political issues as well as providing people with a creative outlet in which they can express their innermost thoughts and feelings - but what effect can art have on our society as a whole? Artists today have the unique ability to connect with people in a creative, innovative way that they can understand and interpret themselves. With this ability, artists are able to express their own views as well as influencing the views of others. Art is an immense part of our world – so much so that we barely even consider its impact upon us – but just how significant is the work of artists in our modern day society?

This is a very important article since it helps its readers to get more knowledge concerning the art of activism. The article is very clear on what art of activism really means. According to the paper, the art of activism refers to that ability the art owns in functioning in any arena and still as a medium to be used in political protest and in social activism. The article also is important since we are made to know that art of activism is different from critical art that was too familiar to

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”- Malala yousafzai(goodreads.com) A lot of times, people who change the world are born in normal everyday families and are not seen as any different until they decide what to do with their life, unexpectedly fight for a cause. For this reason, Activism is something our world that happens because somebody feels like they want to get the kinks out. If everyone thought that somebody needs to take charge to stop something atrocious nobody would be there to actually do that. Some people on this planet take it upon themselves to stop not just their problems, but our planet’s, to make it a better place. These sometimes are ordinary people who decide on an extraordinary life. Many humans

Ai Weiwei is known to be a rebellious conceptual artist. He certainly has oppositional political views and refuses to conform to Chinese government pressures. He is against government and corporate structures that undermine the freedom and integrity of cultural life.

Similarly another artist from the same period yet different culture than Holzer was Ai WeiWei. Ai WeiWei is an architect, activist, filmmaker, curator, and China’s most famous artist. WeiWei is unapologetic in his criticism of the Chinese government, which led to him being famously detained for months in 2011, then released to house arrest. Most of WeiWei’s best known works are installations, often leaning towards the conceptual and creating dialogue between the contemporary world and traditional Chinese modes of thought and production. One of WeiWei’s most famous works is his instillation Sunflower Seeds (2010). The piece is made up of millions of small identical works. Each seed has been individually made and painted by experts working in

When one thinks of Art the most popular image is of great works, famous for their visually pleasing and intellectually rousing qualities. These works, aside from being visually and intellectually stimulating, have been used to challenge and encourage an audience to think about what it’s representing in flexible and open-minded ways, this is usually done by shocking the audience out of their “complacency” when viewing artworks. The great artists of the Conceptual Art movement especially emphasised this by focusing more on the concept behind a piece than the art itself. Three particular artists that are famous for challenging audiences with their work include Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), Jenny Holzer (1950-present) and Ai WeiWei (1957-present). Even though these three artists are part of different times, countries, political and cultural movements, they all use their works to confront and challenge every part of their audience including critics, the media and the general public.