One of my topics of interest when it comes to Activism is and has always been sticking it to the man and the rich. Growing up no one tells you your going to be constantly watched and often abused and uncared for by the people above you. Some people dont realize it until its too late sometimes its staring you right in the face something you can do to get your message across to everyone and get something done. Power comes in numbers and by creating for promoting activism is the perfect way to start. Throughout my readings, there were lots of activists who I saw accomplished this in a multitude of diverse ways. Some bigger than others and some more legal than others as well. It seems the government and the higher ups who are supposed to be taking care of us ad making us feel at home aren't always on our side.
One of those activists can be Micheal Rakowitz who went above and beyond and created the parasite. People who have lots of many and space to spare often don’t share it. There’s hundreds of people without homes and warmth. They sleep on the street exposed cold forced to fight off the elements. This man created a solution in which your able to take wasted heat and take from someone in order to help yourself. Implied in the name Parasite is a inflatable home for the homeless it works by connecting to vents most likely laundry vents which release heat. This is a untapped source and when parasite is connected to this theoretically speaking homeless could live inside covered and warm and keep moving on the next day .Its full proof and your actually not hurting anyone or stealing because your releasing it outside anyway.
Another form of activism would be Alex Villars’s work Irrational space and 2004 Temporary Occupations. When you build something anything, in a city suburb anywhere there’s spaces that are left over allys and even small indents. City officials or even land owners sometimes over see this and ignore think it’s no good. Alex proves it’s much more than that he shows that even the smallest of things can me manufactured and manipulated to serve some kind of purpose. Although his methods are all that legal he does a good job of showing people those spaces just full of opportunity. In his video, you can see him ignoring fences, railings and no trespassing signs all to show a point.
People/Activists should fight for what they believe in all the time and whenever they can.
A group that does this really well is The Guerilla Girls who some may even call extremists. These girls do it all they attack the government they attack the people they attack the army they attack the way people dress they attack magazines they attack any and all social norms. This group of female warriors hides their face wearing a guerilla mask and fight for what they believe in and plead for more people to join their cause. Their forms of activism usually take the form of exhibits and art from notes on a wall all the way to altering famous works of art. One of their most known form of activism is their attack on museums calling out the head of the Metropolitan with facts on how many women are actually represented there and when they are they have to be naked. Not only did they attack with facts but publicly humiliated them by announcing their crimes with a poster that had a nude women with a guerilla girl mask and read “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum? Less than 5% of the modern art section are women but 85% of the nudes are female.” The biggest and most powerful message they are known for when sticking it to the man.
All these people/activists have their own and unique ways of fighting and sticking it up to the man in all the ways they see there is a possibility to reform. All three of these groups and people used public displays to get their point across and it works. All of these are very important in order to show what can be done and should be but isn’t. Both Political and art forms of activism are very different. Art activism can be seen as making something anything with purpose and a powerful message. While political activism is a more in your face type of action like the Guerilla girls who must and will find a way to get their point across no matter what.
No comments:
Post a Comment