Art Spaces Hosting Activism in the Context of the Art Action Union

[Kathleen]

New Tactics In Human Rights

Art Spaces Hosting Activism in the Context of the Art Action Union

General Questions:

• What creative practices or forms of art expression have you used that have engaged people and communities to take action?

Utilising marketing and communication strategies for alternative media creation, all techniques and practices are recognised as valid and necessary for the adequate and passionate expression of individual ideas. Therefore, the free-spirited artist may be engaged in a number of different ways, susceptible to the etymological processes of personality.

Conversely, the audience for which awareness is sought can then be engaged in the same etymological fashion. Artists engage with their personal audiences according to their natural fan base and their desire to create works of a questioning nature. Grouping together art and activist communities in smaller groups attracted to a style of presentation or the cause itself.

The Art Action Union will then utilise various community strategies to co-ordinate, promote, participate and promote where ever possible.

On the whole, the nature of new-media benefits mainly the visual medium (and to a lesser extent the written) for drawing attention to messages and social networking is largely responsible for the success or failure of the individual actions. Therefore joining networks to creatively engage a critical mass can provide impact and hopefully education, the flow on being the further empowerment of the content creating artists to continue to question.

• What kinds of communities are you engaging with forms of art expression?

With the popularity of artistic and creative community sites such as redbubble, imagekind and zazzle (among many others) the philosophy to inspire and empower the artist within the individual has gained extraordinary online momentum. Structured networks, communities and friendships form based on the creative interface of the artist. These sites attract anyone with a slight passion for the arts or a desire for expression.

To observe, these sites break down in an etymological fashion, groups form from common interest, genre, profession, art-form, passion, etc. Amongst these groups there are many people who are making art, writing and taking photographs in their spare time passionately, aiming to make their first sale online. Print on demand art sites that provide artists with a shop front, official gallery and working space have given people not only confidence and motivation, but also an instant online audience, which can transfer with time to other traditional presentations such as exhibitions, publications, merchandise etc.

Creating art for social change in a pro-active manner is the drive of many of these ‘diy’ artists and some theme their entire image upon their need to be socially responsible and conscientious with the audience that they naturally and eagerly attract. Their audience is comprised of people who are truly concerned about the issues they face and often find inspiration themselves to express their feelings through creativity.

People in these places are often actively looking for constant and continual artistic inspiration.

The artists are considered free spirits, sometimes people will all contribute at once (particularly if the topic is contentious and/or in the media at the time) and sometimes people float through the forums 3-4 months later, stumble on an ‘art for awareness campaign notice’ and become inspired and add their piece for their own benefit. It's a constantly inspiring, motivating and beautiful event to behold. No matter how one gages the 'success' of such ventures, one person creating a positive work and showing it to one other person is an achievement. In these instances, our artists generally all have their own audiences that they promote their work to. If we run a campaign and 10 artists contribute 1-2 works and distribute that to their fans and watchers, the message goes further, when the Art Action Union (AAU) coordinates those pieces together, the message becomes stronger with a collective voice. It is then the responsibility of the AAU, to promote the campaign, those participants, their works and messages as an agent and media provider. Hopefully to gain further exposure for the independent artists at their shop-fronts, where ever they may be.

The group is based on a network of artists and other organisations that are concerned with the functionality of art in the public realm, utilising the internet in it’s flexibility and to endeavour to circulate all the great art and design with community purpose that is already happening independently, to a wider diversified audience.

• As an activist, how might you contribute to or engage art spaces to advance community engagement and action?

The central function of the Art Action Union is to forge links with other socially active community networks, in order to get exposure to coordinate with whatever we are needed for and to hopefully gain artists opportunities to get their ideas into the public arena through print, internet and ultimately traditional events such as exhibitions.
We also offer a graphic design, multi-media and visual campaign consultation ‘service’ to provide artists with opportunities to create designs and works for community organisation and causes with little money for visual merchandising or promotion. We also open the networks for promotion of all types of worthy causes and campaigns and write articles and circulations to further messages.
As campaigning and marketing for awareness is so visual and graphics intensive, we often provide concepts for free in return for cross promotion of our collective to further the word of mouth appeal of the collective’s activities.

Questions for Art Spaces:

• How does your art space define “activism”?

Creativity is really a very loose term... it can be applied to anything that is an expression of the mind where there is an intermingling of concept and experience with opinion or knowledge.

Our motto is: Aspire to Inspire!

+ Empowerment.
+ To ASPIRE TO INSPIRE a positive artistic force for social change by utilising creative skills to present a message and to get exposure for important artworks and independent and non-represented activist artists.
+ To educate and provoke thought about topics of concern to society.

• What forms of programming have you found effective to engage your communities?

Objectives
+ To gather activist artists together to broaden the appeal of communication of messages through connecting existing networks and individual audiences.
+ To promote and market activist art/ists activities’ wherever possible to strengthen voice and communication of messages for awareness.
+ To forge links with other active community based networks and supporters or sponsors in order to get exposure to coordinate with larger campaigns and gain artists opportunities to get their ideas into the public arena through print, internet and events such as exhibitions, etc.
+ To stimulate awareness amongst our communities by acting collectively and artistically. To aspire to inspire!

Assessment of Audience
+ Community based art is creative expression emerging from a need to collectively highlight and educate on social improvement. It is concerned with the functionality of art in public arenas and works with all media, in all disciplines, everywhere.
+ Community based artists are committed to bringing arts and education together to highlight and expose the widest possible range of social conditions and challenges facing our community. They seek to create social change on every level of society, from the most personal to the most political.
+ Activists and activist artists are most likely to be interested in promoting their messages through large networks that are self funded or supported as they are generally sole operators with a passion for stimulating awareness.
+ Many wearable products are highly adaptable to raising awareness with conscientious imaging and slogans.
+ Promotion of artists sourced from existing Activist Art networks can manifest through print, web, publication, exhibition, performance, written word, etc. Each medium creates potential for a wide circulation of positive ideas. The ‘organisation’ effectively becomes an agency where independent and non-represented artists can find a collective to help them spread their messages, their ideas and their products.

• What do you see as unique about your art space and how do you use those aspects to “host activism”?

The Art Action Union is a collective based on the desire to promote and encourage activist artists to continue to create and pursue the Arts for social change and positive awareness.

It is a collective dedicated to providing, exposing and creating opportunities for independent and non-represented artists who exploit their talents for raising community interest and awareness for difficult topics.
The Art Action Union is a network and an audience, a collective and an independent project, a non-profit group and a market stall, the internet and the street, it is passive and active.

+ A developing network of activist artists sourced from art communities, activist sites and social networking sites.
+ Creative ideas to motivate collective enhancement of positive social re enforcement.
+ A known reputation for supporting and promoting activist art.

• What capacities do art spaces need for responding to activists in distress (providing “safe haven”)?

Our Rules
- Be active and artistic
- Make your messages clear and concise
- No slander or defamation
- No defamatory content or conduct
- No inciting violence or violent discussion
- Peace is mandatory
- Education and discussion is encouraged but no name calling or personal attacks – adhere to the user policy of the host site.
- Text and symbolism are often strong elements of activist art
- Messages need to be clear on impact
- Supporting descriptions need to be provided if this is not the case.
- Artists are asked to think about:
- How quickly and strongly your message is conveyed, it needs to be fast to clearly convey messages for communication and coverage of the issue.
If your work is abstract or lacks strong imagery, it may not be accepted.

There is however a fine line in protecting activists that are members of our galleries as we are dependent upon the sites we utilise to not discriminate against the personalities of the activist.

In this sense, from many observations, I note that activist artists are often classed as provocative by commercial sites, hence any altercation from the viewer expressing dissatisfaction on a personal basis to the work of the artists, are often allowed their views upheld and the protection afforded to the artist is reduced. Often the commercially motivated sites lay the blame back on the activist for the conflict as being the ‘provocateur’ because of their chosen forms of expression.

This is a particularly hurtful and emotional time for the activist artist as they are then forced to fight hard to have their expression upheld.

Where there are instances of stalking or harassment, mediation would be a positive and personal way to interact in the situation to find a peaceful repose. The nature of internet communication allows situations to erupt very quickly and if the right protocols and discussions are not had at key moments then degradation will occur.

Banning policies cannot work in a community of diverse creativity, unless the owner of the artworks is afforded the right to protect themselves from perceived harassment on a personal control level. Block functions are necessary for the artists who are continually provoked to anger or confrontation of personal values. If they are not allowed this personal control mechanism, there is no control over the perspectives that are pushed into the technocratic ear of a disassociated customer service system.

Without a commercial legal team to rely on, customer service will become discriminatory without fail.

• What are the rewards and challenges of providing a “safe haven” for threatened activists?

Benefits for Artists
+ Busy creative people can express themselves and campaign at their convenience, when there is no other suitable, satisfactory or satisfying outlet to find voice.
+ Creative intellectual thinkers have an outlet for expression and discussion centred on issues that are important to them.
+ Contribute to form a collective critical mass, collaborate with other passionate artists.
+ Online campaigning becomes fun and expressive, providing the artists with a platform and the audience with a product.
+ Artists can utilise their existing networks, create new networks and plug into an existing art activist hub.
+ Getting attention for what you do is empowering, find an existing audience and watch your confidence and motivation soar.
+ Connect with other activist artists who are working on campaigns of their own, meet like minded artists locally and globally, and network with others who want to heal the world.
+ Take advantage of the promotional and organisational opportunities the group may be involved in, such as applying for grants, online campaigning and other promotional media and events.
+ Be known as a caring soul.
+ Find an existing audience who want to see (and maybe even buy) activist art and also an audience that can benefit from being exposed to activism.
+ Get involved and become an active contributor for the group, the site or the organisation.

Benefits for Audience
+ Creating a network of independent artists, who bring their networks to the group, also creates an instant and commercially susceptible audience and means for promotion of artists and their products.
+ Planned creative activist activities (‘awareness campaigns’) issued through the Art Action Union Network to inspire and motivate activists to put their thoughts into action.
+ Cross-promotion of other competitions, creative activist initiatives or community arts projects to motivate artists to continuously create activist works.
+ Products (t-shirts, magazines, posters, buttons etc.) can be produced and marketed through the networks to promote the artist and the product, the network and the cause.
+ Activities can be tailored to encourage local campaigning amongst isolated activist groups, encourage collective voice (petitions etc.) and ultimately encourage the viewer to further their support of causes, whether intellectually or financially.

• What expectations do art spaces have of the activists being provided with ‘safe haven’ and what do activists expect of art spaces providing safe havens?

No expectations, no disappointments…
To aspire to inspire!

Copyright K. Cameron (Art Action Union) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED