chapter 9 + final intervention project DRAFT - fatima flores

the art of activism: ch. 9

“The joy of making our own free party instead of paying for over-priced drinks at a club was a lot of fun, but there was a political objective as well: to change people’s perspective about their everyday urban experience.”

- the activists in the late 1990s wanted to people in new york to live a little, and creating a party in a subway car makes it 100 times better. they wanted people to change their minds of, out of all places, new york because it’s the “city that never sleeps”. i understand why the activists created a lively environment, because it doesn’t matter the night of the ‘subway car party’, it’s what happens the morning of it. 

“ Our goal was to revitalize public spaces in the community and to encourage the creation of a vibrant civic society that could make this happen.We planned out an entire creative campaign with multiple objectives. We brainstormed dozens of tactics. We had a grand plan, but with less than a day to enact something, we decided to execute one of the simplest pieces proposed: to build the waterfront beach dreamed of by the people in the neighborhood.”

- they tried re-created the neighborhood’s dream, the residents of the neighborhood expected something big; even though dreams sometimes come true, this one didn’t. this performance piece was smart, the residents wanted something big and exciting in their neighborhood. their performance piece makes you think, “what they dreamed of, will never become a reality.” it’s upsetting to think that the neighborhood wanted something that they can all enjoy, but the activists wanted to show what they expected instead of making it come true. 

DRAFT

my final project will be a continuation of my midterm project of black lives matter. the idea is to place pieces of tape on my arms, with the names of black people who were killed by police officers. with the written names on the tapes, people would rip off the tape and say the name that’s written on it, then once they rip the tape off, they take a moment of silence of the victim. this idea came from black protesters, reading the names of victims killed by police. this takes me out of my comfort zone, at the same time, i stay inside my zone; i don’t enjoy being looked at, making eye contact, or being center of attention but i enjoy staying quiet, so doing this makes me stay in between both in and out my comfort zone. my materials is a roll of masking tape and a marker, and this will be done in a public place, possibly at the mall. the message of my performance is to remember the innocent victims of black lives, knowing that by the color of their skin, it what makes a them a target for people i want the audience to not forget that their lives was worth more, because once an innocent black person is murdered, they forget soon after.