Acts of Resistance Spring 2025: Perennial Land

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Perennial Land - Emmanuel Orellana Monsalve

When watching the video "Perennial Land" I felt very peaceful and very calm with the videos and visuals that was being shown If I were to be in the performance itself instead of the video I would be really focused and in awe in how cool the visuals are. I love viewing videos of nature or animals in the wild doing their own thing. Most of those videos make me think what do animals do whilst I'm living my own life and see how they live.

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DUE WEDNESDAY 4/23

READ: Chapter 9 Utopia, from our textbook, The Art of Activism: Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert

2 quotes and a short response for each quote. Add the quotes to your DRAFT project post

DRAFT PROJECT POST

Read the full project description below. Build up on your project idea and begin to flush out the project. What are you making? Research your ideas and TEST your plans. The project must be in progress before 4/23. Research, plan and begin to implement your final project. Read carefully through the assignment below and begin to outline your written portion. List your research, inspiration projects and quotes on the draft post. List your research (thus far) in your DRAFT post. Read through the written portion assignment below carefully and be sure you are addressing these questions in your project. Post a DRAFT of your final written portion and any work you have done as tests, research and things you are building/making for the intervention. This is a work in progress or a detailed plan of what will be implemented as your final project.

Write up a 2 paragraph+ description or plan for your project. Include TESTS and materials you are using for the project. Be sure to include: symbols, research about your issue, historic connections, inspiration from performance art examples, the location and message of your intervention performance.

Students will present works in progress on 4/23 in class. Be sure to have your project drafted on the blog before class.

>>> INTERVENTION FINAL PROJECT DUE 4/30

PROJECT Drawing on all of the readings, projects, methods and issues we have discussed in class, design a performance art activism project <intervention> that addresses a socio-political topic you have chosen to focus on. These projects can be elaborations or extensions of your midterm interventions but must be worthy of a FINAL presentation! Your art and activism projects must use the methods and ideas we learned in class of engaging an audience to raise awareness about your chosen topic. Your projects must be performed in the world outside of our class in some way and be available to a larger audience. Your project can use any medium or method to augment the performance: photography, video, painting, zine, interactive installation, podcast, music, event, a workshop or any other forms we have discussed. Find artists from our readings (or elsewhere) that help inspire your project and include them in your research. Revisit our class textbooks to push your project.

WRITTEN POST project description on blog ~600 words, 4 quotes from the class readings, ~3 inspirational artists/projects and 5 resources (articles, books, essays, etc.) that informed the project.

Create a written POST for your final project on the class blog that explains your project and includes a link (embedded) to the project. Prepare a succinct and exciting summary of the project that is clear and makes the class want to look further at your project and potentially share the project, promote it and even get involved in it. You must connect your project to the class readings and include 3 quotes from the class readings with citations. Explain how these ideas connect to or inspired your project.

In your writing summary please be sure to answer these questions:
*What is your project? Why you have chosen this topic and form of outreach?
*What is your message for the audience?
*How did you reach an audience (ie "publish" the project)? How did the audience engage with the project? What feedback have you received?
*How does this project fit into your professional aspirations and your portfolio?
*What artists or other projects have influenced or inspired your own project? List 4+ artists that connect with your project with brief explanations of why they connect or inspired your own project.
*What research has helped you inform this project? List 5+ resources that informed or inspired your project in a resource list at the end of your project summary.

PRESENTATION in person in class Be prepared to present your projects to the class in ~3 minute presentations in the classroom VA B25. You will use the post you create to present to the class. You can also bring props and copies of your project to share with the students in class - if applicable. You can also re-create your performance in front of the class as your presentation!

YOU MUST post several images (screen shots etc) and/or video on the project post. You can show these images as part of your presentation. Please include a link to your project if online, be sure it is public so it can be accessed from the blog. For those who create videos, you can choose what section of videos you will play (if longer than 3 minutes) to try to stick to the 3min time limit. You may choose to create a short slide presentation to better explain your project during your presentation. These should be online and linked from the final project post (make sure you share them with prof). Remember you are ”pitching” the project to the class. Prepare a clear and exciting presentation. These must be edited and functioning before class begins. Practice what you will say!

GO BIG! Get outside your comfort zone. Do the research. Be creative. Be bold. Think about what you are passionate about. Make it connect to your goals. Make it for you! Make it awesome!

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DUE WEDNESDAY 4/16

For students that did NOT attend the trip please complete all the assignments below except the short response.

FOR ALL STUDENTS

WATCH:

TANIA BRUGUERA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmJ56F_XBEU&ab_channel=Art21

2 quotes from video with a short reaction

MARINA ABRAMOVIC Artist is Present

Royal Academy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TOY7pIMbH8&ab_channel=TheArtChannel

her perspective/legacy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GD5PBK_Bto&ab_channel=TheMuseumofModernArt

1 quote from EACH video with a short reaction

10 Well Known Performance Artists:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkNXM4aLzZg&t=25s&ab_channel=ContemporaryArtIssue

For students who DID NOT ATTEND the trip ONLY

PERFORMANCE ART POST - BODY

Choose one artist from this video(s) above and research them further.

1. Choose one work and write a short description of the performance on the blog. Include at least one image.

2. Imagine recreating one of the projects you learned about. What would you do? Describe how you might recreate a performance. Include an image that you make to help visualize the performance idea.

For students who ATTENDED the trip ONLY:

PERENNIAL LAND PROJECT short RESPONSE

Please reflect on your experience at the exhibition of Perennial Land - The Data Forest. Write a short response to your visit. How did the artwork enhance the audience experience? How did it encourage participation? Does the act of performance play a role? Did viewing the artwork and participating in this way change the way you received the message? Was it effective and memorable? Please explain any way this experience may have helped you expand your ideas for your Final Intervention Project.

++++++

OPTIONAL WATCH - to Screen in Class:

WATCH these episodes taking notes on each one for discussion.

USING THE BODY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFvlaVaOmug&ab_channel=Tate

OBJECT AS PERFORMANCE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xRKRGuPmK8&ab_channel=Tate

__________________________

IMPORTANT: CLASS on 4/9 WILL BE HELD AT Jersey City Theatre Center

We will meet there at 10:30am SHARP!! plan to be early if you can.

at 165 Newark Avenue Entrance from Barrow St, Jersey City, NJ 07302

Please reach out if you need help getting to the location.

We will be dismissed from the theatre at 12:15pm

DUE WEDNESDAY 4/9

READ AND WATCH: Perennial Land Project that we will be going to visit. https://www.laiacabreraco.com/perennialland

Write a short reaction to the video and project description(s) at the link above. Post your reaction on the blog BEFORE OUR VISIT to the project.

"Perennial Land – The Data Forest" is a two-part installation that explores the complex relationship between nature, culture, and environmental justice. Combining visual poetry, cutting-edge technology, and data-driven storytelling, the piece creates an immersive experience that invites audiences to reflect on their role in addressing climate change. The installation is composed of two interconnected elements. The first is an immersive film experience focused on care and climate justice, data, empathy, and nature, guiding viewers through a visual journey that highlights the urgency of environmental issues. The second element is an interactive video installation set within a gesture-responsive, dynamic landscape, encouraging audiences to explore their connection with nature and their agency in tackling climate challenges. The immersive interactive installation also incorporates cultural narratives and economic systems, simulating actions that drive change and exploring how landscapes shape social, political, and psychological ideas of space, while imagining potential futures.

WATCH (no quotes - just watch before our visit to the theatre):

TANIA BRUGUERA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmJ56F_XBEU&ab_channel=Art21

MARINA ABRAMOVIC Artist is Present

Royal Academy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TOY7pIMbH8&ab_channel=TheArtChannel

her perspective/legacy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GD5PBK_Bto&ab_channel=TheMuseumofModernArt

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DUE WEDNESDAY 4/2

INSTRUCTIONS PIECE(s)

Look up the instructions pieces by Yoko Ono. We covered this extensively in class. Write 3 instructions poems of your own. Must include: title, 3 lines or more, signature.

Share 3 (or more) of your instruction poems on the blog without comment. Then in the same post complete the assignment below as well.

MUST MUST WATCH:

Shaun Leonardo - Primitive Games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSyeCRkUfGY&ab_channel=GuggenheimMuseum

Take notes on the video/performance

THEN > READ:

Evaluation Report | Primitive Games | Guggenheim Museum

https://www.guggenheim.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/guggenheim-education-evaluation-report-primitive-games-2018-19.pdf

Read as much as you can. Take note of the various sections of the report and how the performance is described and evaluated.

4 quotes - choose one each from four different sections

PRIMITIVE GAMES POST

Write a response to the Primitive Games performance after watching the video and reading the evaluation report.

Description : What was the artwork was about? How did it function? What were the instructions? What FINDINGS and from WHOM does the report summarize. Describe 2+ "findings" and explain whom these came from. Scroll to the bottom of the document. Fill out the Pre-Evaluation form yourself. (These were given out to participants before the artwork began.) Then attempt to answer 2+ of the audience experience questions in the sections after the evaluation form. This will feel hypothetical. Attempt this anyway. IMAGINE you were a participant in the gallery. Write a short experience based on your perspective in watching the video and in reading the report.

WATCH (again - from last week):

Shaun Leonardo | art21
https://art21.org/watch/new-york-close-up/shaun-leonardo-the-freedom-to-move/

An Introduction to Performance Art | TateShots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z-YZ3A4mdk&t=2s

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DUE WEDNESDAY 3/27

Introduction to Performance and Activism

READ:

Widewalls | Yoko Ono - A Groundbreaking Artist, Activist and Fighter

https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/yoko-ono-art-story
2 quotes and a short response to each quote

Hispanic Executive | Interview with Shaun Leonardo - Performance, Pedagogy, and Philosophy

https://hispanicexecutive.com/shaun-leonardo/
2 quotes and a short response to each quote

WATCH:

An Introduction to Performance Art | TateShots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z-YZ3A4mdk&t=2s

The Case For Performance Art PBS Art Assignment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmMTKdUAokM

Yoko Ono

Who is Yoko Ono? | PBS Art Assignment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoU0E_ab36Q

Cut Piece performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sa1y-PAAzE

Shaun Leonardo | art21
https://art21.org/watch/new-york-close-up/shaun-leonardo-the-freedom-to-move/

PERFORMANCE ART ACTIVISM POST

What is Performance art as you have learned about in the videos and readings? Write a brief description. How do the two artists featured use performance to address social messages or issues? Please choose one example from each artist and explain the performance and what issue it addresses. Include your 4 quotes and reactions from the assigned readings in your post along with 2 images of the artists' performances.

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DUE WEDNESDAY 3/5

MIDTERM INTERVENTION 1: In Real Life

Inspired by our readings from the Art and Activism textbook and the readings on art, photography and memes as well as the videos linked each week, think about a way that you can insert or use activism and art in your own communities that intersect with your professional journey. Choose an issue that you have been activated to participate in raising awareness. Look to current events for a clear example of something that needs to change. Choose something that you feel particularly passionate and knowledgable about. Think about a community you would like to create the intervention to support or motivate. Our own NJCU campus is a good start and should be considered as a good location for your intervention but you can create your intervention anywhere. Find other art projects that might help address your issue or use a strategy that you may want to use as well. This is part of your research.

Create a physical poster(s), interactive installation, a wearable object, or a sculpture, that acts as protest art. How can we use signs and posters or wearables to inspire advocacy in others? How can interactive projects work to create conversations and awareness about issues with other members of your communities? Use the art examples from our readings thus far movement to inspire your own protest art intervention. You must create a physical project and share it in some way with others - a community - an audience. Place it in a public place, carry it as a sign of resistance and awareness, put it on your car, draw on the sidewalk, put it outside for others to read, etc. Have a clear message and idea for how it will be seen by others. Test out your strategy. Show your results.

POST YOUR INTERVENTION ON THE BLOG:

-Take good images of your intervention and its place in public and post it on the blog with a brief explanation of the sign, your intentions and your thoughts about signs and protest.

-Write an explanation of your project, your research and the message of your project. Connect your project to at least two art intervention or art projects you read about or found in your research. Use the readings to help you connect your intervention to the history of protest. Explain how your project works as an intervention. Include at least two quotes from the readings. You must include at least TWO images of your intervention in public.

~400+ words, 2+ quotes (with citation), 2+ images (with captions)

BRING YOUR PROJECTS TO CLASS TO PRESENT IN A SHORT PRESENTATION ~3min on 3/19

DRAFT due 3/5: Map out your ideas and your research and the process for your project. Include as much of your final intervention as possible IN PROGRESS on the blog before 3/5. You can edit and work on the project further over Spring Break. Presentation in class will be on 3/19.

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DUE WEDNESDAY 2/26

READ: Chapter 2 + 3 from our textbook, The Art of Activism: Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert
2quotes and a short response from each chapter

CREATE YOUR OWN FOLDED ZINE and bring it to class!!

See the link below about how to fold your own 8 page zine. Use the 8 page zine to illustrate and explain (by hand drawing/writing and collage) your idea for an art intervention for your midterm project. Think about what message and advocacy you want to convey and foster with your project. What are you passionate about changing or helping? Use the pages of the zine to think about your art intervention and to inspire your outreach.

History of zines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKBIMN9dgU&ab_channel=Skillshare

Fold your own zine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMdus-lNqFg&ab_channel=VicHealth

more inspo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz0BXlqa7dc&ab_channel=42ndStreet

Your midterm intervention must be inspired by the readings and projects we have reviewed so far and should take the form of an object (not just online). It can be a zine itself that will be made into many copies, it can be posters or flyers, sculpture or installation, an interactive poster or artwork or performance. Please use the coursework so far too inspire you but you must also do additional research!

Full details about your midterm will be posted next week. BRAINSTORM IDEAS!

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DUE WEDNESDAY 2/19

READ:

The entire book This is What I Know About Art by Kimberly Drew

(available on Biblio in Blackboard)

3 quotes and a short response for each quote - to include in the post due on the blog

Look through Kimberly Drew's blog: https://blackcontemporaryart.tumblr.com/

THIS IS WHAT I KNOW ABOUT ART POST

Choose 3 quotes from the book, This is What I Know About Art, and write a short response for each quote. Choose one artwork that you found either from reading the book or from Kimberly Drew's Tumblr blog (linked above) and explain why this artwork is interesting to you. Post an image of the artwork, your quotes and responses to the blog. In one last step, create a title and theme for an exhibition in which this artwork might be included.

WATCH:

NOW THIS | How Kimberly Drew Amplifies the Work of Black Artists
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7f0eug

Coffee With Kimberly Drew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm6AU71F9oQ

LISTEN (optional):

Kimberly Drew: Art and Activism | LGBTQ&A 30min

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrKmyKe8Otw

Kendrick Lamar half-time show analysis resources (from class on 2/12):

Kendrick Lamar's Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDorKy-13ak

Kendrick Lamar Just Rewrote the Rules of the Super Bowl Halftime Show

https://time.com/7214228/kendrick-lamar-super-bowl-halftime-show-analysis/

PLANNING FOR YOUR MIDTERM: while doing this week's assignments continue to think about what kind of INTERVENTION you would like to create for your midterm project. What issues would you like to address? methods to use? messages to impart? Next week we will begin drafting projects. Brainstorm ideas as you look at more examples of art in the assignments for this week.

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DUE WEDNESDAY 2/12

WHAT IS ART ACTIVISM? POST - choose an artwork

Using the Chapter 1 reading from The Art of Activism textbook and the readings below, answer the following question in a brief response. What is Art Activism? Choose one example from the readings (textbook or the articles below). Research the artwork and explain who, what and why the work is important. Be sure to explain how this work is an example of art activism. Include an image and information about this artwork in your short response on the blog.

+++ Add your quotes from the readings below to the blog post.

READINGS:

1. WHY ARTISTIC ACTIVISM? | Center for Artistic Activism

https://c4aa.org/2018/04/why-artistic-activism

2 quotes and short response

2. An Introduction to Activist Art | The Collector | by Stefanie Graf

https://www.thecollector.com/introduction-to-activist-art/
2 quotes and short response

3. The 25 Most Influential Works of American Protest Art Since World War II

The New York Times Style Magazine

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/t-magazine/most-influential-protest-art.html

2 quotes and short response

OR *PLEASE GET ACCESS TO A DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION FOR NYTIMES(either free/student access or $1 a week) if you REALLYcannot access the NYTimes article above please read this one below instead.

Artists Using Their Creativity to Drive Activism | Global Citizen

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/artists-activists-using-creativity-for-change/

2 quotes and short response

WATCH:

Cases for Political Art | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfXad3HVox4&list=RDCMUCmQThz1OLYt8mb2PU540LOA&start_radio=1&rv=RfXad3HVox4&t=30

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DUE WEDNESDAY 2/5

READINGS DUE:

REVIEW from last week: Understanding Patriarchy by bell hooks (on BLACKBOARD)

READ: Chapter 1 from our textbook, The Art of Activism: Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert
2quotes and a short response

MEME AS RESISTANCE POST
How CAN memes act as a form of resistance and advocacy? Use the articles from last week to create a response to this question using the memes that you made in class with your group. Post the three memes that you made together, or three new memes you made on your own to help illustrate ways that memes can express complaints, calls to action and advocacy for real political change. Express how these short critiques might make way for larger action and awareness. Use this short post to make an argument for memes as a form or part of resistance.

1- Post the 3 memes with your short response of 1-2 paragraphs.

2- Below your memes post a definition of patriarchy and a definition of activism. Include/Post your 2 quotes from each of the readings above.

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DUE WEDNESDAY 1/29

READINGS DUE: Choose 2 quotes from each reading below (6 quotes total for the three readings) and write a short reaction/response to each quote

1- Understanding Patriarchy by bell hooks (on BLACKBOARD)

2 quotes and short response

2- What Memes Owe to Art History | Artsy https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-memes-owe-art-history

2 quotes and short response

3- Memes Are Our Generation's Protest Art | VICE https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbzxa3/memes-are-our-generations-protest-art

2 quotes and short response

SELF INTRODUCTION POST (on the blog)

Who are you? Are you an activist? Share a short description of yourself, your ambitions, and your artistic adventures. Post it to the blog. Be sure to share art, design, social justice, political causes and creative practices that you may already be exploring. Include one selfie or other photograph (you made) that helps introduce you. Add the 6 quotes and responses from the assigned readings to your blog post.

WATCH:

Art As Activism: Statements of Democracy | Untold History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jDZaREk74&ab_channel=UntoldHistory

Guerrilla Girls – 'You Have to Question What You See' | Artist Interview | TateShots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uKg7hb2yoo

Complain creatively. | The Guerrilla Girls | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i5cEhd6Vt8

GET THE BOOKS!

The Art of Activism, Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible by Steve Duncombe and Steve Lambert, OR Books, New York 2021

This Is What I Know About Art by Kimberly Drew, Penguin Workshop, New York 2020

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RESOURCES/LINKS

Actipedia Creative tactics that help bring about change.

https://actipedia.org

Art 21 short art profiles

https://art21.org/watch/

Center for Artistic Activism C4AA helps people use their creativity and culture to effect power.

https://c4aa.org

Guerrilla Girls anonymous artist activists
https://www.guerrillagirls.com

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LINK TO SYLLABUS

The course material and discussions can often be provocative and challenging. We must therefore be careful to be respectful of each other and of our viewpoints.

Discussion guidelines We must come to class prepared and ready to discuss the readings. Please keep discussions focused on the readings and class materials and keep examples rlevant and appropriate. If you have not done the readings you are not to participate in the discussion.