Dedicated to clever and innovative trends of art and design in activism.

John Robertson’s work helps him clarify his thinking about political issues; he’s not out to change your mind. Informed by Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others, he finds that images might move one to sympathy, but are impotent in moving one to action. It’s a question fundamental to how we proceed with our work, and one we’ve briefly addressed before. Now, though, we’d like to hear from you.

In discussion with John, I asked whether he’d be willing to have us do a feature on his piece, below, that asks whether art opens minds.

For the next week, the floor is yours. We’ll return with a summary of your thoughts on Friday, February 29, and will be back to regular postings in March. So, what do you think - does art open minds?

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We is a fast-paced 64 minute documentary that covers the world politics of power, war, corporations, deception and exploitation.

It visualizes the words of Arundhati Roy, specifically her famous Come September speech, where she spoke on such things as the war on terror, corporate globalization, justice and the growing civil unrest.

It’s witty, moving, alarming and quite a lesson in modern history.

We is a completely free documentary, created and released anonymously on the internet. Find them on MySpace.

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ArtThreat reminds us that today is the peace symbol’s 50th birthday. Thanks to Gerald Holtom, professional designer, conscientious objector, and member of the anti-nuclear movement, this ubiquitous symbol has enjoyed global popularity.

HappyBirthdayPeace.com celebrates 50 years of the peace symbol with a gallery of user-submitted designs. So far fashion designer Katharine Hamnett, has joined with Noam Chomsky and everyday folks in participating.

Wikipedia’s article on the peace symbol includes mentions of the dove and olive branch, the broken rifle, and even Picasso’s Guernica as other internationally recognized symbols of peace.

Happy reading, and happy birthday to the peace symbol!

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Icaro Doria is Brazilian, 25 and has been working for the magazine Grande Reportagem, in Lisbon, Portugal, for the last 3 years. He is the author of the campaign “Meet the World,” which visualizes United Nations and Amnesty International data on national social problems through each country’s flag.

Doria addresses problems ranging from child labor, to international law, to genital mutilation.

The project was conceived as an advertising strategy for Grande Reportagem - in Doria’s words, the idea “was to bring across the concept that the magazine offers profound journalism about topics of real importance to the world of today.”

The campaign has been running in Portugal since January 2005. There are eight flags in total.

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Green Nuclear Butterfly has a great essay on the nude in activism, with a quick rundown of successes brought about by sheer nudity - from Lady Godiva to anti-nuclear activists.  They mention that Nude Magazine is bringing a new section to their website on nude activists.  Beware, though, there’s a link to a site spouting inflammatory anti-Islam rhetoric…

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