“Art is either plagiarism or revolution,” Marcel DuChamp said. It is possible that there are other categories. Art can be commerce, status, or fame. It can be self-expression or propaganda—it’s often hard to know what it is, that’s why critics get paid. We like to have someone mediate thoughts for us, and then we do the rest. We draw conclusions from other people’s conclusions as though this is passing for original thought. It’s a matter of convenience, at best. At worst it is a matter of mind control, willfully giving over our freedom to avoid dealing with the issues art raises.
Revolution is in the air and it has been a long time coming. Though it is difficult to know whether this energy is reactionary or progressive. It might be both. It depends on which side “wins”—because each side believes the other to have the upper hand.
It just so happens that we root for the side that represents our personal interests. We think we are right and we look for others to validate this. We ignore the complexities of the position of the messenger, in favor of the message. Is this ethical? I don’t know if that question can ever be answered.
In 2007, Dame Vivienne Westwood created a manifesto of Active Resistance to Propaganda to highlight the place of art in the revolution. As Westwood explains, “It is not enough to follow world politics, see films and read the prizewinning bestsellers. This is superficial, you need to go deep in order to understand who you are, what the world is and how things could be better. This involves culture which can only be acquired by self-education: human beings should mirror the world.”
This idea was set in motion in 2010 by the creation of a website titled 100 Days of Active Resistance, which invited people to submit an artwork, slogan, or photograph that addressed this idea. In 2011, Damiani published a book of the same name, an understated volume that gives space to issues facing people of the world today.
Westwood states, “Our journey to find art will show that art gives culture and that culture is the antidote to propaganda.” This is the premise upon one must agree if we wish to choose sides. Me, I prefer to sit on the fence and watch the fur fly. Art is not inherently anything. It is what we want it to be, what our perceptions claim.
I take great joy in seeing artists stand up for their beliefs. I love to see art that speaks against groupthink. And for this reason, 100 Days of Active Resistance is a joy. Because much of it aligns with my politics, and where it does not, I like the questions it raises and the debate it engages. Dialogue is preferable to monologue any day.
100 Days of Active Resistance is equal parts manifesto as it is philosophy. It is calling into question our assumptions about the way the world work and the lives we lead. Day 55 shows a photograph by Aleksandra Radonich titled “That World” and it shows two old women standing outside what might be there home. The caption reads, “One peek at those who have resisted in their lifestyle. With unpretentious needs, without electricity, living in harmony with nature, always cheerful, they are a paradigm of the future. They are women who live in the mountains of Serbia. They don’t fight with nature, they listen to it, they understand it.”
The caption forever changes the way we look at the photograph. We have to determine if we believe the propositions it makes. Is the future a world that returns to nature? Would we be willing to forsake “progress” in favor of happiness? Is this romanticism of our agrarian past? Or is there a truth here that we might want to consider in our own lives?
Day 85 is a photograph titled “Mode D’Emploi” taken by Aline Mairet in Montreal. It shows a poster titled “Tools of Subversion: Stencil and Paint” with six boxes showing how street art can be created. In the final box are the words “You have a voice.” The photograph is captioned, “Use your voice.”
What makes this photograph compelling is that it is a window into a window, activism through activism. Its only agenda is the creation of action through the empowerment of the individual. While the Internet has become a vortex of noise, a space where voices are shouting over each other to be heard, street art remains a pivotal force, a means in which each of us are free to break the law in order to be heard. For there is something compelling about reading the writing on the wall, the unsigned messages that speak for the (wo)man in the crowd. And though many people ignore the messages, writing them off as vandalism, there will always be that one person who listens, and is inspired to take action of their own.
And perhaps that is what is most powerful about 100 Days of Active Resistance. It is about the issues it raises, but it is also about the power of each one of us to be the change we want to see in the world. You have a voice. Let it be heard.
Sara Rosen
