The use of direct and noticeable action to achieve a result, usually a political or social one（cambridge dictionray)

Write a definition of activism in your own words (do not copy directly from a dictionary) that covers all possible meanings

Activism is the action taken by one or more individuals to achieve a specific political or social goal.

Cambridge Dictionary

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-simplified/activism

Art activism is an art form that combines art with political action. It emphasizes the importance of communicating political views, social issues, and change through art. Art activists believe in the power of art to trigger social change and awareness.

One of the goals of art activism is to stimulate the audience's thinking and draw the attention of society to important issues through art works. This form of art is often expressed in non-traditional ways, such as installation art in public Spaces, street performance, performance art, etc. Art activism aims to raise public awareness and drive change through direct engagement with social and political issues.

In general, art activism is a form of artistic expression that emphasizes the combination of art and political action. It aims to stimulate the thinking of the audience, arouse public attention to social issues, and promote social change through works of art.

ChatGPT

http://chat68.china123.online/ 

Art is used primarily to raise awareness of political views, social issues and change.

First of all, artists of art activism will create works of violence specific to human beings, usually these acts are anti-moral.

Then there are the more extreme art activists who use the blood and guts of animals, which they see as an attack on mainstream culture.

Rudolfschwarzkogler, whose work is morbid and features photographs of dead bodies. They used their performance art to break taboos, often illegal, and sometimes objectionable speech to express their strong dissatisfaction with Austria's post-war conservative, bourgeois government and society. Through his art, he tried to force people to confront the psychological trauma of members of the Nazi-era organization.

Bibliography：

passport.weibo.com. (n.d.). Sina Visitor System. [online] Available at: https://weibo.com/5656799710/LllATjii6 [Accessed 12 Nov. 2023].

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Oscar Murillo: Colombian-born artist Oscar Murillo sheds light on the issues of globalization and immigration with his art. Through paintings, sculptures and installations, he creates a vision of the impact of globalization on cultural identities and communities. His work often draws attention to the human nature behind globalization and its social impact on global economic development.

Bibliography： 

Oscar Murillo [online] Available at: https://www.sohu.com/a/429040555_283392 [Accessed 12 Nov. 2023].

Bibliography:

Christies.com. (2020). AHMED MATER (B. 1979). [online] Available at: https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6435059 [Accessed 12 Nov. 2023].

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Bibliography:

Wikipedia. (2020). Sophie Calle. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Calle.

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I searched for three artists: Oscar Murillo, Sophie Calle and Ahmed Mater. These artists are important practitioners who engage with social and political issues in creative ways, and their work not only inspires the public to think about social issues, but also provides a unique perspective on social change.

I have a new understanding of the concept of activism through the search of materials, and the works of art activism writers are also very appealing, I think I can try to do some works about activism in the future.

First, when looking for information, you should pay attention to when the information was published, updated or revised, and whether it is out of date. Second, whether the information you are looking for is more or less relevant to your topic. After that, whether the author of the information is authoritative and whether the information has been evaluated by an authority in the field. Finally, whether the information has a bibliography or a list of works cited, and how much it cites, and whether the author is biased.

When I select sources for my papers and speeches for activism projects, I follow the five steps above to review the data I find, select the most appropriate data to cite in the article, and evaluate the views in the article if there are biased views.

Banksy's work is not a utopian amusement park in the traditional sense, it is, ironically, a dystopian form of amusement park. It basically highlights the utopian model of amusement parks today, and I think it's very effective because a lot of people have been to Disney-like parks, and it's really too idealistic.

Eliasson's work is mainly a solar lamp, the project mainly highlights the social problem of lack of resources, he found that many areas do not have electricity, still use harmful kerosene lamps, so he wanted to make a cheap solar lamp.

Banksy's dystopian paradise, although not gorgeous appearance, but more people can experience the sense of reality. Eliasson's little solar lamp I think is very effective because it really helps a lot of people and solves a lot of people's life problems.

Bibliography:

1. https://olafureliasson.net/search/Little%20sun

2. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/aug/20/banksy-dismaland-a-theme-park-unsuitable-for-children-in-pictures

Tania Bruguera's second work of art is a portrait painted with thermal ink, and people have to use their body heat to discover what is in the work. Her aim is to turn the audience into active citizens through her works, to make people realize that things in society need everyone to participate in order to change.

I think both works are very good, the first work has a strong sense of immersion, allowing people to unknowingly participate in the work, I think it is very clever, so that you can get the most authentic feeling of the audience. The second work is very interactive, if people want to know what the work is like, they must participate in it together, in order to see the real appearance of the work.

I think Tania Bruguera is very smart when thinking about her works. She always allows people to subconsciously participate in her works. I think this way is worth learning, and the audience's feeling of such works is also very real.

Bibliography:

1. Tate (2008). Tania Bruguera – Tatlin’s Whisper #5 | TateShots. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7L1s_GWn3o.

2. Tate (n.d.). Tania Bruguera: 10,148,451. [online] Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/hyundai-commission-tania-bruguera.

Bibliography :

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Complain creatively. | The Guerrilla Girls | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i5cEhd6Vt8&feature=emb_rel_pause [Accessed 16 Nov. 2023].

I think the most interesting part is to explore freely in the UCA library, because there are many e-books, magazines, videos, images, etc., which let me see a lot of new and interesting things.

I learned a lot of useful things after listening to the talk, such as citing sources to avoid plagiarism, showing how much research you've done, and referencing other people's work to back up your ideas. This is followed by how to use UCA libraries and Harvard citations.

I think the library resources can help me learn a lot of knowledge and provide me with reference materials, which will be of great help to my later design and research.

First of all, academic integrity consists of five basic principles: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. Need to pay attention to the quote, as long as it is borrowed from others, including video, text, pictures, etc., need to be marked.

The second is about artificial intelligence, in the learning process, you can use artificial intelligence, but you can't take what artificial intelligence gives as your own results. If any of these are violated, they will be punished accordingly. If you are having difficulties in your life and study, you can go to a mentor and they will help you.

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Bibliography :

1. LearnEnglish. (2018). Conditionals: zero, first and second. [online] Available at: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar/conditionals-zero-first-second#:~:text=The%20second%20conditional%20is%20used [Accessed 21 Nov. 2023].

2. Taysom, J. (2020). The misunderstood meaning of iconic John Lennon song ‘Imagine’. [online] Far Out Magazine. Available at: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/john-lennon-imagine-real-meaning-communism/.

3. Lennon, J. (1971). Imagine. [online] Genius. Available at: https://genius.com/John-lennon-imagine-lyrics.

4. Minamore, B. and Aspden, P. (2017). Is John Lennon’s Imagine patronisingly sappy, or a moving meditation on hope? The Guardian. [online] 26 Jun. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/26/head-to-head-imagine-john-lennon-soppy-meditation-hope.

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In the process of finding, I encountered many difficulties, because there are regulations, the works I sought should be interactive or device, which brought great difficulties, because I found that when I looked for relevant works, Most of them are photography or paintings, and very, very few immersive works about devices or interactions.

But after my efforts these days, I finally screened out two artists, which I think are very good, and they are respectively Gilbert Baker and Anne Samat, both great artists,Gilbert Baker's "rainbow flag" and Anne Samat's "conundrum Ka sorga" both responded to LGBT issues in part.

I think there are some places that do not do very well at present, for example, they do not know enough about their works and find a single source of information. In the next few days, I will look for several channels to find information related to them and know them more thoroughly.

Bibliography ：

Days, A. (2018). Paywall - Awareness Days Events Calendar 2023. [online] Available at: https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/lgbt-history-month-2024/ [Accessed 23 Nov. 2023].

The rainbow flag has eight colors, each of which has different meanings, For example: Red: symbolizes life, sex and sacrifice. Orange: represents confidence. Yellow: represents the warmth of the sun and equal treatment of gays, etc.. It helps promote the rights and freedoms of the LGBTQ group.

Bibliography ：

1. HuffPost. (2018). Rainbow Flag Creator Gilbert Baker’s Memoir Will Be Published In 2019. [online] Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rainbow-flag-creator-gilbert-baker-memoir_n_5b3b88bae4b07b827cbb22f3 [Accessed 23 Nov. 2023].

2. Wikipedia. (2023). Gilbert Baker (artist). [online] Available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Baker_(artist) [Accessed 23 Nov. 2023].

Her "Conundrum Ka Sorga (Heaven)" is a sculpture, the image of the work is a gorgeous dress, the front color is very bright, but the back is black and white monochrome, expressing the imbalance between the mainstream group and the fringe group, her overall style is similar to the image of the phoenix, and the phoenix as the symbol of the work. It says that lgbt people who do not give up after their struggles and failures will inspire a deeper power, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, to reclaim their voice.

Bibliography ：

1. MARC STRAUS. (n.d.). Anne Samat. [online] Available at: https://www.marcstraus.com/artists/anne-samat/ [Accessed 23 Nov. 2023].

2. SUNPRIDE FOUNDATION | (2020). Anne Samat | Making agreements with materials, exploring gender issues in a new perspective. [online] Available at: http://sunpride.hk/anne-samat-making-agreements-materials-exploring-gender-issues-new-perspective/ [Accessed 23 Nov. 2023].

3. www.createmagazine.com. (n.d.). ‘GREETINGS FROM THE MIRAGE’ - A flamboyant desert landscape in Philadelphia | Create! Magazine. [online] Available at: https://www.createmagazine.com/blog/greetings-from-the-mirage-a-flamboyant-desert-landscape-in-philadelphia [Accessed 23 Nov. 2023].

• Themes explored

  They are similar in that they both depict scenes and people, just as Nighthawks mainly shows a city night scene with a restaurant with bright lights, three customers and a waiter, Sleepwalking in Dunhuang mainly shows a Dunhuang scene, The picture shows a fairy riding a sacred deer and a male monk riding a camel. The fairy is bouncing a lute, and the figure is surrounded by beautiful scenery.

  The difference between them is that Nighthawks mainly conveys loneliness, alienation, voyeurism and quiet atmosphere, while Sleepwalking in Dunhuang mainly conveys peace, tranquility and good atmosphere.

• Colours

  They differ in their use of colors, with Nighthawks in a cool tone and Sleepwalking in Dunhuang in a warm tone.

  Nighthawks is dominated by blue and green, there is a large area of blue dark green in the picture, giving a feeling of late at night, and there is a large area of yellow and small area of brown inside the restaurant, which is in sharp contrast to the scene outside the restaurant.

  Sleepwalking in Dunhuang is mainly red and yellow, and there are some blue and green in the mountains and water, making the overall color more rich, and the middle of the picture is bright and the periphery is dark, highlighting the middle part.

Bibliography ：

Art Institute Chicago (2009). Nighthawks. [online] The Art Institute of Chicago. Available at: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111628/nighthawks.

First of all, the composition and color matching, light and shadow processing and character relationship of this work are very good, which makes me feel lonely but also a little warm feeling. Although I did not quite see that there was an obvious sense of familiarity between the four people, the relationship between the four people was very subtle, and this loneliness and warmth reminded me of a similar scene I had once been in a convenience store somewhere.

Secondly, I learned the importance of depicting the details of the characters, each person in the picture has his own expression and posture, which makes them look more real. For example, the male customer is staring ahead, thoughtful, and the female customer's hand is in contact with the male customer's hand, which is slightly ambiguous. These details not only add to the richness and depth of the work, but also evoke people's memories to a certain extent.

Finally, this work made me ask myself three questions:

1. What is the relationship between these characters?

2. Why do people feel lonely when there are lights on in the scene?

3. The painting looks like a sudden pause in the movie. How did the author paint the sense of scene?

The first is the geographical location, the Lion House and the Catholic Church are located in Yanggu County, Shandong Province. The Lion Tower is located at the head of the Yang Cross Street in the old city of Yanggu County, and the Catholic Church is located diagonally opposite the Lion Tower.

Now that they're so close together, let's look at the differences between them.

The first is the architectural style: the Lion House is very different from the Catholic Church. The Lion House is built in the traditional Chinese style, while the Catholic Church has Gothic architectural features. The two architectural styles reflect different cultural and historical backgrounds.

Secondly, the cultural background: the Lion House and the Catholic Church are related to the local history and culture. The Lion House is related to Wu Song in the "Water Margin". The Catholic Church is derived from the exchange of Chinese and Western cultures.

Finally, popularity: Because of the influence of the Water Margin, the Lion House has a certain worldwide popularity, and I believe that most Chinese people have some knowledge of it, while the Catholic Church is mainly influential among local believers.

In general, the Lion House and the Catholic Church are different in terms of architectural style, cultural background, functional role and popularity, which reflect the artistic and cultural heritage in different cultural and historical contexts.

I think the Lion House and the Catholic Church are both very important cultural heritage sites and tourist attractions, which are of great significance for understanding the local history and culture. At the same time, it has provided a great help to the development of the local community, so the Lion House and the Catholic Church still have a very important significance, not only for the local community and believers, but also for tourists and cultural lovers around the world.

Through the exploration last weekend, I found that I had not paid much attention to the public art in my place before. In my place, it is not difficult to find public art, but they are basically public art related to local traditional culture, and relatively modern public art is hard to find. For me, this is because, Our local historical background and culture have a great relationship, people's understanding and acceptance of modern public art is low, so relatively modern public art is rare.

For the radical public art in China, there are fewer problems to be reflected on than in the UK

On this issue, I think back to it, and it is true that the emergence and development of Chinese activist public art in China can be different from that in the UK. Here I will imagine this problem from one aspect:

Cultural and social environment:

There are great differences between the cultural and social environment of China and the UK. In China, the social environment teaches us to be harmonious and advocates collectivism, so people prefer a stable society. These ideas limit the development of radical public art to a large extent.

History:

Britain has gone a long way in radical public art. On the contrary, radical public art appeared late in China and did not form a relatively complete system.

Education:

In the UK, art education focuses on expressing one's inner thoughts and encouraging innovation and individuality. However, China's art education pays more attention to norms and has a relatively fixed evaluation system, which greatly limits people's imagination and personality, making it difficult for people to express their inner thoughts.

Acceptance:

To a certain extent, radical public art is a challenge to the upper authority, so it is not accepted by the public in China. In China, the older people are, the more conservative they are, and the older people have certain power in the family. Although young people are more advanced in thinking, they will be suppressed by many factors, and these concepts will accompany their growth.

The above are just a few reasons in my personal opinion. The development of radical public art in China has been comprehensively affected by many factors. However, judging from the current trend, with the progress of society and the improvement of people's awareness of art, China's attention and recognition of radical public art have been increasing year by year.

First of all, body language is a way of emphasizing and also helps to eliminate tension, research shows that body language helps to convey information. The second is the voice, if rote memorization or reading from the script, will lead to the speech voice becomes flat, will not attract the audience. You can try to highlight the important points in the text, speak as slowly as possible, and reduce the content if there is a time limit.

After watching this video, I learned a lot, the most important is how to be more natural in the process of speaking. I used to recite the script in advance, and in the middle of the speech, I would be so nervous that I would stay in the same place, look straight ahead, and basically have no physical movement. After that, I will try to increase the body movement, which may make my performance more natural.

Today went very smoothly, because I got the result I wanted. Through today's shooting, I learned to think repeatedly when doing a thing. Later, I should also think about what Angle or method is more correct when shooting, just like today, instead of being satisfied with just getting a photo.

Picture source：https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Vw411P7m9/

With Little Sun, Olafur Eliasson helps people in poor areas and those without electricity get light. He believes that art can help us identify with one another, expand our concept of ourselves, and show us that personal engagement with the world has real consequences (Eliasson,2020). As we have seen, artists can change the world to some extent through art. Light is Life (Eliasson,2020). Olafur Eliasson's work Little Sun not only provides light to areas without electricity, but also enables people in remote areas to embody strong spiritual power from his works. Such action at the practical level directly contributes to the solution of social, political and ecological problems.

El Seed's "calligraphy" combines his beloved Arabic calligraphy tradition with modern graffiti art to create his works, which, when combined with contemporary world events, stimulate discussions on politics and art, and to some extent promote tolerance between cultures (Bengoechea,2016). His art draws on tradition, believing that it can raise important questions about contemporary issues, influence tolerance and bring people together (Bengoechea,2016). His art aims to open the door to cultural exchange between different countries through better understanding and mutual tolerance.

By comparing the two works, we can find similarities in the way art engages with social, political and ecological issues. However, there are some differences. The Little Sun project focuses more on practical actions, trying to solve the energy problem through the popularization of solar energy; Eliasson's calligraphic works focus more on artistic expression and symbolism, attempting to promote tolerance and understanding between cultures through art.

To sum up, these two works of art show the power of art to change the world from different aspects. I think their work is really great, and I learned that if you want to change the world through art, you have to really do it through practice.

Picture source：

1. https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/62a45ea5000000001d030d97

2. http://www.maideyi.com/a42491

Bibliography：

1. https://ucreative.sharepoint.com/:p:/r/sites/UC_PSE2023GroupT-JamieBower/_layouts/15/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc=%7B642990B9-2314-4DA4-8490-718DF554F560%7D&file=Reading%20into%20Writing%203.pptx&action=edit&mobileredirect=true

JR's works are distributed in various places, he uses images and colors to express his views and opinions on social issues, and through his works, he arouses people's concern and reflection on social issues, and appeals to people to participate in his projects. When displaying his works, JR not only uses his own photos, he also collects a wide range of photos of other people and the people they care about (JR,2023). I think this is very effective, because he is not only to share these photos, but also to make people brave enough to stand up and share what they care about, just like JR told the audience that "art is not to change the world, but to change perceptions" (JR,2023). Indeed, he did so in a lighthearted way to engage people.

Overall, the artist JR's approach to using art is effective. His works not only have a distinct personality and unique style, but also can arouse people's concern and reflection on social issues and stimulate public participation.

Picture source:

https://baike.baidu.com/item/JR/12005820?fr=ge_ala

There are many problems in the speech process, for example, the pronunciation of some words is not clear, if a word is stuck, the whole will become not smooth, and the rhythm of the speech will be disrupted. In order to solve this problem, I will strengthen training on these keywords with problems in the next few days, so that I can become proficient in its pronunciation. Can achieve better results.

From other students' speeches, I have seen many wonderful things, such as some students' smooth pronunciation, some students are very confident, and some students made small animations for demonstration. I think these are all great points in the speech, and I think I can also try to learn these methods to improve my speech ability.