Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2013
Capstone Advisor
Professor Melissa Chessher
Honors Reader
Professor Beverly Allen
Capstone Major
Magazine, Newspaper, and Online Journalism
Capstone College
Public Communications
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Professional
Subject Categories
Other Film and Media Studies
Abstract
The following represents a critical, long-form journalism narrative, exploring the emerging relationship between art, activism, and digital technologies such as social media. These 3,000 words explore the concept using the lens of two large non-profit, social art organizations: The AIDS Quilt and the One Million Bones Project. The former, now an international endeavor, catalogues life in the age of AIDS through a community-driven patchwork quilt intended to raise awareness and funds for HIV/AIDS and allow all those affected by the disease a creative coping strategy. The latter began as a small art installation in Albuquerque, New Mexico with a goal of creating one million plaster-cast bones to display on the lawn of the National Mall in June 2013 as a protest against genocide. These organizations embody art’s creative and emotional power to tether people to social issues plaguing the globe. Art, considered a left-brained skill, and technology, a more logical and professional classification, often clash. In a culture where Internet use pervades daily life for more than two billion people, social media and other online forms of communication provide organizations with unique opportunities to expand their reach and effectiveness. Through interviews with individuals involved with these organization as well as experts in field of technology, art, and activism, this article showcases the challenges of the relationship between art activism and new media.
Recommended Citation
Sterbenz, Christina, "Art Activism and Digital Technologies" (2013). Honors Capstone Projects - All. 98.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/98
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
