The High Line markets itself as a public space for New Yorkers to gather as a community above city streets. It aims to activate public space by engaging New Yorkers and tourists alike in city culture. The High Line believes that art is fundamental to creating a truly public space, as it creates common interest…

7000 Oak Trees is a piece of social art by Joseph Beuys that entailed the planting of 7000 oak trees throughout the city of Kassel. Each tree was planted with a basalt stone. In 1982 at Documenta 7, Beuys piled the stones in front of Museum Fridericianum. Each time a tree was planted the pile…

Performance art has the capacity to create an alternate universe that appears real to the viewer. It can be a useful tool in questioning what is considered “normal” society. Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece” from 1964, dealt with the notion of ownership and interaction. She sat up on stage, well dressed, in front of an audience…

A memorial is meant to remind people of a certain past and can play a role in how people view government action. In Washington DC there’s a long black granite slab with the names of 58,000 men and women who gave their lives to the Vietnam war inscribed upon it. The memorial’s purpose is to…

Visual confrontation can be a successful way to approach gaining attention democratically. Scabby, very large blow-up rat, is commonly used in urban areas where public transportation is substantial. Born in the 1990s out of Chicago, the inflated Scabby refers to a union strike underway. Workers will inflate the rat at their branch of public transit; the…

By capitalizing on the far-reaching potential of music, you can send a lyrical but political message. Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, an American boxer, was accused of triple murder in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1966. Carter was wrongly accused and imprisoned for about 20 years on the basis of his skin color. While in prison this middleweight…

Disruptive civil disobedience is often necessary for enacting political change, and it can be especially effective when performed in front of a large audience. This past summer, four members of Pussy Riot, a Russian protest art group, ran onto the field during a World Cup game that was being played in Moscow. The artists dressed…

Gran Fury, a collective of AIDS activists working in the 80s and 90s, harnessed the power of public art to combat the stigma against AIDS bolstered by the political climate. In one such work, Gran Fury produced a poster that displayed an interracial and two queer couples kissing with a tagline hovering above their heads…

Cafe Art, a London organization that combats homelessness, is empowering homeless people through photography. Each year, the organization hands out 100 film cameras to homeless people in London, inviting them to venture out into the city to capture photos that resonate with their experiences. The goal is to uplift the homeless by providing them with…

A project by Thomas Heatherwick, an English designer, is currently underway on the West side of Manhattan. People have come to reference this structure as the “Honeycomb Sculpture” and it is composed of connected staircases. This architecture of interwoven elevations is not a building although it gives off that illusion. So, is it a space…