CAMPAIGN TITLE : “Guerilla Art”
PROJECT : Art, Collaboration, and Self Expression.
OBJECTIVE : Guerilla art is the creation of social art messages in public spaces in a way that does not violate the law nor offend any individual person. This is not a team project - each student is to design and create an art project based upon a social issue that he/she feels strongly about, to actually install it either on campus or off campus, and to collect feedback about its effectiveness.
TYPES : You may explore any kind of social message that has meaning for you, EXCEPT in the areas of race, politics, and/or religion including content that can be defined as objectionable or obscene.
PROJECT : Art, Collaboration, and Self Expression.
OBJECTIVE : Guerilla art is the creation of social art messages in public spaces in a way that does not violate the law nor offend any individual person. This is not a team project - each student is to design and create an art project based upon a social issue that he/she feels strongly about, to actually install it either on campus or off campus, and to collect feedback about its effectiveness.
TYPES : You may explore any kind of social message that has meaning for you, EXCEPT in the areas of race, politics, and/or religion including content that can be defined as objectionable or obscene.
Research
I asked myself several questions which would help me further develop my concept.
How do I define Social Messages and Social Issues?
- A message that addresses social issues such as drugs, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, abortions etc.
- Social issues are problems that our society struggles with such as drugs, teen pregnancy, abortion, alcoholism, materialism, saving gaia etc.
What kind of social message and issue would I most likely peruse as a persuasion?
There is a lot of racism. For Singapore it is important that we promote racial harmony as we are a multi-racial country. I want to remind the public of this and ask them "Where is the love?"
How am I going to select a concept that discreetly engages the audience through Guerilla Art?
I will choose a theme that my audience can relate to and that I would be able to communicate to my audience without being disruptive.
Is the public space ready for this form of multi-sensory persuasion?
Yes they are as they have been exposed to performances like this before such as flash mobs.
Social Message and Culture Jamming
Guerilla Art Campaigns can sometimes be known as Culture Jamming but it is seen as disruptive although it stimulates dialogue in the public space. Is there a difference between the two?
Guerilla Art can also be known as street art(any art developed in public spaces), though it usually refers to unsanctioned art. Street art includes traditional graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti and flash mobbing. These type of art can be intentionally disruptive to draw attention to themselves.
Culture jamming is more associated with advertising. It is used by many consumer social movements, is a mechanism in which an activist or activist group attempts to disrupt commercial cultural institutions including corporate advertising.
The difference is that one could be illegal and also disruptive to the audience literally.
Guerilla Art can also be known as street art(any art developed in public spaces), though it usually refers to unsanctioned art. Street art includes traditional graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti and flash mobbing. These type of art can be intentionally disruptive to draw attention to themselves.
Culture jamming is more associated with advertising. It is used by many consumer social movements, is a mechanism in which an activist or activist group attempts to disrupt commercial cultural institutions including corporate advertising.
The difference is that one could be illegal and also disruptive to the audience literally.
Creative Brief
After conducting my research, I put together a creative brief for my project.
Background/Overview
Singapore is a multi-racial country yet there is racism alive here. For example, racist jokes has become so common amongst the youth that even the Indians are able to accept them and laugh at themselves. Is this good in the sense that they are able to laugh at themselves or has degradation of their race become so common that they have become immune to it. So how do we go about our racial differences?
Do we accept them and laugh about it? Do we ignore our differences? Do we make light about them and harp on it? Or do we love our differences?
I plan to pick teens from different races and cross culture dress them. For example, I would dress a chinese girl in a sari. I would have about 6 of these teenagers walking around the campus during school hours(ideally lunch time) and they would each be holding a sign that says "love" or "ignore" or "accept". Those three words would be the big words for this campaign, accept, ignore or love.
Target Audience
Teenagers. There is a lot of racism alive in the youth culture, especially amongst friends. They are the minds of tomorrow. By influencing them, we would be making a change in tomorrow. Do we want our future to be like the life we have now, or can we make it better?
Objective and purpose of the ad
I want teenagers to stand up and be aware of these issues present in our society. I want teenagers to be aware of the racism happening in our life. They need to understand that beyond these racist jokes, there is a deeper level to all this. We need to love each other and ourselves.
Primary Message
Do we accept, ignore or love our social differences?
Secondary Message
Get people to take notice of this issue and get them to think deeper and make the change.
Actual Day
On the day of the installation, myself along with two other models dressed up in different traditional outfits. As I was Chinese, I wore an Indian Sari. I got my Malay friend to wear a Chinese Cheongsam and I got my Chinese friend to wear a Malay Baju Kurong. We were each holding a poster. These posters had different messages on them. They said: IGNORE our differences, ACCEPT our differences, LOVE our differences. We then proceeded to parade around school in our costumes holding our posters. We certainly attracted a lot of attention. However with National Day around the corner, my performance art was mistakenly being linked to National Day by most people. When we interviewed some of the public, majority of the response was positive as people thought it was a good initiative.
Getting ready to parade around school
While walking around school
The reaction received
Conclusion
After I finished this project, I reflected and wrote a report on it.
