Art as Resistance: Lebanon

Who said politics are all about long boring speeches? Graffiti in Lebanon is engaged, mostly politically, but increasingly socially as well. (A prominent stencil "campaign" through the streets of Beirut, last year spoke of the taboo -read illegal- subject of homosexuality).
Traditionally, people scribbled basic phrases of allegiance to this or that party along with the icon/logo thereof. However, graphic artists have recently been at work transforming the streets, expressing undying faith in ever struggling, ever-surviving Beirut (Beirut will not die) but also increasing weariness towards the political status-quo. The image to the left (taken from Leb Graffiti) shows people literally pulling the plug on the television news (which invariably report nothing good.) More Beiruti graffiti pics can be found at http://lebgraffiti.blogspot.com/ and http://29letters.wordpress.com/ (under the heading of Lebanese graffiti for the latter).
Al-Jazeera English covered the work of a few Lebanese artists, and the report is available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLnn273QNwA

New Media and Participation

All that talk about participative media, and the effect of the web on the last elections... Although I have no doubt about how effective the use of the internet was by Obama's campaign managers, I find that the over-excitement about public participation a bit naive. Elections are one thing (that only occur every four years), but continuous political participation requires a lot more of people, and a degree of commitment (and higher understanding) of their rights and duties. An article in the Washington Times is entitled: Obama's Web Presence Loses its Luster, and describes how viewership of Obama's YouTube channel, where president-elect Obama conducts "fireside chats" has now dipped by 50%. The tools of participation are not enough to guarantee the act of participation.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/09/obamas-web-presence-loses-its-luster/

Art as Resistance: Iraq

Wafaa Bilal, an Iraqi artist currently assistant professor at Tisch (NYU). His work is very provocative and relevant in terms of dealing with/understanding/re-reading/re-interpreting war.
http://www.wafaabilal.com/