The 20th century saw the emergence of street art, often tied to social and political movements.
Graffiti and murals became expressions of dissent, activism, and cultural identity.
Street art refers to visual art created in public places, including graffiti, murals, stencils, installations, and various other forms. An example of this is the work of the French artist invader. He explains that his work has been influenced by games like the Rubik's Cube and Space Invaders. The reason for his artist name, invader, is because he describes his act of intervening in public buildings through the shape of invaders as "invading." He is an artist who creates pixelated mosaic art using small tiles and places them in urban environments. He works by preparing characters with tile mosaics in his studio and then pasting them on at night when there are few people around. Additionally, he created a game called "Flash Invaders," where players register hidden invader works around the world to earn points. Street art is accessible to everyone and invader actively intervenes in urban spaces to allow people to enjoy his work, providing new experiences in familiar or unfamiliar cities. Furthermore, one could consider him actively curating his work by encouraging people to follow the locations of his installations through the game he developed.
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese artist and activist. He criticizes the Chinese government and advocates for human rights through his work. One of his works, "Perspective Study," involves manipulating perspectives to photograph symbolic and authoritative places in various cities such as Tiananmen Square, the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa, and the White House. This represents resistance to existing orders, hierarchies, power, and mainstream ideologies. He also actively utilizes social media as an artist, showing a critical stance towards the Chinese government and human rights issues. When Ai Weiwei was secretly detained by the Chinese government in 2011, people who supported him, including artists, protested under the hashtag "Where is Weiwei?" He also documented the Chinese government's surveillance of him and live-streamed it online, thereby making himself both the subject and agent of action. Through social media, his work gives viewers a position as eyewitnesses, encourages them to take action, and opens up the role of art in politics and society. Enjoying conversations, joys, and angers together through social media is what I consider Ai Weiwei's artistic achievement.
Ai Weiwei / 1995-2003 / Study of Perspective series / Photography /
Eiffel Tower, Paris, France.
Mona Lisa, Paris, France.
Tiananmen, Beijing, China.
The White House, Washington D.C. USA.
Free Ai Weiwei street art campaign, 2011
Invader / Mosaic / Vienna
Invader / Mosaic / Paris
Invader / “Flash Invaders” / Game