From Action Art to Artivism on Instagram: Relocation and instantaneity for a new geography of protest

Abstract

This article addresses how the concept of ‘Action Art’, which came mainly from the anti-cultural movements of May 1968 in Europe, has been transformed into the term Artivism. The main hypothesis is that it is a succession of committed and protest art, transformed by two fundamental elements: the emergence of social networks and the exposure of a very young audience to artistic creation through this network. This type of creative action has acquired an urban character that is strongly linked to civil protest movements. In the second part, this article discusses how both terms circulate as Instagram hashtags in this delocalized world of networks. The terms are used to show that, beyond transcending national territories, new, significant geographies are continually being reconstructed.