Anti-ICE art & creative resistance: this month’s creative industry news
Chapters
Resistance takes many forms, and this month's exhibitions highlight art as a powerful tool for amplifying marginalized voices and fighting back. Plus, creative news highlighting a fast-changing world as the US says goodbye to the mass-market paperback and MetroCards, leaving creative projects in its wake. Read our round-up of the highlights from the creative world below.
UNESCO report ‘Re|Shaping Policies for Creativity’ highlights a systemic lack of support for creatives
In its flagship report ‘Re|Shaping Policies for Creativity’, UNESCO urges for “stronger policies to protect creators from widening inequalities.” The report comes at a time when AI and politics threaten artistic freedom, with projections that Generative AI will result in global revenue losses of 24% for music creators and 21% for audiovisual creators by 2028.
Read the full report here.
America Will Be! interrogates the symbol of the US flag
The exhibition America Will Be! opened last month at The Driskell Center, University of Maryland. It brings together 25 artworks that critically engage with the US flag, exploring race, political exclusion and democracy. The timing couldn’t be more significant, emerging in a moment where belonging is constantly being brought into question across the US.
Running from February 9 to May 8.
'African-American Flag' by David Hammons
Grant opportunity opens: Creative Capital Open Call 2027
The 2027 Creative Capital Open Call is looking for proposals for new artistic works from individual artists across all 50 states in the visual arts, performing arts, film and literature. The Creative Capital Award will provide unrestricted project grants of up to $50,000 to individual artists, alongside professional development support, industry connections and community-building opportunities. The new State of the Art Prize will provide grants of $10,000, supporting one artist from every state.
This free exhibition at Grand Central celebrates the MetroCard as canvas and design icon
As the New York Metro goes fully contactless, this new exhibition looks more closely at the tangible ticket and the works of art it has borne. From fashion to sculptures, paintings and collages, this is a diverse showcase of the works of so-called MetroCard artists, who have reportedly been hoarding on tickets with their medium now under threat. The little card has been around since the 90s, “one of the most accessible design objects in New York history,” said New Regina Shepherd of the New York Transit Museum.
MetroCard exhibition opens at Grand Central. Artwork by Nina Boesch.
The ‘pocket book’ is on its way out
Reports on reading levels and habits are raging, with the latest suggesting that the supermarket ‘pocket book’ is being phased out across the US. These mass-market paperbacks have been lauded as making books more accessible and affordable, but their days are now numbered. ReaderLink, the biggest book distributor in the US, announced that it would stop distributing mass-market paperbacks. It comes as mass market unit sales fell from 131 million in 2004 to 21 million in 2024 – a drop of about 84%.
Read more about the future of accessible reading here.
The exhibition Say It Loud: AAMARP, 1977 to Now opens at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
The African American Master Artists-in-Residence Program (AAMARP) at Northeastern University has been at the intersection of art, activism and community since it was founded in 1977. Conceived as a Black artist-run alternative art space, it evolved into a cultural hub for exhibitions, poetry readings, dance performances, lectures, films, workshops and public gatherings, with free studio space for artists. Today, it is “one of the few longstanding residency programs for Black artists in the United States.” Say It Loud showcases a selection of artworks from its founding in 1977 to the present, described as “a living archive of creative resistance, cultural memory, and artistic excellence.”
Immigrant Rights are in the spotlight at Frieze Los Angeles
And finally, in L.A., neon works from Patrick Martinez are a moving response to the abhorrent violence of ICE raids across the country. Patrick Martinez is the campaign artist for this year’s Frieze Los Angeles, where he will be showing his new neon series Then They Came For Me alongside politically charged public billboards and digital screens across the city. The medium poignantly turns consumerism on its head.
Learn more about the works here.
Thumbnail image credit: Patrick Martinez neon signs at Frieze LA. Photo by Carlin Stiehl.