Madonna's Leftist Art for Freedom

Subject: Madonna's Leftist Art for Freedom Tue May 20, 2014 8:10 pm

Why You Can't Change the World with a Tweet

Madonna's Leftist Art for Freedom Sociallymediated-madonna-artforrevolution-650

There’s little doubt that social media has impacted the way individuals and institutions communicate, but few have accurately articulated precisely what this impact is.

If we are to assume that most people in first world countries communicate digitally and maintain some sort of interaction on social media (and recent statistics suggest that such an assumption is correct), then we have to consider the relevance of these virtual encounters. We have to investigate beyond the mere fact that “everyone is doing it”, and we must ultimately take a firm stance on the issue of social media’s potential to change all that is perceivably wrong with the world.

The question of social media’s relevance is paramount, because a number of prominent public figures have turned to social media in an effort to influence public policy. For the purposes of this article, I use pop superstar Madonna as a case study to argue that her political social media project, Art for Freedom, has failed to incite the global government action it seeks, and therefore illustrates social media’s inability to call attention to and alleviate human rights violations.

With Art for Freedom, Madonna is using her power and prestige in an attempt to make a global impact. The social media project is an online venue for artists to upload works that bring awareness to human rights violations. It began in 2013 September, after the release of Madonna’s short film #Secretprojectrevolution (see below), and since then, Madonna and VICE have partnered to manage the website.

More: http://www.popmatters.com/column/181906-on-madonnas-art-for-freedom-why-you-cant-change-the-world-with-a-twe/

Madonna's Leftist Art for Freedom

Madonna's Leftist Art for Freedom

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