Socially Engaged Artwork

Socially engaged artwork is a great way to show students that artwork does not have to be painting or drawing, it can be a creative act uncovers something about society by disrupting everyday life. Assign students to make their own socially engaged artwork.
Here are some examples of socially engaged artists to give you some ideas:

•  Fritz Haeg and his "edible estates" http://www.fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/edibleestates/main.html
• Vik Muniz  "wasteland" http://www.wastelandmovie.com/vik-muniz.html
• Michael Swaine "reap what you sew" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G0J0RmcV8c
• Oliver Herring http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/oliver-herring
• Paul "Moose" Curtis (reverse graffiti) he cleans the wall to make the graffiti

• Alexandre Orion (reverse graffiti)

Children could choose to be extra helpful to their parents and record how they react, be kind to their brothers and sisters and record the reaction, change their personality for a day and see how others react, choose only to talk about others and not themselves and record the reactions/ feelings, keep everything they throw away in one week in a bag and don't throw it out,  or draw a hopscotch and see how many people actually play it. The possibilities are endless, just make sure they are doing the project to find out something about society by disrupting everyday life in a certain way. Remind the students to be safe when they do their socially engaged art and approve all of their ideas.