An Inspirational Flight! with Polly Ferman

This episode introduces the practice of Taiwanese artist Wu Mali （吳瑪悧）as an early anchor for regenerative artivism in East Asia. Moving from a polluted suburban creek at the edge of Taipei to river basins, a former naval kitchen on Cijin Island, and finally a project focused on one cubic centimeter of soil, the episode traces how Wu treats art as environmental infrastructure rather than isolated objects. Listeners will hear how Art as Environment: A Cultural Action at Plum Tree Creek turned a neglected waterway into a watershed commons through walking, mapping, school programs, and breakfast gatherings with residents and hydrologists; how river projects such as By the River, On the River, Of the River and Taipei Tomorrow as a Lake Again reframe Taipei as a vulnerable floodplain; how Cijin Kitchen and Cijin's tongue use cooking and storytelling in a former naval dormitory to surface maritime labor, migration, and coastal change; and how To Reconstruct 1 cm³ of Land, It Requires a Centennial foregrounds soil timescales and micro-acts of cultivation. Across these cases, the episode situates Wu's work within ecofeminist, community-based strategies that link environmental repair to everyday care, pedagogy, and local governance. Keywords Wu Mali; Taiwan; socially engaged art; community art; eco-art; environmental humanities; regenerative artivism; regenerative aesthetics; ecofeminism; watershed commons; Plum Tree Creek; Cijin Kitchen; Cijin's tongue; To Reconstruct 1 cm³ of Land, It Requires a Centennial; river city; climate adaptation; soil and land; art and governance; public pedagogy Key references Bamboo Curtain Studio. "Art as Environment: A Cultural Action at Plum Tree Creek." Project documentation. Bamboo Curtain Studio Website. https://bambooculture.com/en/project/2004.html. ecoartspace. "Member Spotlight: Mali Wu." Online feature. ecoartspace Blog. https://ecoartspace.org/Blog/13030578. Goto, Reiko, Margaret Shiu, and Wu Mali. "Ecofeminism: Art as Environment – A Cultural Action at Plum Tree Creek." Women Environmental Artists Directory (WEAD) Magazine. 2014. https://directory.weadartists.org/plum-tree-creek-action/. Harff, Amy Spencer. "Artist Series: Wu Mali, The Godmother of Taiwan's Socially Engaged Art." Eurasia Review. Last modified August 3, 2021. https://www.eurasiareview.com/03082021-artist-series-wu-mali-the-godmother-of-taiwans-socially-engaged-art-analysis/. Tung, Wei-Hsiu. "Art and Aesthetic Environmental Awakening at Plum Tree Creek." The Newsletter (International Institute for Asian Studies), no. 76 (2017): 30. Tung, Wei-Hsiu. "From Social Art Practice to Environmental Aesthetic Awakening and Civil Engagement: The Case Study of Cijin Kitchen." Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 7, nos. 2–3 (2020): 307–324. Wu, Mali and Bamboo Curtain Studio. "Art as Environment – A Cultural Action at the Plum Tree Creek." Case summary for the Taishin Arts Award. https://www.taishinart.org.tw/en/art-award-year-detail/2012/463. Zheng, Bo. "An Interview with Wu Mali." FIELD: A Journal of Socially-Engaged Art Criticism, no. 4 (2016). https://field-journal.com/no4/an-interview-with-wu-mali. Special note: Chinese names in this episode follow local convention, with the family name given first and the personal name second.

2026

In this introductory episode, I lay out the core idea of regenerative artivism and the scope of the podcast. Speaking from southern California with my attention grounded in East Asia, I reflect on how art, care, and collective imagination help communities confront social and environmental injustice and craft/cultivate more livable futures in damaged places. Using the image of a threatened valley and the community-organized Meinung Yellow Butterfly Festival (美濃黃蝶祭), I introduce regeneration as an ongoing practice rather than a single victory. I explain why Season 1 focuses on women artivists in the greater China region and why their often-overlooked work in creeks, kitchens, schools, villages, and resettlement sites matters for environmental thinking. I situate the podcast in relation to my own long-term field research and to the limits of academic writing, framing the series as a slow, seminar-like space for listening, critical reflection, and grounded imagination. The episode closes with an invitation to consider a place that matters to you, the damages it has absorbed, and the quiet forms of care already at work there. Keywords regenerative artivism; regenerative aesthetics, socially engaged art; environmental art; ecofeminism; environmental humanities; Asia, East Asia; Greater China; community art; environmental justice; social justice; regeneration; care; multispecies relations; public pedagogy; art and ecology; women artivists Key References Demos, T. J. Decolonizing Nature: Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2016. ECOARTASIA. Digital Archive of Chinese Socially and Ecologically Engaged Art. https://ecoartasia.net/. Gablik, Suzi. The Reenchantment of Art. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1991. Haraway, Donna J. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016. Kester, Grant H. The One and the Many: Contemporary Collaborative Art in a Global Context. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011. Lerner, Steve. Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical Exposure in the United States. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2010. Nixon, Rob. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. Puig de la Bellacasa, María. Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More than Human Worlds. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017. Wang, Meiqin. "Ecology, Environmental Art, and Sustainable Community Building: The Meinung Yellow Butterfly Festival as a Case of Environmental Activism in Taiwan." International Journal of Social Sustainability in Economic, Social, and Cultural Context 19, no. 2 (2023): 75–101. Wang, Meiqin. Socially Engaged Art in Contemporary China: Voices from Below. London: Routledge, 2019. Wang, Meiqin, ed. Socially Engaged Public Art in East Asia. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2022.

2026

In this episode, we explore the intersection of art and activism, known as 'Artivism'. We delve into the stories of artists who use their work as a medium for social change, highlighting how art can provoke thought, stimulate dialogue, and inspire collective action. From street murals to music and theater, discover how artivism is shaping societal narratives and driving progress.

2026

Artivism in Motion In this episode of The Butterfly Effect Podcast, we explore how undocumented and marginalized artists use art, fashion, and performance as powerful forms of political expression. We'll discuss how creativity becomes a tool for visibility, resistance, and storytelling, and how integrating artistic practices into our daily lives can deepen our advocacy. From reclaiming identity through style to using movement and performance to challenge dominant narratives, this episode offers thoughtful insight into art's transformative role in social change.

2025

Short documentary about the 2009 artivism youth exchange program in Barcelona. This international exchange brought together young people from different countries to collaborate on artistic activism projects, including workshops, performances, and public installations. The program emphasized creativity, community engagement, and social change through collaborative art-making.

2009

Short documentary about the 2009 NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) workshop on urban artivism. This educational program explores how art and activism intersect in urban environments, featuring student projects and creative interventions that address social issues through artistic expression in public spaces.

2009

Trailer for the 2009 RuckusRoots Festival: Artivism in Action, organized by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit RuckusRoots. This event combines art and activism to inspire positive change, featuring interactive art-making programs that cultivate environmental awareness and action in local communities. The festival empowers citizens through creative engagement and community-based artistic initiatives.

2009

Marc. S. Strachan: From Mad Men to Generation Z, the power of Madison Avenue and the business of Brand Marketing have had a tremendous impact on the commercial habits and the pop culture of the world at large. Advertising is my passion; it is the career I have always wanted and one that I cherish, despite its changes and evolutions that I question. It is a craft of mind over matter, with AI now driving the craft forward in ways that might change it and its processes forever. Advertising and Media have the power of social transformation through art and the creative process. Marc S. Strachan Senior Marketing and Advertising Executive. Founder/Head Coach, Coach Marc Consulting, LLC. BBA, Adelphi University School of Business, Class of 1981. Former Board Chair and Current Trustee, Adelphi University Board of Trustees. For more info contact artivism@adelphi.edu

2025

Dr. Lucius Von Joo presents “Movable Parts” and will explore what happens when the lobbies, hallways, sidewalks, factory floors and empty lots we pass through are set up to invite rather than control. What happens when the lobbies, hallways, sidewalks, factory floors and empty lots we pass through are set up to invite rather than control? This session explores how altering the conditions and aesthetics of space can shift agency, turning ordinary places into sites of play, collaboration, and meaning-making. The interactive talk will move through examples of community-based media projects, which people had the opportunity to author, build, and reimagine together. The focus is less on polished outcomes and more on movable parts, the unfinished elements that allow others to step in and take part. Dr. Lucius Von Joo is an educator and designer whose work centers on play, public imagination, and collaborative making as tools for learning and social reflection. Lucius has taught in the U.S. and abroad, working with learners from kindergarten to university level, with a focus on media and play. He currently serves as Associate Director of the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he develops participatory exhibitions, workshop series, and site-specific installations that invite learners of all ages to build, question, and experiment together. His curatorial work includes MODES, Dead Tech, Puppets in Education, Sandbox, and Boundaries of Adventure Playgrounds, which have been staged in the DFI Gallery. Before his academic post, Lucius co-created The Secret Alley in San Francisco which is an immersive studio and media environment for filmmakers, performers, and many other sorts of collaboration. He also designed for 3 Minute Media, social issues media festival, and later launched Woven Media Fest, designed as a meeting ground that mixes mediums, artistic approaches, and cultural origins to produce new forms of meaning. His research and practice are grounded in the belief that play is a right, and that people deserve accessible ways to think and communicate beyond written or verbal language. Across his projects, he works to reconfigure spaces so that participation is not an afterthought but a condition. References: luciusvonjoo.com buildingplay DFI Gallery Woven This event is sponsored by Artivism: The Power of Art for Social Transformation. For more info contact artivism@adelphi.edu

2025

Artivism: The Power of Art for Social Transformation expresses its gratitude to its community and sponsors for its support over the past ten seasons! Wishing all a happy, healthy, and creative holiday!

2025

This presentation showcases a new paradigm of personal evolution. It explains how to achieve personal enlightenment to attain self-sovereignty. The foundation of this pathway is to become a guiding light in the world and to embody love as a powerful force in a time of significant global turmoil. Daniel Costello, LCSW, is an author, professor and clinical therapist specializing in spiritual and psychological modalities grounded in evidence-based practices inspired by Carl Jung. Dan graduated from the Columbia University School of Social Work and is trained in energy healing. He is a veteran who recently retired as the Director of Substance Use Disorders and PTSD Treatment at the Northport VA Medical Center in NY. Dan is a graduate of the South Oaks Addiction Training Program for Professionals and is currently an adjunct professor in the Adelphi School of Nursing. Dan has over 30 years of expertise counseling diverse populations in many areas, including anxiety and depression, addiction, PTSD and trauma, suicide prevention, and crisis and family intervention. For more info contact artivism@adelphi.edu

2025

Artivist Shanice Figeroux discusses how her art aims to empower minority communities using the transformative power of mural art. "As an artist, I create abstract murals that are vibrant explosions of color, movement, joy, and love. My work is a direct reflection of my belief in the positive momentum of community, designed to propel New York City forward into a brighter future. I aim to empower minority communities to envision their world in a new light, using the transformative power of mural art and community engagement as a catalyst for change. My murals are a voice for the people, embodying the spirit of culture and advocating for progress. My artistic process often begins with the playful and accessible concept of coloring book pages, which serves as a unique foundation for large-scale public art. This approach not only connects to my published work but also invites direct community participation, fostering a sense of shared ownership and creativity. A core theme in my work is mental wellness, explored through concepts like strength, creativity, ambition, beauty, and love, as exemplified in my “The Energy of Queens” series. My distinctive style, characterized by swirling shapes, bold colors, and intricate details, is intentionally crafted to be eye-catching and dynamic, ensuring my murals enliven any space they inhabit. With 15 murals completed since 2016, and collaborations with organizations like ArtBridge, I have a proven track record in public art. My commitment extends beyond aesthetics; I prioritize community collaboration, actively seeking partnerships with local businesses, non-profits, schools, and volunteers. This participatory approach is crucial to enhancing the mural’s impact and fostering a collective sense of purpose. I am dedicated to exploring low- and no-cost healing innovations, recognizing the immense power of public art as an accessible and effective tool for promoting well-being within communities." Artist Bio Shanice Figeroux is a Queens-born visual and performing artist, muralist, and healing arts facilitator dedicated to creating transformative public art experiences that foster connection, resilience, and joy. With over a decade of experience activating community spaces through large-scale murals, therapeutic art workshops, and grassroots collaborations, Shanice blends bold abstract designs with social impact, using her work as a tool for healing and empowerment—particularly within communities of color, youth, and underserved neighborhoods. Her public art installations and spray-painted murals often inspired by themes of strength, unity, and emotional wellness have been featured across New York City, from public schools and healthcare centers to cultural festivals and parks. She has painted more than 15 commissioned murals and led over 80 public workshops and community art therapy events since 2016. For any general questions, please contact artivism@adelphi.edu. Sponsored by Artivism: The Power of Art for Social Transformation.

2025