Artivist is a portmanteau word combining "art" and "activist". Frank Berganza states..."When one pushes for change, (socially, politically, or environmentally), by utilizing their creative ability to communicate in ways of their artistic activity, that is known as Artivism". Artivism developed in recent years while the anti-globalization and antiwar protests emerged and proliferated. In most of the cases artivists attempt to push political agendas by the means of art. Yet this is not political art as it was known before, in the sense of artworks being political. The artivist is often involved in Street Art, Subvertising, Spoken Word, Activism and Protesting.
In some cases, Paris in 2003 for instance, artivists were arrested for acts of political art that verged on property destruction. A typical short term goal of artivists is to reclaim public space, especially by subvertising or destroying ads in urban areas or city transportation systems. Nevertheless artivists engage in different media like the internet not only for actions which could be described as hacktivism.
Often the acts of artivists can be refererred to as part of the larger concept of Culture jamming.
There is a chapter on Artivism in It's Bigger Than Hip Hop by M.K. Asante, Jr.. Asante writes of the artivist:
The artivist (artist +activist) uses her artistic talents to fight and struggle against injustice and oppression—by any medium necessary. The artivist merges commitment to freedom and justice with the pen, the lens, the brush, the voice, the body, and the imagination. The artivist knows that to make an observation is to have an obligation.
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Artivists are often found in social centres.