This week, the New York bookstore of Housing Works—a non-profit that fights HIV/Aids and homelessness—hosted a six-hour marathon of performances, Art After Trump, in response to the shockwave of the US presidential election. Around 150 artists, including the conceptual artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed, the writer Amy Rose Spiegel and the writer and actress Tavi Gevinson, gave two-minute responses to the election that ranged from speeches to musical performances. Mikola De Roo, the Housing Works vice president for communications and marketing, expressed a sentiment of hope at the event. “One thing that has been helping me grapple with the uncertainty and fears of futility after the election is that, at its most effective, art and activism share a foundation of empathy—something that our current political climate is lacking”, she said, “and that I’m sure we will see more of in our art, activism and personal lives in the near future.”
