Activist art is usually collaborative art. More than one artist put their intellects and skills together to produce a piece or performance that comments on a social cause of interest to them.
Question: Why is activist art collaborative?
Answer: Art, as a cultural form, stands on a pedestal. The artist gains a cult status as the sole producer of a work. The public's attitdudes towards art works sometimes appear blasphemous- like the hordes of people that flock to the Louvre to get a glimpse of the Mona Lisa. Is it not a form of worship? When they praise Michelangelo's David, do they not imply that Michelangelo created a divinely beautiful creature? Activist artists want to stay away from that cult status. That is why their projects can not be attributed to one single genius. "As many artists who work collaboratively have noted, attention on personalities diminishes the impact of their work" (Felshin 11).
Also, the media and technology used for activist art favors teamwork and collaboration. For example, the Billboard Liberation Front rely on the creation and presence of a billboard for their work. By their very defition, if somebody else had not created a billboard and installed it, they would not be able to "liberate" the billboard and appropriate it.
ORIGINAL BILLBOARD FOR RESPONSIBLE DRINKING BY JOHNNY WALKER
AFTER BLF WORKED THIER MAGIC
Nina Felshin credits the beginings of activist art to the Yippies. The Yippies were a political party in the 1960's known as the Youth International Movement. A few yippies still float around New York. I daresay I know a few wannabe yippies myself; starving students in debt, hating the status quo, swearing death on George Bush and singing along to Sean Paul's "Legalize It!". They even have a variation of the original YIP flag.
Original Youth International Party Flag 
2007 Canadian wannabe Yippie Flag 
Fascinating, isn't it?
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