From Steffani:

SOMarts presents:

I Am Crime: Art on the Edge of Law is an exhibition of more than 20 artists and collectives who challenge, question or circumvent the law through their work. Curated by Justin Hoover, I Am Crime touches on issues of equity—who gets to break the law, when, and why. “True Crime,” a collaborative installation conceived by Critical Art Ensemble, preserves equity by inviting any visitor to become part of the exhibition – click here for details.

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Earlier this month, a new ad campaign promoting the March 25 premiere of AMC’s 5th season of Mad Men appeared all over New York City.

Almost immediately people began anonymously altering the ads:

Garth Johnston of Gothamist issued a challenge to anyone wishing to have their way with the ads. The contest is now closed, and here are some of multitudes of submissions (some are real and some are altered on computers):

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‘Bitter bench’ which tilts forward when used part of unknown artists’ group protest against Brisbane City Council’s response to homelessness
by Robyn Ironside
The Courier-Mail
February 3, 2012

PUBLIC transport users are literally being thrown off their seats in bus shelters as part of a bizarre protest against the Brisbane City Council’s apparent response to homelessness.

An “unofficial” public artwork in William St, the city, features a bench that tilts forward when used – tipping people off.

A spokesman for the artists’ group, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the so-called “bitter bench” was installed without council permission on the site of a recently removed bus shelter popular among Brisbane’s homeless. (more…)

A subversive spotlight
by Karen Michelmore
abc.net.au
3 February, 2012

Sacred cows make the best hamburgers, says the activist who defaced an Australian icon.

It’s been eight years since David Burgess scaled up to the top of Sydney’s gleaming white Opera House and lashed it with bright red paint.

It took three coats before the act was complete. NO WAR screamed the sign.

The highly-visible protest against the looming Iraq war split the Australian community between those who were shocked at the wonton vandalism of the national icon, and those who applauded the message.

Ultimately, it landed Mr Burgess and his activist peer Will Saunders in jail for nine months’ weekend detention for malicious damage.

“I won’t say there were days I didn’t wake up feeling utterly miserable, but you couldn’t really regret what we’d done,” Burgess says. (more…)

From Stefano Cicconardi:

You know, when Christmas comes everyone feel good, even us, ready to hoax folks and media for a good cause…drinking.

We created the Rednoze, an anti-breathalyzer medicine to fool police checks and protect your privacy when you’re drunk

A guerrilla marketing campaign by KOOK Artgency, Rome, Italy:

REDNOZE, How to Fool Breathalyzers and Hoax Media and Consumers to Avoid Drink-Driving.

An innovative strategy to interact with people who don’t drive responsibly and are always in search of shortcuts to avoid police checks. A 7-days campaign which reach more than 40,000 views and 10 millions contacts with coverage on Italian tv newscasts, newspapers, magazines, radio programs and buzz on web. The 10,7% of total consumers really wanted to buy Rednoze, a proof of how the fear of checks and measures still matters instead of their own safety.

“Protect your privacy when you are drunk”. This is the claim of the fake medicine Rednoze launched in Italy through the website www.rednoze.it to let media and young people rethink about drink-driving issue. The hoax, designed by KOOK Artgency for the non-profit organization Modavi, started before Christmas 2011 when the fake medicine was “released” on internet with a captivate pocket-size packaging and videos of successful trial stunts outside disco clubs. Rednoze was communicated as “killer product” to fool breathalyzers and to keep the inebriation. Italian media and thousands consumers quickly express outrage or enthusiastic reviews about Rednoze as a big loved and hated product. The reveal message “Don’t cut corners. Let your mind drive you” was showed at the end of the online order form.

Some media [Italian]:

Submitted by Roger:

Mister Wrong
by Carl Swanson
NY Magazine
October 23, 2011:

After he’s done dangling his oeuvre from the Guggenheim’s atrium, Maurizio Cattelan plans to retire from the art world. It’ll be like being dead—or resurrected.

Maurizio Cattelan’s first show in New York, in 1994, consisted of a self-­portrait in the form of a live donkey wandering around a gallery under a chandelier, braying inconsolably. That show wasn’t up long—there were noise complaints—but even now, when his always-wry sculptures sell for millions and his unbelievably elaborate full-rotunda Guggenheim retrospective is about to open, he retains that same posture of self-­suspicion. “Today I would say I don’t know how I arrived at this point,” he says, sitting on a bench near a playground on West 28th Street, not far from the West Chelsea galleries, cocking a knowing eyebrow at a sudden whiff of marijuana in the air.* “I don’t know how I arrived at this point, at the Guggenheim. There must be something wrong somewhere.”

Article continues after this announcement:

Continue… (more…)

From Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere:

On Sunday, January 8th, 2012 tens of thousands of people took off their pants on subways in 59 cities in 27 countries around the world. In New York, our 11th Annual No Pants Subway Ride had nearly 4,000 participants, spread out over six meeting points and ten subway lines. Enjoy the video first and then go behind the scenes with our mission report and photos.

From Reverend Al of the Cacophony Society:

The new year will bring us many strange things, among them a museum exhibition on the history of Cacophony and the Suicide Club, opening on February 4 — in Orange County of all places (along with sneak preview of Jon Alloway’s documentary on our group).

SHOW INFO:

Details follow… (more…)

Submitted by Erin:

Here are some of the results of the “Remake” Photo Project by booooooom.com & Adobe.

The challenge was to:

…remake a famous work of art using photography. The best submissions will be posted in a gallery on Booooooom and one of [the artists] will walk away with the prize! [a copy of the entire Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection]

The submission deadline was October 21, 2011. To see more examples of these wonderfully clever remakes, visit this page at booooooom.com.

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From Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere:

SAVE THE DATE!

The 11th Annual No Pants Subway Ride will take place on January 8 in New
York and other cities around the world.

More info is on our site here:
http://improveverywhere.com/2011/12/05/save-the-date-no-pants-subway-ride-2012/

If you are unfamiliar with this tradition, you can read the history here: The No Pants Subway Ride.

Submitted by Dadara, CEO and Founder, Exchanghibition Bank:

Update, November 13, 2011:

Last weekend we were the only bank in the world to pop up at Occupy. Because money itself isn’t wrong or right. It basically is nothing, just a means for communication and exchange, but somehow people want to amass that ‘nothing’ and hoard it on their virtual bank accounts. A project which questions the value(s) of Art and Money.

The Art of turning Art into Money

Last Sunday we brought the Exchanghibition Bank to the main hall in the Central Station, including our personal bankers in their specially designed suits and of course our own security, and gave the public the opportunity to exchange their Euros into bills of Zero or One Million.

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Submitted by artist, Above:

I just uploaded the start-to-finish video of the painting and hanging mannequin installation I did here in Miami @ the issues of Occupy Wall St.

The 255 foot / 75 metre long painting in Miami, Florida was aired nationally on CBS, NBC, and FOX nightly news. Watch the video:

GIVE A WALL STREET BANKER… from ABOVE on Vimeo.

More info and photos in the Miami Times

Hackers Threaten Zetas Drug Cartel
Huffington Post
October 31, 2011

Veracruz, Mexico — An Internet video is threatening Mexico’s Zetas drug cartel with exposure of its allies in the local police and news media this week unless the gang frees a kidnapped member of the international hacker movement known as “Anonymous.”

The YouTube message, which claims to be from Anonymous “Veracruz, Mexico and the world,” says it is “tired of the criminal group the Zetas, which is dedicated to kidnapping, stealing and extortion,” and threatens to fight back with information instead of weapons.

It said it knows of police officers, journalists, taxi drivers and others working with the Zetas.

The video refers to an unidentified person kidnapped in the coastal city of Veracruz, and says: “You have made a great mistake by taking one of us. Free him.”

English version of the video (Original Spanish version here):

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From Franco & Eva Mattes of 0100101110101101.org:

Web of Flies: Believing is seeing…

This summer White Flag Projects in Saint Louis held an interesting exhibition called Another Kind of Vapor. Taking inspiration from Dieter Roth’s work the show presented artists who use non-traditional and decaying materials, such as Paul McCarthy, Ed Ruscha and Dieter Roth himself.

Roth’s piece in the show was a glass jar containing flies collected by the artist from his legendary work Staple Cheese (A Race), 1970. This work has disappeared long ago, thrown away in the desert by the gallery owner, nothing else remains beside this 40-year-old jar full of dead flies.

Unfortunately Dieter Roth never made this work, it’s a fake. We invented it one evening in a bar with our friend Corazon Del Sol, and put it together the next day. We bought all the stuff on the internet: an old glass jar, a vintage cork and lots of flies (yes, you can buy flies online), and sent the work to the unaware curators.

The piece has been shown for over a month, and nobody questioned its authenticity or worthiness. The image of the jar with flies started circulating on the Internet and it’s also mentioned in Roth’s biography in Wikipedia. (more…)

Anonymous Hacks Lolita City Alleged Porn Ring
Huffington Post
October 22, 2011

The “hacktivist” group Anonymous has uncovered what it says was a massive child pornography ring, according to the Examiner.

The hackers targeted several websites, including “Lolita City,” which the Guardian says included 1,589 users.

The attack was part of Anonymous’ “Operation Darknet.” The Guardian explains that “Darknet websites are part of the Invisible Web, sometimes called the Deep Web, containing content that is not part of the Surface Web, which is indexed by standard search engines.”

Watch the video:

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