…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
Welcome to Art of the Prank, produced and edited by Joey Skaggs. Here you will find insights, information, news and discussions about art, pranks, hoaxes, culture jamming & reality hacking around the world – past, present and future – mainstream and counter culture. You are invited to contribute to its development. May your journey be filled with more than your expectations.
JOEY SKAGGS SATIRE AND ART ACTIVISM,
1960s TO THE PRESENT AND BEYOND
A new series of short oral history films,
produced and directed by Judy Drosd and Joey Skaggs
ART OF THE PRANK, THE MOVIE:
Andrea Marini’s award winning feature documentary about
New York artist and activist Joey Skaggs
This “sticky” post will be here for a while. Scroll down for other posts.
Compose a love letter, write an art critique, or have your palm read. Artist Claudio Castillo’s new work comes with a lot of disclaimers. And that’s a good thing. Everything should come with a disclaimer. Enjoy the many creative and funny applications.
Claud.IO, by Claudio Castillo.
Claud.IO is a collaborative artistic project between Claude AI and Claudio Castillo. This project has 31 different AI prompts to choose from.
Is it a sin? Is it legal? Is it true? Twenty-five small machines for asking, judging, checking, translating and bending the truth.
This is an artistic project. Not meant to be used for any professional help. Available in 8 languages!
Watch free now!
“Joey Skaggs and Art Activism, 1960s to the Present and Beyond”
Following successful film festival runs, the first eleven award-winning episodes are now available for free streaming.
Stream on: JoeySkaggs.com, Youtube, and Vimeo.
About the Series
These short documentary oral history films pull back the curtain on Joey Skaggs’ art and life, drawing on six decades of rare archival footage, photographs, press materials, correspondence, and other documents. Continue reading “The Joey Skaggs Archive Announces the Release of his Oral History Series”
A “national call to creative resistance.” Join the effort to end fascism. Register your events on October 2nd, 3rd, & 4th.
A heartfelt farewell to Screaming Mad George (a.k.a. Joji Tani), who left us on February 10, 2026. He was my student at SVA in 1977. I was teaching media communications, and to involve the students in the art of creating a spectacle, we took to the streets. The idea was to use a diversionary tactic to grab public attention.
The students staged a fake demonstration about a real issue in front of the New York governor’s office — the environmental impact of the supersonic Concorde jet. In the midst of the demonstration, the protesters were attacked by New York’s legendary Sewer Monster, created by Screaming Mad George.
This was early in his extraordinally creative career designing visual effects for bizarre, macabre, and gruesomely realistic effects. Read the full story here.
Read his obituary here: “The Man Behind The PS1’s Oddest Game, Has Passed Away”,
There’s a long history of clowning for social justice. We need more of it. Thank you Felipe.
Send in the clowns: the new guard of activists combating the right, by Morgan Jerkins, The Guardian, September 16, 2026.
A growing cohort of performers ‘clown’ as a means to innovate traditional protest and create social change
On a humid morning on 15 July, Tillie the Clown, a Brooklyn-based drag performer whose real name is Taylor Horne, was waiting to be let inside a New York City council meeting. Horne had started getting into character at 5am, for a makeup and clown-costuming process that would take two hours. It would be another 10 hours before Horne was allowed to address the city council about the passing of Romanch’s Law, which would phase out and ultimately ban New York’s horse carriage industry.
