…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
60 years ago, in 1966 on Easter Sunday, Joey Skaggs dragged his iconoclastic sculpture of a naked and decayed figure of Jesus Christ on a crucifix into Tompkins Square Park on the lower east side. It was his personal statement about the war in Vietnam and the hypocrisy of religion.
This was the beginning of Skaggs’ career as an artist who used the streets as his theater.
50 years ago on April 1, 1976, in response to a subpoena issued by the New York State Attorney General, Joey Skaggs revealed that his Cathouse for Dogs (doggy bordello) was a satirical media performance hoax.
Sometimes you need a cloak of invisibility, sometimes you need a coat of armor, and sometimes you just need to go naked! I encourage any attempt to provoke positive change.
Social Malpractice in the Age of Cultural Compliance, by Ed Woodham, Hyperallergic, March 25, 2026.
What happens when the language of social practice becomes a tool of the very systems it once hoped to challenge?
We are living in a strangely apocalyptic moment where a perverse logic runs the machinery of public life while insisting everything is just fine. Around the world, political systems are tightening control over commerce, education, culture, and communication. Independent critical thinking is increasingly treated as subversive rather than a civic virtue. Public space, once the laboratory for egalitarian expression, is shrinking under surveillance, privatization, and corporate branding.
So where does socially engaged art fit into a world progressively hostile to independent thought? Read the whole article here.
Strong voices speak out against Trump’s attack on our freedom of expression.
Artists detonate attack on Trump at the Kennedy Center, by Ashley Murray, Indiana Capital Chronicle, AlterNet, March 28, 2026.
WASHINGTON — A host of celebrities outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday kicked off a weekend of protest against President Donald Trump’s expansion of executive power and his administration’s pressure on freedom of expression — from theater programming in the nation’s capital, to late-night television.
More than a dozen activist performers and creators rallied for Artists United for Our Freedoms, an event organized by the advocacy group Committee for the First Amendment. Read the whole article here.
Hello? Is this the White House or Epstein Island?
Fact Check: Did White House Phone Number Show ‘Epstein Island’ on Android Devices? Here’s What Happened as Google Fixed the Glitch’ by Amreen Ahmad, Sunday Guardian, March 28, 2026.
Android users briefly saw the White House number labeled “Epstein Island” due to a Google Maps edit glitch. Google quickly fixed the issue.
Epstein Island Glitch: A surprising caller ID glitch briefly stirred confusion after some Android users reported that the official White House phone number appeared as “Epstein Island.” Perhaps this odd tagline, which was initially discovered by journalists at The Washington Post, virally disseminated on social media, raising concerns about the accuracy of the data, the susceptibility of platforms and the way that digital listings can shape people. Read the whole article here.