Category: All About Pranks

This blog has submissions from many known and not so known pranksters, artists, performers, activists and writers. It provides a continuing and growing exploration into the art of the prank; the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer; and the contribution of the prank to society.

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Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs by Mark Dery

In 1993, Mark Dery wrote this seminal discourse coining the phrase Culture Jamming. I think it’s a must read for anyone interested in the subject. This is an open source document and is available on Mark Dery’s Web site. JS

“Culture jamming,” a term I have popularized by articles in The New York Times and Adbusters, might best be defined as media hacking, information warfare, terror-art, and guerrilla semiotics, all in one. Billboard bandits, pirate TV and radio broadcasters, media hoaxers, and other vernacular media wrenchers who intrude on the intruders, investing ads, newscasts, and other media artifacts with subversive meanings are all culture jammers. Continue reading “Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs by Mark Dery”

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  2. “Hippie Bus Tour to Queens” Remembered 50 Years Later
  3. Baba Wa Simba Hits the Internet
  4. Czech Art Prankster Pranked by Czech Media
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The First Amendment Can Take a Joke

Rendering of the new Newseum building, Washington, D.C.

Margaret Engel is the managing editor of the Newseum, which will re-open Oct. 15, 2007 in new headquarters on the Mall in Washington, D.C.. She wrote this article specifically for the April 1, 2007 launch of ArtofthePrank.com. – JS

April 1 is a lighthearted celebration in America, but joking the other 364 days often gets civic pranksters in trouble.

It”s not that anything goes on April Fool”s Day, it just seems that the public gets the punchline that day, before quickly returning to a grim analysis of what is and what isn”t acceptable.

Although the First Amendment is supposed to defend our freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly and the right to petition our government, the reality is that officialdom often can”t take a joke. Continue reading “The First Amendment Can Take a Joke”

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Reality Hacking Defined

Here’s a definition of “reality hacking” from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -JS

Reality hacking is an artistic practice that emerges from the intersection of hacking and hacker culture, contemporary art, activism, and net culture. Reality hacking takes as its basis a broad, phenomenological point of view of the world, and considers (often unorthodox) investigations into everyday objects and situations a meaningful way of probing into the working of varied social contexts.

Reality Hacking as Political Activism

“Reality hacking” is a form of activism that relies on tweaking the every-day communications most easily available to individuals with the purpose of awakening the political and community conscience of the larger population. The term first came into use among New York and San Francisco artists, but has since been adopted by a school of political activists centered around Social Redemption. Continue reading “Reality Hacking Defined”

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  3. Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs by Mark Dery
  4. Culture Jamming Defined
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The Cacophony Society

cs_woodlandcreatures.jpg

The Society is a loosely structured network of individuals, banded together in “the pursuit of experiences beyond the mainstream.” Particularly noteworthy among said experiences are Cacophony”s costumed rampages in the guise of clowns, Santas, dogs, biohazard teams, and post-apocalyptic shoppers, as well pranks and hoaxes including flyers announcing public pigeon roasts, UFO landings, and book-burnings. Continue reading “The Cacophony Society”

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