The Future of Pranks - The Art of the Prank

December 19, 2025

Art That Mocks You

Fart art. Words don’t do it justice. The video in the article explains it…

“Wake Up, Beeple!,” by Valentina Di Liscia, Hyperallergic, December 4, 2025.

Crypto-backed artworks at Art Basel Miami Beach advance the wealth mechanisms they claim to subvert and make you, the viewer, a participant in the ploy.

A monstrous specimen of art as social commentary takes form when the work in question replicates the mechanisms the artist boasts about subverting, and at Art Basel Miami Beach, in a new section titled Zero 10 backed by the crypto marketplace OpenSea, Jack Butcher’s “Self Checkout” (2025) is its most shameless manifestation.

The installation consists of a checkout counter powered by Stripe terminals that beckon visitors to tap their cards and pay any amount, receiving a printed receipt whose length is proportional to their payment and comes with an “NFT companion.” A ticker above the counter tracks the lucre from an initial value of -$75,000, Butcher’s stated investment in the piece. Read the whole article here.

November 12, 2025November 13, 2025

Bring on the Clowns!

Using the power of humor and satire to de-escalate confrontations.

“Why people are really wearing silly costumes at protests against Trump,” by The Conversation, AlterNet, October 24, 2025.

Three frogs, a shark, a unicorn and a Tyrannosaurus rex dance in front of a line of heavily armoured police in riot gear.

Over the past few weeks, activists taking part in protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the United States have donned inflatable animal costumes. The aim is to disrupt the Trump administration’s claim that the protests are violent “hate America” rallies.

The result is a sight to behold, with many encounters between police and protestors going viral.

Whether they know it or not, these costumed activists are contributing to a rich history of using humour and dress to mobilise against and challenge power. Read the whole article here.

October 6, 2025

Censoring Art

It’s too close to the truth to be allowed to exist.

“Michelangelo to Banksy: The controversial artworks that fell foul of the law – and were erased,” by Kelly Grovier, BBC, September 13, 2025.

Prefiguring Banksy’s latest Royal Courts of Justice mural depicting a judge attacking a protester, are centuries of art history where works have been censored or edited.

It could hardly be more brutal in its depiction of the administration of judicial might: a judge, arm raised, wielding a makeshift weapon, delivers his ruling, blow by blow, on the body of the accused, who lies at his feet. No, I’m not talking about Banksy’s recent (and rapidly erased) mural, which the street artist sprayed onto the side of the Royal Courts of Justice in London on 7 September. Banksy’s work, which satirically depicted an English judge in traditional wig and gown, pummelling a prone protester with his gavel as splatters of blood became the very message emblazoned on the blank placard that the protester carried, was partially eradicated by authorities three days later.

Read the whole article here.

September 1, 2025

Joey Skaggs interviewed by Mark Borkowski about creative dissent on BBC Radio 4

OUTRAGE INC, an audio documentary by Mark Borkowski, aired on BBC Radio 4, August 23, 2025:

“From Suffragette arsonists to soup on sunflowers – why the stunt still matters.

Legendary publicist Mark Borkowski takes a no-prisoners look at the history of the protest stunt – the noisy, theatrical interventions that have rattled the establishment for over a century.

With fascinating examples from the BBC archive and interviews with Led By Donkeys, The Centre for Political Beauty, Joey Skaggs, The Yes Men, veteran activist Jamie Kelsey Fry and Clare Farrell from XR.”

“We criminalise the political stunt at our peril. It is a crucial art form that is impossible to ignore”, Mark Borkowski, The Guardian, 20 Aug 2025.

Listen to the full documentary on BBC Radio 4 (only available in the UK). For others, the interview is above.

August 8, 2025

Is a Picture Still Worth a Thousand Words?

Learn to spot fake AI photos while you still can:

“Digital Forensics Expert Provides Helpful Tips for Spotting AI Generated Images,” by Lori Dorn, Laughing Squid, July 22, 2025.

“During a truly informative TED talk, Professor Hany Farid of UC Berkeley shared his expertise as a digital forensics expert to give helpful tips in spotting whether or not an image was AI generated.

Digital forensics expert Hany Farid explains how he helps journalists, courts and governments find structural errors in AI-generated images, offering four practical tips everyday individuals can use when facing the internet’s war on reality.

Farid explains how AI does not understand the physics, geometry and other real world issues, so it will inevitably make mistakes in perspective, an anomaly that can be tracked. One such error is that of the vanishing point, in which parallel lines, such as railroad tracks, will seem to converge the further it is away from the eye.

Read the whole article here.