…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
The artist as social provocateur and activist incorporates humor, satire, irony, political commentary and/or direct action to provoke critical thinking. Pranks challenge convention and the status quo and expose prejudices and biases.
On the go with Alice Neel…
The Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, Portugal has mounted an exhibition of portraits by the American painter, Alice Neel called, “Alice Neel: Beautifully Imperfect.” It includes Neel’s 1967 portrait of Joey Skaggs.
Announcement (in Portuguese): ‘Soul collector’ Alice Neel arrives at Serralves with “Beautifully Imperfect”, Lusa, July 15, 2026.
If it was gold, he would have taken it.
Giant Iran War ‘Participation Trophy’ For Trump Appears On National Mall, by Jennifer Bendery, Huffpost, July 13, 2026.
Anonymous artists installed a 10-foot monument satirically honoring Trump for starting a war with no “military strategy, diplomacy, or measurable outcomes.”
WASHINGTON — A 10-foot “participation trophy” magically appeared on the National Mall early Monday to satirically honor President Donald Trump for unilaterally starting a war in Iran with no strategy, no stated goals and no plan on how to get the United States out of it.
“We hereby award President Donald J. Trump this participation trophy for his enthusiastic involvement in the Iran War,” reads a plaque on the faux monument, which was installed in the wee hours near the MLK Memorial Bookstore. “While some concern themselves with military strategy, diplomacy, or measurable outcomes, President Trump demonstrated the courage to participate regardless of the final score.” Read the whole article here.
Challenging the status quo.
33 Banned Artworks Deemed Too Controversial for Public Exhibition, by Jaycee Gudoy, Go2Tutors, July 14, 2026.
Art has always made people uncomfortable. That’s not an accident — it’s frequently the point.
But there’s a difference between art that challenges and art that societies, governments, galleries, and institutions have decided crosses a line so completely that the public simply isn’t allowed to see it. Censored, seized, locked in storage, refused at the border, yanked from museum walls mid-exhibition: the works collected here have all been banned, suppressed, or blocked from public view at some point in history — and often for reasons that reveal far more about the censors than about the art itself.
Some of these decisions were later reversed. Many weren’t. Read the whole article here.
Environmental art. Wiring the great outdoors for unexpected cacophony.
Spooky discovery on mysterious Mount Shasta after horseback riders follow ‘apocalyptic’ sounds: ‘Summoning something’, by Ben Cost, New York Post, June 26, 2026.
Are they the horsewomen of the apocalypse?
A California woman was left shaken after discovering the eerie source of some “apocalyptic” sounds she heard on Mount Shasta. They detailed these anomalous finds in a series of videos going viral on Facebook.
Karrie Ann Snure and her daughter Jordan had been horseback riding in the area when they heard a creepy screeching noise blaring throughout the trees. Curious, the pair investigated and went off the path and into some nearby brush, whereupon they found a patch of solar-powered Bluetooth speakers jutting up from the dirt.
“This is straight apocalyptic,” Snure declared. “Someone is summoning something here.” Read the whole article here.
A production budget between $2.5 million and $5 million changes the dynamic from a Yes Men corporate prank to something entirely different.
Here are two articles, one day apart, about Northland Tales, an unscripted prank comedy series, produced by the Yes Men’s Igor Ramos (and others) and financed through CBC, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and the Indigenous Screen Office. The show purported to use pranks for “social action” to address “historical injustices.”
When two interviewees, Frances Widdowson and Lindsay Shepherd, separately expressed concerns about the truthfulness of their interviewers, CBC paused production. Frances Widdowson, sensing something was “off” during her interview, live streamed it to social media (see below).
Article #1:
CBC pausing production on satirical Indigenous show, by Mark Gollom, CBC News, May 20, 2026.
Article #2:
The CBC’s Northland Tales scandal isn’t about bad taste—it’s about what happens when public money funds deception, by The Hub, May 21, 2026.
Frances Widdowson’s live stream in the middle of her interview with “Mike Smith” (aka Igor Vamos of the Yes Men):