Media Pranks - The Art of the Prank

February 3, 2024

Gwyneth Paltrow, Move Over!

Art that’s skin deep.

Marina Abramovi?’s Latest Performance Is Skincare, by Sarah Rose Sharp, Hyperalleric.com, January 17, 2024

“The artist is present, and standing by to take your credit card information.”

A lot has been said about internationally famous performance artist Marina Abramovi?: the woman, the artist, the brand. Though one might consider her various critical acclaim and excoriation to be exhaustive, this overlooks the fact that not nearly enough has been said about how unbelievably gosh-darn dewy her skin is. As a critic, I have often wondered to myself: “Why does she always looking vaguely wet-ish?” Say what you will about Marina Abramovi?, but she is possibly the dewiest living artist.

Pérez Art Museum Miami Exhibition, Perpetual Motion, Curated by Barbara London Starts Dec. 6

The short film “Joey Skaggs: Celebrity Sperm Bank” is one of ten featured videos in Perpetual Motion, foundational media art curator Barbara London’s first streaming-on-demand exhibition at Pérez Art Museum Miami. Perpetual Motion explores how technological change, mass media, and the universality of moving images impact the dynamic activity of contemporary video artists.

Running December 6, 2023 through May 31, 2024, the films in this exhibition will be available free for streaming on PAMMTV (registration required) where viewers around the world can access cutting-edge video art through their web browsers, mobile phones, tablets, or Apple TV.

Other participating artists include Kamari Carter, Richard Garet, Bang Geul Han, Cornelia Parker, Wong Ping, Zina Saro-Wiwa, Aki Sasamoto, Federico Solmi, and Claudix Vanesix.

November 23, 2023December 15, 2023

Who Are You Kidding?

Fox News reported on October 16, 2023: Bigfoot and Sasquatch: Longtime resident reveals legends, pranks after latest ‘proof’, By Chris Eberhart, October 16, 2023.

Whoa! This doesn’t hold a candle to the escape of Big Foot from Peppe Scaggolini’s (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs’) Tiny Top Circus in 2014. Hailed as the world’s only pataphysical circus, Big Foot was caged and on exhibition in Washington Square Park when it escaped and unfortunately got lost in the New York City subway system. Scaggolini is still offering a $1,000,000 reward for its capture and return.

September 27, 2023December 15, 2023

“Joey Skaggs: Celebrity Sperm Bank” Nominated by Burbank Film Festival

“Joey Skaggs: Celebrity Sperm Bank”, which screened at the Burbank International Film Festival on Sunday, September 24, was nominated for Best Documentary Short Film. This is the story told by Joey himself of his (a.k.a. Giuseppe Scaggolini’s) 1976 celebrity sperm bank auction which goes awry when the sperm is stolen.

The film will also screen at The NewsFest International Film and Writers Festival in LA and the Baltimore Next Media WebFest in Baltimore in early November. Dates & times TBA.

More info about the whole oral history series is here: https://joeyskaggs.com/videos/oral-histories

September 7, 2023December 15, 2023

Where the Sun Don’t Shine

There are still places where the sun don’t shine, no matter what the sign says.

Prankster plants fake nudist sign at popular non-naked Chicago beach, by Katherine Donlevy, New York Post, September 5, 2023

This wasn’t the naked truth.

A prankster posted a fake sign on a popular Chicago beach over the holiday weekend warning that it was suddenly converted into a nudist park.

The counterfeit Parks District sign reading “Nude Beach Past This Sign” was seen wedged in the sand of Loyola Beach, which is less than a mile away from its eponymous Catholic university in the Rogers Park neighborhood.

City Alderwoman Maria Hadden posted a picture of the official-looking sign Monday, warning beachgoers not to bare it all for Labor Day.

“We’ve been notified that someone has installed this cheeky sign at Loyola Beach. Please note that this is not an official @ChicagoParks sign,” Hadden posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

“We’ve reported to Parks so they can remove it. As a reminder, at least some clothing is required at all of our beaches.” Read the rest of the story here.