…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
Want to play a joke on your friends? Just visit PalTalk and fill out the form (sample here):
Your friends will receive a fully personalized experience (email, website and video) via email within seconds that will look something like this (we used “Your Name Here” where your friend’s name will go)!
thanks Toni
Here are two humorous alternative protests reported by James David on Groundswell, a blog dedicated to clever and innovative trends of art and design in activism:
June 5, 2008:
Tony Mullin uses green screen technology to circumvent the Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005, which prohibits anyone staging spontaneous protests within a 1km radius of Westminster”s Houses of Parliament.
Blank placards can be carried during the video-taped event, overlaid with poster designs and slogans, and uploaded to YouTube (or otherwise distributed.) About a year ago, he led a group of volunteers on a walk through the exclusion zone carrying blank green placards. In essence, anyone with the means can add their message to the footage.
via Not an Alternative and wemakemoneynotart
June 12, 2008:
This April Fool”s Day, the Boston Society of Spontaneity held a protest against protests. Posing as radical members of a fake political action committee called Citizens Against Protests, Rallies, & Expression (C.A.P.E.R. for short) the group held a protest in a spot locally known for protests – Harvard Square.
For more on this story, visit Groundswell and/or watch the video.
From Norm Magnusson:
Greetings far-flung art lovers,
In case you missed my recent installation of “Youth Culture in America”…
. . . here are some upcoming exhibitions to put on your calendar:
Australians escape punishment over APEC prank
Monsters and Critics
April 28, 2008
Sydney – The Australian comics who breached security at a regional summit in Sydney in September by riding in a fake motorcade had all charges against them dropped Monday.
The stunt by the Chaser television comedy team was only discovered when the convoy stopped just metres short of US President George W Bush’s hotel and an Osama bin Laden imposter got out.
A judge dropped the charges, saying their action was defensible as a reasonable and honest mistake because they did not believe they would be allowed through the security checks.
The let-off was welcomed by Kim Dalton, a director of state-owned ABC Television.
‘What was undeniably the greatest moment in political satire last year, which the ABC has always been very proud of, has been found to be just that – great political satire,’ Dalton said. Continue reading “Chaser Team APEC Breach: All Charges Dropped”
Olympic Torch Relay Descends Into Chaos
by Jerome Pugmire and Elaine Ganley
1010WINS
April 7, 2008
Paris (AP) — Paris’ Olympic torch relay descended into chaos Monday, with protesters scaling the Eiffel Tower, grabbing for the flame and forcing security officials to repeatedly snuff out the torch and transport it by bus past demonstrators yelling “Free Tibet!”
The relentless anti-Chinese demonstrations ignited across the capital with unexpected power and ingenuity, foiling 3,000 police officers deployed on motorcycles, in jogging gear and even inline skates.
Chinese organizers finally gave up on the relay, canceling the last third of what China had hoped would be a joyous jog by torch-bearing VIPs past some of Paris’ most famous landmarks.
Thousands of protesters slowed the relay to a stop-start crawl, with impassioned displays of anger over China’s human rights record, its grip on Tibet and support for Sudan despite years of bloodshed in Darfur. Continue reading “Human Rights Activists Target Chinese Olympic Torch”