The Art of the Prank - ...Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.

March 30, 2007January 15, 2019

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”

March 30, 2007January 15, 2019

The First Amendment Can Take a Joke

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”

March 30, 2007January 15, 2019

Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science by Robert L. Park, Ph.D.

This article provides a useful tool as well as an inspiration (wink, wink) and, for some hopefully, a revelation.

Reprinted with permission from Dr. Bob Park, a professor of physics at the University of Maryland at College Park and director of public information for the American Physical Society. He is also the author of Voodoo Science: The Road From Foolishness to Fraud (Oxford University Press, 2002). This article was originally published in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan 31, 2003. -JS

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is investing close to a million dollars in an obscure Russian scientist’s antigravity machine, although it has failed every test and would violate the most fundamental laws of nature. The Patent and Trademark Office recently issued Patent 6,362,718 for a physically impossible motionless electromagnetic generator, which is supposed to snatch free energy from a vacuum. And major power companies have sunk tens of millions of dollars into a scheme to produce energy by putting hydrogen atoms into a state below their ground state, a feat equivalent to mounting an expedition to explore the region south of the South Pole.

There is, alas, no scientific claim so preposterous that a scientist cannot be found to vouch for it. Continue reading “Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science by Robert L. Park, Ph.D.”

March 30, 2007January 15, 2019

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”

March 29, 2007January 15, 2019

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