Culture Jamming - The Art of the Prank

September 19, 2010December 15, 2023

“Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art” Book Release Party Announced

Taschen and Wooster Collective, the publisher and authors of “Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art“, are throwing a book release party in NYC September 29. It’s open to the public. Below is the invitation.

Joey Skaggs’ work is included in this encyclopedic effort to, in editor Ethel Seno’s words, “bring generations together around the subject of street art and ‘uncommissioned public art'”, and he’ll be there. Come on by!

Written by Carlo McCormick, Marc Schiller, & Sara Schiller, and edited by Ethel Seno, copies of the book are available for pre-order online at a great price.

Here’s the list of artists included in the book: Continue reading ““Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art” Book Release Party Announced”

September 7, 2010December 15, 2023

A Cockroach Cure? Again?

Submitted by Dave Camp, saying “Prescient again”? Dave is referring to a hoax Joey Skaggs did in 1981 called “Metamorphosis“. Skaggs said he was an entomologist who had discovered cures for all of mankind’s common ailments such as colds, flus, acne, anemia and menstrual cramps, by extracting and eating cockroach hormones. Is history repeating itself? Or, was Skaggs really onto something?

Here’s the article:

Cockroach Brains May Be a Source of Antibiotics, Research Says
by Simeon Bennett
Bloomberg
September 6, 2010

Cockroach brains may be a source of new antibiotics capable of killing deadly drug-resistant bacteria, according to research that suggests the germ-spreading pests may be good for something after all.

Insects such as cockroaches have a defense mechanism against bacteria, a “logical” development from living in unhygienic conditions, research from the U.K.”s University of Nottingham showed. Tissues from the brains and nervous systems of cockroaches and locusts killed more than 90 percent of MRSA and E. coli without damaging human cells, scientists said. Continue reading “A Cockroach Cure? Again?”

August 17, 2010December 15, 2023

Target Boycott Flashmob

Submitted by Andrew Boyd of Agit-Pop.com:

In January, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations can spend unlimited $$ in our elections. In July, Target gave $150,000 to the anti-gay, anti-worker candidate for Gov. of MN. Last week, a quarter million people pledged to boycott Target.

Yesterday . . .

Learn more — Take Action — Sign the Petition at www.targetboycott.org

May 2, 2010December 15, 2023

A Ticket to Higher Education

From Melbourne Art & Culture Critic, May 2, 2010:

Pranksters struck at one of Melbourne”s train stations again. This time they altered a ticket machine”s instructions to dispense university degrees. The alterations used stickers of the same color and typeface, cut to fit over the existing information, it was so subtle that staff at the station didn”t notice them until informed by a confused customer. (Thanks to Jane for the photos.)

Close-up view:

May 2, 2010December 15, 2023

No Fun with Franco and Eva Mattes

From Franco & Eva Mattes, aka 0100101110101101.ORG, May 1, 2010:

Artist Commits Suicide Online as a Work of Art (well, sort of)

Thousand of people watched powerless while a person was hanging from the ceiling, slowly swinging, for hours and hours. It happened yesterday, in the popular website Chatroulette, where people from all over the world can anonymously and randomly see each other through their webcams and chat with perfect strangers.

The hanging man was in fact Brooklyn based artist Franco Mattes, and the whole scene a set up. The artist recorded all the performance and than posted it online. In the video, titled “No Fun”, one can see all possible reactions, from the most predictable to the most unthinkable: some laugh, believing it’s a joke, some seem to be completely unmoved, some insult the supposed-corpse and some, more cynical, take pictures with their phones. Apparently, out of several thousand people, only one called the police. Watching the video can be a strange experience, at times exhilarating as well as disturbing.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11467722&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

No Fun – Eva and Franco Mattes from Franco Mattes on Vimeo.

Continue reading “No Fun with Franco and Eva Mattes”