…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
ANNOUNCING:
Joey Skaggs Satire and Art Activism,
1960s to the Present and Beyond
A new series of short oral history films,
produced and directed by Judy Drosd with Joey Skaggs
UPCOMING SCREENINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE HERE
This “sticky” post will be here for a while. Scroll down for other posts.
Cartoonist Stan Mack, a man with an uncanny sense of the ironic, has a new book coming out June 11, 2024, published by Fantagraphics. It chronicles his much revered Village Voice comic strip called Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies, which appeared weekly from 1974 to 1995. It’s a beautiful book that appropriately pays homage to his insight and talent. The book is available for pre-order here.
Columnist and author Joe Enright just published this wonderful interview with Stan: Tales of New York – an interview with cartoonist Stan Mack, Red Hook Star-Revue, April 9, 2024.
“Joey Skaggs: The Solomon Project” (16:22) will screen at Miami Web Fest
In 1995, Dr. Joseph Bonuso, Ph.D. (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs), announced that he, along with 150 computer scientists and attorneys specializing in artificial intelligence, had developed a solution to the crisis of American jurisprudence, They were poised to radically revamp the entire judicial system using a distributed program running on a set of super computers that could deliberate on evidence and render swift, unassailable equal justice for all, putting judges in the back seat and relegating juries to history.
This is the tenth film in the oral history series “Joey Skaggs Satire and Art Activism oral history series“.
The April Fools’ Day parade this year was led by a billboard truck projecting images of Joey Skaggs as the Grim Reaper with his Mobile Guillotine sculpture mounted on the back of a tricycle. The theme was Democracy at the Guillotine. The “parade” started at 59th St and 5th Ave, stopped at Trump Tower and then went to Washington Square Park and beyond.
Here are some photos:
Hyperallergic.com’s report on the state of the art world in 2024.
Says Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor, “As the Venice Biennale approaches, Israel’s air force flattens all neighboring pavilions at the international exhibition, claiming that Hamas fighters are hiding underneath. The Biden administration has already pledged $225 million for the repairs. Get all the details on this developing story in our report today.
Meanwhile, Germany’s National Gallery in Berlin removes all artwork depicting rivers or seas from view to avoid any possible allusion to the chant “From the River to Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.”
Back here in New York, the Whitney Biennial puts out an open call for “controversial” work in light of disappointing admission numbers this year. At the same time, we’re seeing fatigue of art-world activists as hundreds sign an open letter against open letters.
In other news, art handlers are elected the art world’s “best lovers” in a new survey, while another research finds that 93% of people use art catalogues primarily as coasters. There’s more, including exciting news about the discovery of history’s first thumbs-up “like” symbol in France’s Lascaux cave and a new phone app that allows you to date AI versions of dead artists. Welcome to April!” See the whole report here, probably today only though.
5 tips for not getting tricked online this April Fools’ Day — and beyond
April 1, 2004, by Rachel Treismanm, NPR
Myths and misinformation run rampant on the internet all the time these days, but never more reliably than on April 1.
People have celebrated April Fools’ Day for centuries with all sorts of jokes and pranks, and while old-school traditions (hello, rubber snakes) remain plenty popular, gags have grown considerably more high tech over the years.
And fake news and announcements — whether by a major company, public figure, a random social media user or your childhood best friend — can take off quickly and morph wildly, thanks to social media.
It can be tough to tell whether something online is real, especially with artificial intelligence making it increasingly easy for anyone to create fake images, video, audio and text. Read the whole article here.