Public art is a beautiful thing, especially for pranksters. Whether it's revising statues or just offering a chance to freak out innocent bystanders, it's great for a simple chuckle.
Or so you'd think. Some people, unfortunately, have no detectable sense of humor, which became clear with these three pranks that spun way out of control, way too fast.
1) The Tampa Evolution of Man
A street artist in South Florida hung up cardboard cutouts on a pedestrian walkway riffing on the Evolution of Man.
You know, the classic image which has been the subject of every conceivable parody ranging from Segways to arcade machines.
Making a joke out of this famous drawing has become an artistic cliche, and this one was no exception, with the last guy in the line pointing a gun at the ape behind him. Most people would just laugh and move on.
But not in South Florida. Oh no. In South Florida, cardboard cutouts are serious business. This is the actual quote from the news article where we discovered this prank.
The first calls came into the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Monday morning. Something weird was on the pedestrian bridge near the Tom Stuart Causeway. A deputy went out and found four life-sized cardboard cutouts lined up, resembling the classic Evolution of Man series. Only in this version, a fourth figure stood upright, pointing a handgun at the others. The deputy took the cutouts down and threw them away. If the mystery guerrilla artist was trying to make a public statement, this one was short-lived. Or was it?
You can almost hear the next line: "DUNT DUNT DUNNNN!"
The article continues by talking about the artist's "message," what he was hoping to convey, and how this is one of the great, unsolved mysteries of our time. Granted, this is Florida, the only state so weird it actually merits its own FARK tag, but come on, pranks can't be THAT unheard of down there ... right?
2) Ignignokt And Err: Never Forget
Boston, a city of college students, is also, naturally, a city of stoners. Therefore, the city has many great fans of the serious art programme Adult Swim. So a guerilla promotion of Aqua Teen Hunger Force would be a great stunt to stage in the city that saw America give birth to freedom.
Until everyone in the entire city freaked the hell out.
At issue were a couple of devices left magnetized to bridge struts that were essentially Lite-Brites featuring an Atari 2600 character giving everybody the finger. But because it had lots of wires and stuff, the city authorities assumed it was an explosive device, as pixel-graphics and Lite-Brites are, of course, hallmarks of Al Qaeda activity.
The two guys behind the stunt were arrested, dragged into court, and convicted, all because the city of Boston couldn't admit that their panic over terrorism had somehow managed to eclipse their common sense. Which, of course, is completely different from how politicians and security personnel in the city of Boston usually behave. Completely.
3) Don't You Dare Knit Anything In Berkeley
"Yarn-bombing" might be the silliest, most adorable thing ever done in the name of defacing public property. Essentially, you find a statue, a tree, or some other immoveable object, and knit a sweater around it. Seriously, that's what it is. It's like your granny discovered graffiti.
And if there's any place where yarn-bombing would be met with approval, you'd think it'd be the infamously liberal Berkeley, California. Berkeley is the third most liberal city in America, and the only city that tried to keep the Marines from starting a recruiting office. You'd think that any kind of wacky public art would be allowed, and possibly even given a funding grant.
Not, apparently, when yarn is involved.
A bunch of guerilla Berkeley knitters yarn-bombed the letter "T" on a public sculpture reading "THERE" (effectively making the statue read "HERE"). The prank was pulled off under cover of darkness by an anonymous textile art group. It was a harmless stunt -- and also a public service, since the T had been looking a little chilly lately.
Not good enough for Berkeley City's Civic Arts Coordinator Mary Ann Merker, who actually went down to a craft store and told them that "defacing" a piece of public art violates federal law. To repeat: she reprimanded people who created art on top of art, because it breaks the law. Once again proving there are two types of liberals in the world: humorous liberals, and humorless liberals. Unfortunately it's usually the latter that get elected.
If the Berkeley yarn-bombers have any sense of pranking ambition, we call on them to up the ante. Imagine the look of surprise on Mary Ann Merker's face when she leaves the house one morning, and walks over to her car to find it encased in a giant scarf.
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knitta please 4  4
09/08/2010 10:46 PM
Yes - I agree that people getting their panties in a bunch over some harmless knitting that could be removed by a 5 year-old armed with public-school-issued safety scissors is, well, sad.
Just wanted to set the record straight though, and not take credit for someone elses work. I work with Knitta Please, and although the first picture in the article is indeed a project by Knitta Please (completed in May 2009 in collaboration with the NYC DOT Arterventions program and in association with the Montague BID, photo by Jonathan Hokklo), the Berkeley project is not.
There are many people working with knit graffiti around the country and the world, which is awesome. But many people mistakenly assume that any anonymous knit graffiti is by KP, and since KP is currently one person (Magda Sayeg) based in Texas (who admittedly travels a great deal), this can not always be true. If you're wondering about whether a piece is by Magda, check out the blog or facebook page which always have updated news and photos of the latest installations. And hooray for the growing movement!
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