Urban Pranksters GuerilLA threw a “house warming party” in several rooms of a Burbank Ikea this past weekend. Agent Benny and the Jets writes:
About 30-40 people showed up to one of the living room/kitchen sets at the Ikea in Burbank, bringing gifts (mostly things from other departments at the store). Many people brought cookies and snacks, and games like Jenga. The party was cut off after about twenty minutes by the Ikea staff, at which point Agent Tuttle, the “host” of the party, yelled out that it looks like we’re being too loud and that “the neighbors called the cops”.
This is a couple of months old, but we just stumbled upon Stephen Taberner’s “Buy More Stuff” choir. Right before Christmas a mob of people turned up at shopping malls to encourage the people of Melbourne, Australia to “buy more stuff.” Reverend Billy would be proud.
Master Prankster Rob Cockerham and his friends around the country recently added some extra signage to the sheds on display in their local Home Depot parking lots.
Rob explains:
Home Depot, forced to lure customers inside without glitzy display windows, seed the warehouse perimeter with their products. This is only practical with hard-to-shoplift items, such as bags of steer manure and storage sheds.
Unfortunately, these sun-baked displays are all but abandoned by the sales staff, and must rely on graphics and signage to speak to their potential customers.
Despite an ambitious number of signs, I felt my local home depot wasn’t addressing some of the strongest benefits of owning a garden/storage/privacy shed/mini-garage/closet. I decided to make some new signs and try them out!
With nine eager volunteers poised to help, I sent signs to try out across the country.
Michigan Improv recently created a marathon inside a shopping mall. The runners ran through the mall and then finished by freezing in place just before the finish line, which was cleverly chosen to be right in front of the retail chain Finish Line.
Our friends at Scene Diego have posted their latest mission video.
They write:
41 Agents bring Rocky to San Diego. We dress up in gray sweats, run thru the mall, and across downtown showing true Rocky spirit. Mall security called for “backup”, we stopped a tour trolley in its tracks, and had a couple bystanders join in. While nobody was really sure who these loud, energetic people were, they cheered us on until the finish line.
The Israeli group Shuk.Li recently got a large group of participants to go camping in a huge mall in Tel Aviv. They write:
Dizzengof Center is a very big mall in Tel Aviv that is an architectural masterpiece of twisted space. It is quite hard to navigate, and every time I go there, I keep getting lost. It is a perfect place for us to act as if we are tourists from the suburbs of Israel, coming to see the sights of the big city. The mission had three parts. First, the happy campers trekked the mall dressed in their best trekking equipment, asking people for directions, etc. Some of us even had maps of the mall or maps of the city.
The second part was a guided tour. We had an actor portraying a tour guide, telling stories that are tied with local folklore and culture – things any one in Israel would instantly relate to and recognize. Only, each story was twisted to fit some part of the mall. The tour was really fun for all of the participants (including one or two bystanders who joined in the middle).
The last part was actually building a camp. We planned a little surprise at this point. While the campers were unpacking their sleeping bags, two forest rangers jumped the group. They told them this is not a legal camping site and asked them to leave so they do not disturb the habitat of the local animals – to the surprise of everyone, campers and bystanders alike. All in all, a great success.
Urban Prankster covers pranks, hacks, participatory art, and other creative endeavors that take place in public places in cities across the world. It is edited by Charlie Todd.
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