Urban Prankster » streets

Hand from Above

Charlie Todd — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:36:24 +0000

Hand from Above was a project installed on the BBC Big Screen in Liverpool by Chris O’Shea as part of the AND Festival.

He writes:

Hand From Above encourages us to question our normal routine when we often find ourselves rushing from one destination to another. Inspired by Land of the Giants and Goliath, we are reminded of mythical stories by mischievously unleashing a giant hand from the BBC Big Screen. Passers by will be playfully transformed. What if humans weren’t on top of the food chain?

Unsuspecting pedestrians will be tickled, stretched, flicked or removed entirely in real-time by a giant deity.

via psfk

Pranking the Westboro Baptist Church in San Francisco

Charlie Todd — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:45:32 +0000

When the notorious Westboro Baptist Church traveled to San Francisco to protest outside of Twitter headquarters, some local pranksters showed up with ridiculously hilarious signs to counter them.

via Laughing Squid

Corduroy Skirts are a Sin
I Hate Crowds
Down With This Sort Of Thing

Anger Release Machine

Alex Scordelis — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:59:39 +0000

Are you stressed out and feeling the need to break something? Just pop a few coins in the Anger Release Machine and choose a porcelain item to smash. This clever “venting machine” is the work of Berlin-based artists Katja Kublitz and Ronnie Yarisal.

via psfk

Skeleton Driving a Car

Charlie Todd — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:45:15 +0000

Skeleton Driving My Car Halloween 2009

This was done on Halloween, but I just came across it recently. Pretty awesome.

thanks tim

New Improv Everywhere – A Handbell Choir Helps out a Salvation Army Bell Ringer

Charlie Todd — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:31:55 +0000

(View it in 1080p HD on YouTube)
edited by Matt Adams / idea by Jason Eppink

For our latest mission, a 13-member handbell choir provided some unexpected accompaniment for a Salvation Army bell ringer on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. Enjoy the video first and then go behind the scenes with our report below.

Read the behind-the-scenes and see photos: Guerrilla Handbell Strikeforce

New Improv Everywhere: Where’s Rob? – Lost at a Knicks Game
Improv Everywhere’s Grocery Store Musical
New Improv Everywhere: Ted’s Birthday

Fork in the Road

Charlie Todd — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:06:07 +0000

A fork in the road mysteriously appeared in Pasadena. KTLA has the scoop, complete with lame pun at the end:

(thanks Rob)

Urban Cursor

Alex Scordelis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:53:05 +0000

Danish designer Sebastian Campion recently brought his Urban Cursor project to the Ingràvid Festival in Figueres, Spain. Passersby moved the cursor, which was mounted on wheels and outfitted with GPS, around the city center. The cursor’s movements were tracked on Google Maps. According to Campion, the object of the project is “to facilitate social interaction and play in public space.”

via psfk

Urban Clowns
Red Arrow Project
Vainty Point, an Urban Mirror

Living Sculptures

Alex Scordelis — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:55:39 +0000

Austrian artist Willi Dorner recently brought his “Bodies in Urban Spaces” project (which we’ve blogged about before) to London as a part of the annual Dance Umbrella festival. Dorner’s troupe of 20 performers led their audience on a “body sculpture trail” around London, and interacted with urban spaces along the route.

via PSFK and Time Out London

Urban Cursor
Dead Body Prank

Art in Odd Places 2009

Charlie Todd — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:53:24 +0000

Heads up! If you’re in New York any time between now and October 31, take a stroll down 14th Street to find a treasure trove of public art projects. Art in Odd Places is back again this year with some really cool projects. Among the many things you’ll see are messages written in ash on the sidewalk, free money hiding nooks and crannies, twitter streams projected onto water fountains at night, and of course, a strange person in a knit bodysuit!

Free Bouncy Rides
Park(ing) Day 2009

Turning Flyer Boxes into Planters

Charlie Todd — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:05:54 +0000

We think this project by Toronto street artist Posterchild is pretty damn clever. He’s taken the empty flyer boxes littering the city streets and turned them into planters.

Posterchild explains:

I’ve always been amazed by the state of most flyerboxes. More often that not, they are empty. Some haven’t been filled in years. Yet, there they are: everywhere in the city- at every intersection. Taking up valuable sidewalk space. Some are supposed to offer free news and culture print publications that make revenue from ads, some are supposed to offer free junk-mail type publications, with the expectation that someone will stop and take one completely beyond me. A rare few are supposed to offer a free publication of a certain political or religious leaning- probably bankrolled by whatever church or group can finance the publication of that message. For whatever reason, a great many of them offer nothing but an empty box.

But that offers a great opportunity for some people!

Graffiti artists love them as a platform for their stickers and tags. People with trash but nowhere to put it love them as a makeshift receptacle for garbage.

I tried to think of better ways than “Garbage Can” to re-imagine the interior spaces of these flyerboxes- better ways to make use of the whole box- not just the exterior walls.

This is what I came up with. I think it’s pretty great, if I do say so myself. The boxes makes a perfect platform for planters- and with them you can guerrilla garden almost anywhere in the inhospitable concrete city! Best of all, it leaves the sides open for writers and artists.

…and with this “impending collapse of print media”? You may just see these appearing in old, abandoned Newspaper boxes.

See more photos: Flyerplanterboxes

You might also enjoy this similar project, also from Toronto, Poster Pocket Plants. Advertising posters are converted into planters.

Is Toronto the guerrilla gardening capital of the world?

Accurate Plant Labels
Adding a Park to an Empty Lot
Subway Art Gallery Opening