On a recent trip to Portugal, we noticed a massive number of senior citizens looking out of windows from morning till night. A common sight throughout Europe, these old-timers are usually on the lookout to report any suspicious behavior in their neighborhood.
Because of this trend, we are extremely amused by “The Senoritas of Lisboa,” a project by CC, a Portuguese art collective. This group has gone around Lisbon and placed signs parodying the Securitas (a Swedish security firm) logo underneath old ladies who seem to be permanently perched at their windows.
It’s not safe to go in the water…or the Metro! Kapo, a Spanish street artist, created this shark coming out of what appears to be a subway ventilation shaft. Note the detail of the water splashing around the shark to give the mural a terrifying 3D effect.
The Billboard Liberation Front have announced “a new advertising improvement campaign” targeting McDonald’s billboards. They’re calling the re-branding effort “I’m Sick Of It.” The first hacked billboard appeared at the corner of California and Hyde in San Francisco.
Looks like they are doing work for Phillip Morris as well:
Although it was created as an art project, Justin Shull’s hilarious Terrestrial Shrub Rover has unlimited pranking potential. Shull, a Houston, Texas-based artist, was inspired to create the mobile hedge thanks in part to future space travel. Shull writes on his website:
In the spirit of NASA and its forthcoming 2020 lunar expeditions in preparation for colonizing the moon, the Terrestrial Shrub Rover presents the opportunity to explore terrestrial and social environments back on Earth from within a manned, foliage bedecked, solar electric powered rover.
Whatever the inspiration, we hope that Shull will come around to use the Terrestrial Shrub Rover for pranking purposes in the near future. With his high-tech shrub-on-wheels, Shull could put pranksters like San Francisco’s “World Famous Bushman” to shame.
French artist Jerome G. Demuth is turning the streets of Paris into a playground by installing swings around town. Demuth (who also goes by simply “G”) calls the installation, Swing the City.
Miranda July, the performance artist/writer/actress/director best known for her film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, has installed her public art piece Eleven Heavy Things in New York’s Union Square Park. The sculptures, which debuted at the 2009 Venice Biennale, are designed to create photo-ops for passersby who choose to interact with the art.
Joel Kyack, a Los Angeles based artist, is using puppetry to help rush hour commuters stave off boredom. Kyack’s new project, Superclogger, presents puppet shows out of the back of a pick-up truck to drivers stuck in traffic jams. A soundtrack to the puppet show will be broadcast to the viewer’s car stereo. If you live in the Los Angeles area, check Superclogger’s twitter site which gives daily updates on the mobile puppet show’s location.
Our pal Rob Cockerham put together this how-to video showing you how you can use magnets to firmly attach things to the top of your car. The how-to portion begins around the 2:00 mark.
For Improv Everywhere’s latest mission, they created separate walking lanes for tourists and New Yorkers on a Fifth Avenue sidewalk. Department of Transportation “employees” were on hand to enforce the new rules and ask pedestrians for their feedback on the initiative. Enjoy the video first and then go behind-the-scenes with the photos and report on IE’s site:
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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