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Pranks!

by V. Vale

Pranks as performance and cultural critique

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Pranks as performance and cultural critique

Through more than forty interviews and essays, *Pranks!* surveys prank-making across underground art and performance scenes in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. The contributors include artists, organizers, writers, and performers, with anecdotes and reflections accompanied by photographs and clippings. The book frames pranks not only as mischief but as a form of artistic practice: a way to question authority, conventional behavior, and the power of words and images. Its range of voices makes the collection a record of varied approaches to humor and provocation within underground culture.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in performance art and underground cultural movements.
  • Those curious about pranks as a form of artistic or social critique.
  • Readers who enjoy interview-and-essay collections illustrated with photographs and clippings.

Themes

Pranks as art and performanceHumor as cultural critiqueAuthority and behavioral conventionUnderground art and activism

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Over forty interviews and essays with leading cultural icons who have unique ways of critiquing "the system" with humor and ingenuity.

Dazzling deceptions and provocative put-ons from some of the most outrageous artists and personalities. Spontaneous, improvised craziness from the Underground in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and points in between. From artists, Bruce Conner and Mark Pauline to radical organizer/writer, Abbie Hoffman, to performance artists Karen Finley and Harry Kipper (and the list goes on) -- the interviewees each have a quirky and distinctive way of commenting on life. Here are an exhaustive number of anecdotes and philosophies, heavily illustrated with photographs and clippings from their travails.

A prank is a trick, a mischievous act, and a ludicrous act. Although not regarded as poetic or artistic acts, pranks constitute an art form and genre. In Pranks!, classic pranksters such as Monte Cazazza, Jello Biafra, Joe Coleman, Henry Rollins, John Waters and Henry Rollins challenge the sovereign authority of words, images and behavioral convention.


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