Stay Free! | 18 February 2003

Carrie McLaren carrie at stayfreemagazine.org
Tue Feb 18 13:33:20 EST 2003


ILLEGAL ART UPDATE

Ah, winter. Seeing as the snow has confined me to the apt., I thought 
it'd be a good time to tell you about new additions to the Illegal 
Art Exhibit website (http://www.illegal-art.org):

* Bill Barminski's "Mickey Gas Mask" (a personal favorite)
* Packard Jennings' "Fallen Rapper Prototypes"
   (Pez dispensers of Easy-E, Biggie Smalls, and Tupac)
* Ai Kijima's Spiderman-laced quilt
* Andrew J. Epstein's "Self-Portrait on Prozac"
* Michael Hernandez de Luna's "Viagra" and "Prozac"
   (fake postage stamps bearing the trademarked pills)


Mr. de Luna's work, it bears pointing out, violates not only 
trademark law but postal laws as well -- he has actually used his 
stamps to send mail. On the website, we wrote about the stamps' 
ability to fool postal workers. But, apparently, that's not the case. 
A postal worker who recently visited our website writes:


<<<<<  About Michael Hernandez de Luna's postal stamps and how they 
"fool" postal workers. I am a postal service electronics technician, 
and service the automated cancelling and sorting machines (gotta make 
a living). I see hundreds of thousands of letters canceled every 
night in automated cancelling machines. There are things that one can 
do to fool this machinery into thinking a real stamp has been placed 
on the letter. Also, if you are aware, the postal service has a LONG 
tradition of treating it's workers poorly, so that even if a lot of 
workers saw fake stamps, they probably wouldn't even mention it to a 
supervisor. In fact, I'm sure that if some workers saw fake stamps, 
they would probably be VERY interested in making sure they got 
cancelled as though they were real stamps, and possibly even showing 
a few co-workers. There is also the idea that the folks cancelling 
the letters are pushed so hard to get the mail cancelled as quickly 
as possible that no one really looks at the stamps. But, I like the 
fake stamps, and Michael isn't the only one doing them.

thanks,
Mark Benton   >>>>>





IN OTHER NEWS


Thanks to those of you who passed on the story about the British 
company paying college students to display ads on their foreheads:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4600434,00.html

Ads on your head? Sure, why not. What really gets me are these guys 
who agreed to appear in a new TV ad campaign for Marshall Fields and 
Kohl's. In a nod to "reality" programming, each commercial features 
an actual human being proposing marriage to his girlfriend (who, 
we're to presume, is watching elsewhere). So Jason Stone, for 
example, stares into the camera and, looking all sensitive and 
doe-eyed, effuses: "Kelli, I love you with all my heart and all my 
soul and all my being. I'm ready to start a new life with you, and 
that's why I'd like to ask you if you will marry me and be my wife." 
Then the words appear onscreen: "Kohl's Bridal Aisle."

Mr. Stone tells the Wall Street Journal that he was "a little 
concerned" about how the retailer would use his video lovenote, 
explaining, "I didn't want it to come off as commercial." Well, I've 
got news for you, pal: it is not only going to come off as 
commercial, it *IS* A COMMERCIAL.
 From the Wall Street Journal:
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/public/kohls.html



NEW YORK'S TACKY TAXIS

New Yorkers may have noticed that many taxi cabs are now equipped 
with advertiser-supported video screens. The one I saw was playing a 
tourist guide to the city, so those who would rather look at a 
televised version of NYC than the real thing now have that choice.

If you'd like to let the city know what you think of the in-taxi 
advertising, here's an official survey:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/taxivideo_survey.html


all for now,
carrie


-- 
Carrie McLaren
Editor, Stay Free!
718.398.9324
www.stayfreemagazine.org
www.illegal-art.org


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