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  • From: Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>
  • To: stayfree AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Stay Free! | 18 February 2003
  • Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 13:33:20 -0500

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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Howdy. For those of you who live in New York, we've got a couple of things going on this weekend that you all might want to know about.

Thursday (3/6), I'm speaking at an NYU event, along with two other people who do zines. I'll probably show a few slides and talk about some of the projects Stay Free! has done over the years. The fun starts at 7 pm, at Ultraviolent Cafe (45 West 4th Street, SE corner of Washington Square) and is free for all the curly-headed people.

Sunday (3/9), we're sponsoring a screening at the NY Underground Film Festival. "Value-Added Cinema: A Product Placement Compendium" is described as a " 'That's Entertainment' of corporate product placement from over sixty Hollywood movies"--a sort of greatest hits of stealth advertising. Peter Conheim of Negativland is one of the creators. Also on the bill is a short from the Prelinger Archives, a 1960s industrial film about product placement called "Your Name Here." Sounds good, no? So come on down to Anthology Film Archives, at the corner of 2nd Ave. and 2nd St, @ 5:45 pm.

There's also a bunch of good documentaries showing at the Film Festival this weekend, so be smart and check out the schedule online: http://www.nyuff.com. Incidentally, I saw The Weather Underground (a new documentary about the radical 60s group) tonight and it ROCKED. It's not going to play again at the festival but is slated for a run at Film Forum this June so be on the lookout.

happy weekend,
carrie





  • Stay Free! | 18 February 2003, Carrie McLaren, 02/18/2003

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