Joey Skaggs
Joey Skaggs
Joey Skaggsis an American prankster who has organized numerous successful media pranks, hoaxes, and other presentations. Skaggs is one of the originators of the phenomenon known as culture jamming. Skaggs has used Kim Yung Soo, Joe Bones, Joseph Bonuso, Giuseppe Scaggioli, Dr. Joseph Gregor, and the Rev. Anthony Joseph as aliases...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCelebrity
CountryUnited States of America
media massage messages
The media is not just the message. The media is a massage. We're constantly being stroked, manipulated, adjusted, realigned, and manoeuvered.
building east fifty foot fun grotesque hung liberty placed poke statues street treasury village wall war workers
In 1969 I hung a Fifty Foot Brassiere on the US Treasury Building to poke fun at leering Wall Street workers and placed grotesque Statues of Liberty in Astor Place in the East Village as a war protest.
attempted burn bus central cultural exchange hippie nativity organized park protest queens satirical tour vietnamese village war
In 1968 I organized the Hippie Bus Tour to Queens as a satirical cultural exchange tour and I attempted to burn down a Vietnamese Village Nativity I erected in Central Park to protest the war in Vietnam.
built comment dragged four hypocrisy inhumanity protest street
In 1966, I built a crucifix and dragged it down the street on four consecutive Easters to protest man's inhumanity to man and to comment on the hypocrisy of the church.
dealing
I mean, who did they think they were dealing with?
artist difficult loved painting realized seriously taken
I loved painting and sculpting, but realized how difficult it was for a young artist to be taken seriously by the art establishment.
easily fact fiction internet reliable source supposedly ubiquitous
I wanted to use the Internet because while fact and fiction are so easily manipulated and blurred, it has also become an ubiquitous and supposedly reliable source for information.
amazed amused people
I want people to be amused or amazed but fooled.
buried issues questions remain work
The issues of my performances vary, but most of the questions buried in the work remain the same.
pay pray stay
You go to school. You stay out of trouble. You get a job. You get married. You have a family. You pay taxes. You pray to the right god. You get old (if you're lucky). And you die.
believing connected derived front global information lives looking party people political reading screen sitting
After years of people sitting on their butts in front one screen or another, looking at or reading about other people's lives and events, a multi-national corporation connected to a global political party manipulates everyone into believing that information derived this way is unhealthy.
cuts fact fashion jump media similar voice
So the fact that the media all jump on a story in a similar fashion is not surprising. The opposite, when a voice cuts through to say something different or original, is surprising.
early figure mainstream news portrayed
As a news story, I'm just a subject, not a person. My early performances were provocative, so I was stereotypically portrayed as a counter-cultural figure by the mainstream media.
change consciousness great leads technology
Technology and consciousness are evolutionary and co-dependant. Change is inevitable. Where it leads will always be a great curiosity.