Pranks & Politics
In this audiovisual presentation I reflect on the mix of creative methods that are currently viable for establishing and (re)creating a complex cast of characters via graphics, public pranks, and other modes of storytelling. The presentation will discuss the changes over the last fifteen years I have observed in social justice protests and social media activism that engage mainstream media attention. I then analyse two successful graphic-based campaigns that I ran in 2014. The 1st four-day campaign concerned Opera Australia's hiring of Tamar Iveri, a soprano singer who had advocated violence against LGBTI activists in her hometown of Tbilisi, Georgia. Mostly remaining within social media, this campaign utilised the initial viral spread of an infographic to target Facebook mechanisms that measure public satisfaction with commercial organisations and sponsors. The second month-long campaign concerned the proposed attendance of Australian government ministers at the anti-gay, anti-abortion "World Congress of Families" conference in Melbourne. Eventually crossing into mainstream media, this campaign succeeded via the utilisation of a variety of online and of offline participatory tactics.