The Yes Men are a group of culture jamming activists who practice what they call “identity correction” by pretending to be powerful people and spokespersons for prominent organizations. They create and maintain fake websites similar to ones they want to spoof, and then they accept invitations received on their websites to appear at conferences, symposia, and TV shows. Their newfound, self-proclaimed authority to express the idea that corporations and governmental organizations often act in dehumanizing ways toward the public has met both positively and negatively with political overtones. Elaborate props are sometimes part of the ruse, as shown in their 2003 DVD release The Yes Men.

Their method is often satire: posing as corporate or government spokespeople, they often make shocking comments which they believe to be the real meaning of the organisation’s ideology being hidden by spin, or extrapolate what they feel is the organisation’s ideology in a ‘reductio ad absurdum’ to come out with outrageous conclusions, such as that it should be possible to sell your vote or that the poor should eat recycled human waste. On most occasions no shock or anger has been registered in the response to their prank, with no one realizing they were imposters. Sometimes, the Yes Men’s phony spokesperson makes announcements that represent dream scenarios for the anti-globalization movement or opponents of corporate crime. The result is false news reports of the demise of the WTO, or Dow paying for a Union Carbide cleanup, which the Yes Men intend to provide publicity for what they see as problems in the current situation.

The Yes Men have posed as spokespeople for The World Trade Organization, McDonalds, Dow Chemical, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. The two leading members of The Yes Men are known by a number of aliases, most recently, and in film, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. Their real names are Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos, respectively. Servin is an author of experimental fiction, and was known for being the man who inserted images of men kissing in the computer game SimCopter. Vamos is an assistant professor of media arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York. They are assisted by numerous people across the globe.

Their experiences were documented in the film The Yes Men, distributed by United Artists, the film documentary info wars, and the book The Yes Men: The True Story of the End of the World Trade Organization . Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno also directed a 2009 film entitled The Yes Men Fix the World, which premiered at Sundance

Cory Arcangel (born 1978) is a digital who lives and works in Brooklyn. His work is concerned with the relationship between technology and culture, and with media appropriation.

Arcangel talks about his early collaborations with Paul B. Davis as being very important to the development of his own work. In 1998 they founded BEIGE, a programming ensemble with other friends from Oberlin Conservatory.

Arcangel’s work is included in many museum exhibitions including a solo exhibition at the Migros Museum in Zurich, MOMA’s Color Chart, the 2004 Whitney Bienniel, and has also been exhibited in the New Museum and MCA Chicago among other museums. His work is included in public collections such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, Miami Art Museum, Migros Museum, and Neue Nationalgalerie .Arcangel is represented by Team Galley in New York, Galerie Ropac in Paris and Salzburg, Max Wigram in London, and Galerie Guy Bartschi in Geneva.

http://www.beigerecords.com/cory/

Of

Richard Leonard Martin

Current Position

Student at Otago Polytechnic School of Art.

Education

Waimate High School 1990

University of Otago

1995 BA (1^st Class Honours) majoring in History

1996 Dip Grad in Anthropology

University of London

1998 MA in Western European History

Otago Polytechnic

2002 National Certificate in Business Administration (Level 4)

2008 Certificate in Creative Studies

Work History

Community Involvement

2007-current Ariki Harriers

Interests

Art

Movies

Cats

Aircraft

Military history

Swimming

Nature

Photography

Music

Reading

Cooking