RTMark
RTMark /ˈɑːrtmɑːrk/ (stylized as ®™ark) is an anti-consumerist activist collective, whose stated aim is to subvert the "Corporate Shield" that "protects" American corporations. The name is derived from "Registered Trademark".
RTMark is itself a registered corporation which brings together activists who plan projects with donors who fund them. It thus operates outside the laws governing human individuals, and benefits from the much looser laws governing corporations.
RTMark claimed as its first prank the "Barbie Liberation Organization", in which the voiceboxes of talking Barbie and G.I. Joe toys were swapped, and the toys then returned to the store (1993). The first prank documentable as being truly RTMark-sponsored was the SimCopter "hack" (1996), carried out by founding member Jacques Servin.
Other RTMark stunts were gwbush.com (a faked campaign Website for George W. Bush). They were also involved in the toywar and they brokered a deal so James Baumgartner, the original inventor of voteauction[1] could sell the raw project to UBERMORGEN in Austria.
The group's website was part of the Whitney Biennial in 2000.[2]
References
- "Bush Shows How Not to Handle the Internet, Experts Say". New York Times. 8 June 1999. Archived from the original on 7 March 2000. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
- "Net art brings 'geekdom' to the Whitney". CNNfyi. CNN. 20 April 2000. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
- Baumgärtel, Tilman (2001). net.art 2.0 - New Materials towards Net art. Verlag für Moderne Kunst Nürnberg. pp. 106–113. ISBN 3-933096-66-9.
External links
- RTMark website mirrored at the Rhizome Archive
- Barbie Liberation Organization
- SimCopter hack
- ®™ark at the Video Data Bank
- G W Bush campaign parody website