Ahead of the 2000 U.S. presidential election, Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos bought the domain gwbush.com. They turned it into a faux pro-George Bush Web site: posts included “Yo! Check tha New Slim Cheney Dance” and parody radio ads. It upset Bush so much that in a May 1999 press conference, when a reporter asked the soon-to-be president about the site, he said, “There ought to be limits to freedom.” Servin and Vamos turned the prank into a career, forming The Yes Men, a “culture jamming activist duo.” With stunts such as a 2004 fake Dow Chemical Web site, a “corrected” World Trade Organization Web site, and the crashing of a 2006 ExxonMobil conference, the group draws attention to political and social issues. An exhibition of its work—from video of Servin landing a BBC interview by pretending to be a Dow representative to framed printouts of gwbush.com—is on view at Carriage Trade. —Jensen Davis
The Arts Intel Report
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
The Yes Men
When
Dec 9, 2021 – Mar 27, 2022
Where
Etc
Photo: Nicholas Knight.