XKCD mocks Wikipedia's "in popular culture" sections. Wikipedians take the idea seriously. The article ("Wood"). goes on lockdown. But is adding correct, even if useless, information really WikiVandalism?
posted on Jul 7, 2008 - View this thread

Jake and Dinos Chapman have bought a stack of Adolf Hitlers paintings for £115,000 and defaced them with rainbows and butterflies for their new show, "If Hitler Had Been a Hippy, How Happy Would We Be". The show also recreates "Fucking Hell", a huge swastika shaped diorama of tiny plastic nazis torturing and killing each other, which had been destroyed in a fire.
posted on May 31, 2008 - View this thread

1. Photograph billboard.
2. Replace head with bloody stump.
3. Affix stump to original billboard.
4. Repeat as necessary.
posted on Jan 11, 2008 - View this thread

Art Crimes is a fascinating site about the history of vandalism in the fine arts, recently revived by a Frenchwoman who left a lipstick imprint on a 2 million dollar painting by Cy Twombly. Other examples include a British suffragist attacking a Velazquez with a knife, an installation vandalized by the Israeli ambassador to Sweden, two Chinese performance artists who urinated into Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, and a Canadian art student who vomited blue gelatin on a Mondrian. Oddly enough, the artwork that has weathered the most attacks is Rembrandt's The Night Watch, which has survived two knife attacks (one by an unemployed teacher with a butter knife) and an attack by a mental patient who had a compulsion to fling sulfuric acid at fine artworks. Other art vandalism methods, including glass cutters, hammers, scissors, guns, and ink, are discussed here.
posted on Jul 26, 2007 - View this thread

Poor, poor Wiley the dog. One Spring day, she got out of her yard and wandered aimlessly for a while. Wanting to help the lost animal find some direction, some vandals thoughtfully spray-painted her. Tragically, poor Wiley has since had to admit her painful secret to the world. She isn't literate. Forced to admit her shameful problem, hopefully she'll get some help.
posted on May 6, 2007 - View this thread

Vandals in suits and bow-ties burned down an Oakland liquor store last night, apparently the same vandals who smashed cases and displays last Wednesday. The police and store owners have suggested they have ties to a local community of Black Muslims. Both stores attacked belonged to the Yemini American Grocery Association and were targeted because they were selling alcohol. Said one store owner: "They asked us if we were Muslim. When we said 'yes,' one of them said that good Muslims shouldn't be poisoning the community with alcohol, or something like that."
posted on Nov 28, 2005 - View this thread

Streetsy
posted on Aug 30, 2005 - View this thread

The damage wrought by the construction of an American military base in the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon must rank as one of the most reckless acts of cultural vandalism in recent memory. And all the more so because it was unnecessary and avoidable... but given that it was, the US authorities were very aware of the warnings of archaeologists of the historic importance of the site. Yet, as a report by Dr John Curtis of the British Museum makes clear, they seem to have ignored the warnings. Dr Curtis claimed that in the early days after the war a military presence served a valuable purpose in preventing the site from being looted. But that, he said, did not stop "substantial" damage being done to the site afterwards not just to individual buildings such as the Ishtar Gate, "one of the most famous monuments from antiquity", but also on an estimated 300,000 square metres which had been flattened and covered in gravel, mostly imported from elsewhere. This was done to provide helicopter landing places and parking lots for heavy vehicles that should not have been allowed there in the first place...

Cultural vandalism. Months of war that ruined centuries of history. American graffiti.
posted on Jan 15, 2005 - View this thread

Safer vandalism campaign initiated by LRPD Vandalsquad. Most Wanted.
posted on Aug 28, 2004 - View this thread

A few months after his first (donated) statue, "Drinker", was kidnapped, London's guerrilla artist Banksy reveals a new statue, a £22,000 solid bronze prostitute with leather boots and a thong, dedicated "to thugs, to thieves, to bullies, to liars, to the corrupt, the arrogant and the stupid."
posted on Aug 5, 2004 - View this thread

Hey Crackhead: An engineer rants. Via random($foo).
posted on Apr 25, 2004 - View this thread

Israeli ambassador to Sweeden vandalises artwork. This is front page stuff in my part of the world and I truly hope, but doubt, that he will find himself out of work tomorrow. The question is: what was he thinking? Was it intentional? Could he have chosen to interpret the upsetting work of art in another less disturbing way?
posted on Jan 17, 2004 - View this thread

Man charged in Blaine paint attack "A 28-year-old man has been charged with criminal damage for allegedly throwing pink paint at the box illusionist David Blaine has made his temporary home." It's not the first time he has been attacked. Here are the stunt details, a progress report and the box's location.
posted on Sep 27, 2003 - View this thread

VandalSquad Always fancied yourself as a "Writer" but don't want to get covered in paint or arrested? This download allows you to deface a train wagon to your hearts content and then upload it to a gallery. Not the real thing but as close as most of us will ever get...
posted on Mar 28, 2003 - View this thread

Man Beheads (statue of) Margaret Thatcher. His "sense of 'satirical humour' left him no choice but to carry out the attack" on the £150,000 Maggie as 'artistic expression and [his] right to interact with this broken world.' Jury fails to convict and a retrial is scheduled. Perhaps there is a creative solution to replacing the head?
posted on Dec 18, 2002 - View this thread

Hacked Palestinian Sites Play Long Flash Movie of Pro-Israel Images
Alnakba.com, a political site, is here. It and alquds.com, a newspaper's site, are hosted by Intertech, a PA ISP. I've also found at least one other Intertech site that has been defaced (1, 2). The Flash file includes a list of names of Israeli citizens killed by Palestinians. At the end, the author has placed a link to his e-mail, "dannyzion@matavtv.net." In the source, the hacker identifies as "Hacked By shmaya / Israeli Operation Force. email- shmaya@shmaya.org.il."
    The movie is displayed though a single frame whose source is here. That site points to a message board. A mirror of Alquds is here.
posted on Apr 15, 2002 - View this thread

Vandalism proclaimed as art by art student victims, sort of. Is the problem with art (it is easy and anyone can do it) spreading to crime? Via ObscureStore
posted on Feb 27, 2002 - View this thread

Someone please get this man some pancakes.
posted on Feb 8, 2002 - View this thread

Culture Jamming hits again. What are the effects of such campaigns, and is it just vandalism or a valid way to fight what some call the corporate enemy.
posted on Nov 14, 2001 - View this thread

Seattle's Coffee Messiah has been to the Garden of Gethsemane. Owner of independent Seattle coffee hotspot has been arrested for the alleged "Coffee Messiah" stickers found in and around an adjacent starbucks. Whatever I say! And on what grounds?
posted on Sep 2, 2001 - View this thread

No truth in White House vandal scandal, GSA reports "The agency concluded that departing members of the Clinton administration had not trashed the place during the presidential transition, as unidentified aides to President Bush and other critics had insisted. "
posted on May 18, 2001 - View this thread

what should we be doing to voice our opposition to dangerous, gas-guzzling, CO2-emitting, vision-obstructing, environment-destroying conspicuously-consumed SUVs? what can one do to prevent others from driving these monstrosities? should we ticket them? should we stick "i'm changing the climate" stickers on them? should we stick potatoes in their tailpipes? should we shoot out their windows? is there any way to educate suburban families that SUVs are simply an unnecessary addition to their lifestyle? should we resort to retaliatory vandalism? can SUV owners ever have a meaningful discussion with those who object to their vehicles? i do my part by not buying an SUV, but could i do more? should i?
posted on May 17, 2001 - View this thread

The SUV Ticket Campaign ...for those that aren't keen on vandalism.
posted on Dec 28, 2000 - View this thread

Changing the Climate offers a new sport - Tagging SUV's Not as destructive as Phonebashing, but it's still vandalism.
posted on Dec 27, 2000 - View this thread

Christmas decorations too soon sparks vandals. At least in the states we have usually have until after Thanksgiving (Nov 27th I think) before we see anything come up. This year I started seeing stuff right after Halloween.
posted on Nov 15, 2000 - View this thread

These Posters were an Artbomb that went off across the street from my apartment last night. The posters were plastered over a bus shelter ad and over several other public objects nearby. I was taken aback, as I had last seen those images hanging in an exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Art. San Jose has a fairly bad graffiti/tagging problem, but I'm OK with this type of thing. Apparently, the SJPD are too (quoted from the Mercury News): "The poster-pasting could be considered a violation of municipal statutes on vandalism, but San Jose Police Department spokesman Steve Dickson seemed more amused than concerned. "It's not something that we would get involved in unless someone makes a complaint," Dickson said. "Then we'd ask them to take them down. People have a right to political speech." In fact, Dickson broke into laughter at a description of the two posters. "Hey," he said apologetically, "we have a sense of humor like anyone else."
posted on Oct 30, 2000 - View this thread