2018 has mostly been a year in which I fraudulently impersonated corporations and governments. It was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who made it happen and who supported, bought, and shared my work. I really fucking appreciate it.
Here’s some of my favourite bits.
SHELL / HELL
After taking part in an anti-Shell greenwashing subvertising campaign, organised by Brandalism, Shell sent me a cease and desist regarding some Hell branded merch in my online shop.
Without the necessary means to fight them in court I used the one legal tool at my disposal: sarcasm. For some reason it worked. (see below)
In the end they stopped replying and left me to it. Since then I started selling a black version of the t-shirt with all profits going to anti-fracking organisations in the UK. There are still some left here.
Here's an article I wrote for the New Internationalist about Shell’s greenwashing festival ‘Make the Future’, our subvertising response to it and Shell’s legal threats against me.
I later found out Shell had added me to a list of anti-Shell artists (thanks guys).
THE SUN
While on residency with RRU News I attempted to sabotage The Sun’s advertising revenue with a fake leaflet sent to over 200 people working in the marketing department’s of The Sun’s advertisers. The card sets out a new pricing system for advertisers, in which they can pay more to have their advert placed directly next to the most attention grabbing terror stories. You can read the full leaflet here.
MINI DAILY MAIL
As part of the RRU residency I hand drew a Mini Daily Mail and gave it out on the streets of Liverpool.
I then did a Kickstarter to fund a reprint, added more pages, and sold almost 1500 copies. You can read the full thing online here, and also order a physical copy.
KREUZPFLICHT
In response to the Bavarian ‘Kreuzpflict’ or ‘cross obligation’ law, I pretended to be the Prime Minister of Bavaria and sent inverted crucifixes to state buildings with instructions to hang them upside down.
SUBVERTISING
Some more of my poster designs started appearing around London. The one above was done in collaboration with Veterans for Peace UK to commemorate the end of WWI. Others, like Jesus Christ Van Hire one below were done for no reason whatsoever. You can see all my subvertising work on a new page I added to my website.
TRIDENT
I got quoted in this article about the Royal Navy museum acquiring my anti-Royal Navy posters, (the proceeds of which paid for an anti-Royal Navy poster campaign)
From the article: “Museums are an important record of the peaks and troughs of human civilisation,” he said. “I hope this exhibition is housed deep enough to survive the Royal Navy’s plan to destroy civilisation entirely if Britain loses a war.
“Nuclear bombs are suicide bombs – it is impossible to use these weapons without also killing ourselves. They are an expression of a genocidal and suicidal, not to mention very expensive, form of national insanity.”
ANTI-METRO/DAILY MAIL STICKERS
As part of my residency with RRU News I started an anti-Metro/Daily Mail sticker campaign in which we gave away a few thousand free stickers for people to add to Metro distribution points, reminding commuters that the Metro is owned by the Mail and that every copy you pick up makes the Daily Mail money.
STUFF
I made these Male Man’s Product Conversion Kits to turn female-smelling or gender neutral products into male men’s sport products for men to use.
I also did this global-warming inspired Valentine’s Day card which I like a lot.
EMPIRE AIR
I opened a Boeing and Airbus sponsored neo-colonial travel agency in Munich called Empire Air. The installation was open for 10 days and featured an array of models, dioramas, posters and the below film. Photos and more details on my website.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST
The Army blocked me on Twitter
Thanks again to everyone who helped me make this happen, too many to list here but you know who you are, and to everyone who supported whatever the hell this all is. Looking forward to getting stuck into the hell of 2019.
x
Darren
www.spellingmistakescostlives.com
Here's a short film I put together for my Empire Air project which opens in Munich on Thursday. Massive thanks to Michelle Tylicki who did the special FX.
