According to
Robert Stam "...anthropophagy assumes the force of the dominant
discourse only to deploy that force, through a kind of artistic jujitsu,
against domination, stealing elements of the dominant culture and
redeploying them in the interests of oppositional praxis." (R. Stam
1997, p.359) ®™ark
and Mongrel are
two Web-based artist collectives that practice anthropophagic jujitsu in
a vigorous and playful way. ®™ark has adopted a mock mimicry strategy by
walking, talking and investing like a major corporate behemoth. Their
Web-site features an assortment of various past, current and upcoming
®™arkian style corporate counterattacks, various forms of ludic
industrial sabotage, advice on how to set up your own
counter-corporation and useful info on investing in ®™ark sponsored
funds. Their recent participation in the global netizens' Etoys versus
etoy.com Toywar, is a
superb example of an anthrophagic raid in action.
The good people at ®™ark, provided etoy.com, and all the other agents
involved, with an invaluable strategic and tactical platform: the etoy
fund. The whole operation was based on assimilating the corporate logic
of investment and turning it against the corporate establishment. The
beauty of the game, and the sweet aftertaste of victory, was that this
Toywar was played against a real enemy intent on illegally gobbling up a
domain name in an ugly game of cyber-colonialism. The Toywar also had
real consequences in that the rapid fire unleashed on the Internet by
the Toywar troops generated enough attention to cause Etoys' stock to
plummet, effectively forcing the company to withdraw their legal
proceedings and to allow etoy.com to retain their domain name. A classic
example in early 21st century clashes between the anthropophagi and the
anthropoemians.
