It was a Joke!

On April 1 2010 I made up a story and posted it here as an April Fool's joke. It ended with a link to the Wikipedia entry for April Fool's Day, which I would have assumed would be enough for anyone truly interested in verifying the veracity of my made-up story to know it was a joke. Apparently not, though. The "story" was picked up and, in the way that can happen in the Internets, the "news" was spread far and wide ahead of the realization that it was a joke. Artnet.com explains in an article titled "2011 Venice Biennale News" in which they bring us up to date on which artists have been selected so far to represent their nations :

And what about the United States, you say? Well, according to Universes in Universes, the artist representing the U.S. is none other than Spider-Man/Pineapple Express co-star and multitalented actor James Franco, known for his participation in such artworks as Carter’s Erased James Franco, a recent collaboration with Marina Abramovic and a plot to realize a conceptual art project at Deitch Projects relating to his guest star role on General Hospital, an initiative which was aborted when dealer Jeffrey Deitch decided to leave New York for Los Angeles.

Sadly, it looks like the Universes in Universes listing is a simply the result of an April Fool’s Joke gone bad, though. Edward Winkleman took note of the hoax on his blog as it was happening, and UiU seems to have simply picked up the misinformation. Still, is it really so improbable? The artist Nic Rad released "The Celebritist Manifesto" recently, described as a "stirring defense of James Franco as the greatest artist of his generation, if not of all time."

Personally, I would say that it's simply the result of an April Fool's Joke gone spectacularly well, but...I should admit that it was indeed Nic Rad's "Celebritist Manifesto" (presented at our space as part of #class) that inspired the joke.

And, once more, it was a joke.