Jacques Servin
Encyclopedia
Jacques Servin is one of the leading members of The Yes Men
, a culture jamming
activist group. Their exploits in "identity correction" are documented in the films The Yes Men
and The Yes Men Fix the World. As Ray Thomas, he is a co-founder of RTMark
.
A former Maxis
employee, he was fired after secretly adding code into the game SimCopter
that would cause sprites of males in swimming trunks kissing each other to appear on certain dates. This was not discovered until after the game had been published. The resulting media storm, which Servin says he didn't expect, inspired him to start RTMark
, a bulletin board for similar actions, but whose goal was to get attention for under-reported issues.
Servin is also the author of two books of short stories, published with FC2.
He teaches as an Assistant Professor of Communication, Design, and Technology in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design
in New York City.
The Yes Men
The Yes Men are a culture jamming activist duo and network of supporters created by Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos. Through actions of tactical media, The Yes Men primarily aim to raise awareness about what they consider problematic social issues. To date, the duo has produced two films: The Yes Men...
, a culture jamming
Culture jamming
Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.Culture...
activist group. Their exploits in "identity correction" are documented in the films The Yes Men
The Yes Men (film)
The Yes Men Fix the World is a documentary film about the culture jamming exploits of The Yes Men. The film premiered in New York City and Los Angeles on October 23, 2009 and in other U.S. cities beginning on October 30...
and The Yes Men Fix the World. As Ray Thomas, he is a co-founder of RTMark
RTMark
RTMark is an activist collective that subverts the "Corporate Shield" protecting US corporations. The name is derived from "Registered Trademark"....
.
A former Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
employee, he was fired after secretly adding code into the game SimCopter
SimCopter
SimCopter is a 1996 computer game from Maxis. This game is a 3D offshoot from Maxis's normal fare, putting the player into a 3D city. Like Streets of SimCity, SimCopter lets the user import SimCity 2000 maps into the game.- Objective :...
that would cause sprites of males in swimming trunks kissing each other to appear on certain dates. This was not discovered until after the game had been published. The resulting media storm, which Servin says he didn't expect, inspired him to start RTMark
RTMark
RTMark is an activist collective that subverts the "Corporate Shield" protecting US corporations. The name is derived from "Registered Trademark"....
, a bulletin board for similar actions, but whose goal was to get attention for under-reported issues.
Servin is also the author of two books of short stories, published with FC2.
He teaches as an Assistant Professor of Communication, Design, and Technology in the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School For Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is the art and design college of The New School university. It is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, and has produced artists and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dean and Dan Caten, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Jane...
in New York City.