Arun Appadirai, 'Disjuncture and Difference in Global Cultural Economy' Modernity At Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalisation, Minneapolis, University of MInnesota Press, 1996, pp.27-47.
History is filled with hundreds of Tricksters, each more tricky and sneaky and rebellious than the last.
From Isabella Blow to Sid Vicious, Stephen Sprouse ( Rebel without a cause (16), Gloria Steinem (the trickster can be the anarchist who challenges governance and societal structure (16)) to the more reclusive kinds such as Friedrich Nietzsche, the trickster is a repeating character throughout time. But what really is the trickster, other than a Radiohead song? While the more modern versions of trickster I labelled certainly fit Robertson's idea of " trickster ways of moving the goal posts,the boundary markers" (21) perhaps the idea of the trickster taken in a mythical or metaphorical context can be more of the badass they know they are deep down.
Francis Alys' 10 Predicaments for Tricksters at first, seemed like the ramblings of a madman, but then I started thinking about it in relation to my art work this year which is based on classical myth. And the thought struck me, the list, however disjointed and unlikely, pretty much ticked all the boxes according to Greek and Roman myth. These, like many of the stories of Maui, almost go against the conventions of Western storytelling and sometimes morals, using devices such as incest,rape, magic and fantasy, human-animal transformation, and immaculate conception.
To me, such stories and myths are historically the basis of Western society. Until, essentially some bloke decided that Christianity was the way to go and many of these stories wee deemed irrelevant, immoral and pagan. The same thing essentially happened when our very own New Zealand was colonized - the Maori people were pushed toward Christianity and the myths and legends became less about moral teachings and metaphors and became a form of pagan story telling. The trickster reigns supreme in these stories, living at his (or her will) and taking the world by storm. But where is the true trickster today, the Maui's and the Zeus'?? Perhaps the trickster has toned him or herself down to become those that go against the norm and go unnoticed as silent prodigies or loudmouth misunderstood genius'.
The trickster also exists in pop culture in the form of himself, the Trickster, in comic books. The enemy of heroes such as The Flash, he uses gag weapons such as explosives hidden in teddy bears to foil his enemies.
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