Prankster reddens Rome fountain

Flickr user Antonio Amendola took this stunning photograph of Rome's Trevi Fountain on Friday. A prankster dumped dye or paint into the fountain in the middle of the afternoon. There was no permanent damage. From an Associated Press article:

The news agency ANSA reported that a box was found near the fountain containing leaflets by a group that claimed responsibility for the act. The leaflets said the red paint was a protest for expenses incurred in organizing the Rome Film Festival and symbolically referred to the event's red carpet, ANSA reported.

Link to AP article, Link to Amendola's Flickr stream (Thanks, Lindsay Tiemeyer!)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

MORE: Art and Design

More at Boing Boing

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Hackers prepare for first "national holiday" in their honor

DragonPhyre

That’s how all public demonstrations should be done: Simple, elegant, and without permanent damage.

While I may or may not stand behind their message, I do stand for how they did it. Bravo.
Merc

Is the Italian police overreacting and calling it a “terrorist act” yet?
Mike

The beauty comes from the original fountain. The red dye is just a rather vague publicity stunt.
peetah
The difference between the US and Europe, in Europe they consider a red fountain a protest, in the states they call it a marketing campaign. A few weeks ago Showtime dyed a few fountains blood red for their show Dexter.
- Vegas
- Boston
- Philly
Anonymous

I think it is beautiful. It is not vandalism. It is an action with a message. I think it does these people wrong to simply call them “pranksters.” What an understatement that is.
Cayden

What the AP seems to have missed is that the guy purports to be a second-gen Italian futurist. While the art movement is pretty…uh…right wing, in general, there is something very compelling and beautiful about it.

Check other reports at Eternally Cool.

It’s in line with a proper futurist ideology.

C
steinum

I found this to be very beautiful. Elegant just as the poster before said. All i can do is envy the people to have seen in first hand. The wonders of photography brining world to the masses.
Joe

Yuk! I wish you wouldn’t give publicity to this kind of thing; some copycat will probably do the same with a more poorly chosen ink or dye, and cause permanent damage.