Disruptive Realism

Disruptive Realism is a term created to describe artificial situations that are designed to seem natural, yet which are so unusual as to be rationally inexplicable. Such situations appear ‘real’ (as opposed to surreal), yet do not ‘make sense’. The confusion and thought process (see cognitive dissonance) which ensues is the purpose of creating the situation.

Unlike the typical “Happenings” of the 1960’s, Disruptive Realism, to varying degrees, relies upon the participants being unaware (at least initially) that the situation they are experiencing has in fact been artificially created - there is no artistic pedestal or contextual crutch. Disruptive Realism is thus a technique that subverts the assumptions people hold in order to produce a state of both greater self-awareness and greater situational awareness.

History
The term Disruptive Realism was coined by Dave Hoffer of frog design in a 2008 video of the same name.
Hoffer defined the term as “an expression presented in an everyday context that disrupts peoples perceptions about different things. Expression can mean many things and it a way it's art but it's also much more expansive a term than just art".

Examples in Popular Culture
*The artist Banksy has created psuedo-Trompe-l'œil graffiti and stencil art that subverts expected norms.
*Improv Everywhere, whose slogan is “We Cause Scenes”, is a New York City based performance art group.

See Also
*Culture Jamming
*Happening
*Performance Art
*Reality Hacking
*Psychogeography

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