Dubbed the "MacArthur Foundation for aesthetic anarchy” by the Village Voice, ®™ark (pronounced 'art mark') is a mysterious group of anonymous artists who facilitate the creative sabotage of corporate products like toys, video games, and websites by channeling funds from “investors” to “workers” via the group’s website (www.rtmark.com).

No one really knows who ®™ark is. As a registered corporation, ®™ark protects its members’ from legal recourse through the limited-liability feature of incorporation. Like any conglomerate, "the company" is responsible for actions, not the individuals behind them. This liability shield has emboldened ®™ark to produce some of the most critical, sophisticated, and hilarious pranks wrought by artists over the past 15 years.

In typical tongue-in-cheek corporate fashion, ®™ark "out-sourced" the Phantom Ball print to The Yes Men - one of ®™ark's most successful endeavors to date. Led by the duo of Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum, the Yes Men have successfully impersonated representatives of the WTO and Dow Chemical at major economic conferences and media outlets around the world. Their brazen, jaw-dropping "performances" are documented in the 2003 film, "The Yes Men."

For the Phantom Ball, ®™ ark instructed The Yes Men to come up with an image that encapsulates what ®™ ark idiosyncratically calls "agriculture abuse," by which they mean the way that corporations, in their personhood-assisted relentless pursuit of profit, end up out-sourcing starvation to the Third World.

The Yes Men came up with "Striving for the Best" -- which is actually a slide from a PowerPoint presentation that appeared in The Yes Men film. The presentation was originally delivered to an unsuspecting group of economic students at SUNY Plattsburgh. Posing as WTO representative, Mike and Andy explained to the horrified students that McDonald's and the WTO intend to end world hunger by providing Third World nations with "special filters" so that the poor can "recycle" their food... theoretically extending the lifespan of a hamburger up to ten times by incorporating "post-consumer waste" into the product. In other words, the WTO thinks the poor should eat their own shit.