Cacophonist

Cacophony Society: the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society

T.A.Z.: a temporary space that eludes formal structures of control

Do-Ocracy: An organization structure where people choose what task actions they will do and the decisions are made by those doing the actual work. Non-hierarchical. 

I came across the Cacophony Society in San Francisco in 1996, thanks to longtime SRL teleobliterator, Karen Marcelo. I was creating zines with my then husband and hosting an after work "Philosophical Symposium" at an Irish bar in Soma.

On a foggy San Francisco night we arrived at a Polynesian Tiki bar in the Outer Richmond. That evening down on a rock beach by the bay someone taught me to blow fire balls. Hiking back we got lost and wandered around the fancy neighborhood looking for our car. I didn't know who these people where, but knew I had finally found my people. Unfortunately, I caught the end of the San Francisco Cacophony Society, but the seed had been planted.

Cacophony is an extension of the French Surrealists. The Swiss Dada movement. Grotowski's Experimental Theatre. Moving beyond the edge. Permission to cross the line. Or create a new one. Participant-creators. It defined the early Burning Man philosophy.

I'm influenced by the Spike in Samuel Delaney's Trouble on Triton. By Hieronymus Bosch. Robyn Hitchcock. Fellini. Jodorosky. Gurdjieff. Taoism. Burroughs. Not-Doings. The Western Deserts of California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Culture-jamming and corporatism. Individuals and collectives - and how they inter-relate, co-create each other.

Cacophony events are a way I love my city. Los Angeles is the canvas. The expression expands across the landscape, streets, businesses, veins of public transit, like Jackson Pollack paint splashes. I'm not in control of the "paint." It moves of its own accord, with its own mindset. Created for momentary expression.

I have my own flavor of cacophony. I play both sides: encouraging order, encouraging chaos. To allow the emergence of possibilities.

My intention is to give people an experience beyond their usual state.

I want to bring people to the edge. Drop a seed in their mind (or watch it sprout or blossom). Create a container for chaos,  hold space for the unknown to express itself. I don't know what might emerge. But I'm excited to explore what that might be and to support whatever it wants to become.