The Cacophony Society

"The Cacophony Society is a randomly gathered network of individuals united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society through subversion, pranks, art, fringe explorations and meaningless madness" [www.cacophony.org] 

In 1986, by a surviving member of the "Suicide Club" of San Francisco is when the Cacophony Society started. The "Suicide Club" is a secret [now not so secret] society credited as the 1st modern extreme urban exploration society and also known for their anarchic group pranks. 

Cacophony has been described as an indirect cultural movement through the "Dada" movement.  The "Dada" movement is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland during WW1.  It involved visual arts, poetry, theater... etc They had many public gatherings and movements.  

The Cacophony Society tagline is : "You may already be a member!" Which is their way of saying that they aren't trying to push new things onto people, but rather gather people who are like them and create and do new things together! Anyone can host an event; however, it doesn't mean the attendance of the event will be large. Tests people to see if they are truly a "member"! 

Cacophony events include costumes, pranks in public places, going into places that the public usually isn't allowed, and such! 

One of their popular events in most of their chapters the "Santa Con" is a big event.  They all dress up as Santa Claus and greet Christmas shoppers with enhanced Christmas Carols and and invite strippers to "come and sit on Santa's lap"- it represents a flash mob. 

The primary Cacophony Society started in San Francisco, CA and they were the primary organizers of the "Burning Man" ritual.  John Law was the cofounder of this chapter. Other events from the San Francisco chapter are: "Atomic Cafe" which is a film, "Chinese New Years Treasure Hunt", "Picnic on the Golden Gate Bridge", "Brides of March", "Urban Iditarod" , "Sewer Walk". 

There became a lull in this chapter and that is when a group of subscribers to the "Rough Draft" (the newsletter this chapter put out) recreated the chapter as their own and were known as the "Cacophony 2.0" and had their newsletter "2econd Draft". Their motto was: "If you don't live it, it won't come out your [bull]horn." 

The next biggest chapter was the LA Chapter which also had a newsletter which was online called "Tales from the Zone".  They pushed the "prankerstism" with events such as "Cement Cuddlers" where they filled a dozen teddy bears with cement and put them back on toy shelves with bar codes and all. "Pet cemetery Bingp", "Crucifixation of the Easter Bunny", "Klowns against Commerce" where there was a clown that tested limits to abuse businessmen in downtown LA before being assaulted or arrested. 

The LA Chapter splintered off in 2000 when leader, Reverend Al, declared a new direction joining an Orthodox Christian Community after mourning the deaths of 2 members of his group which turned out that 1 member was ficitional and the other was found very much alive a few years later.  Reverend Al resurfaced as Dr. A.P. Ridenour as a safety consciousness organization "The Art of Bleeding". In 2008, a new member revived the LA Cacophony but lost the creative energy as the original.  They would set up events but hardly anyone would show.  

The Portland Chapter, hosted the infamous "Naughty Santa" outside of San Francisco where they would hand out wrapped presents which could be anything from a "normal" gift to a wrapped Playboy magazine.  This chapter heavily incorporated nudity into their events.  One of their main events was "Helping Unite More People In Trouble"[HUMPIT] Where they marched for "Portlanders" in need of help, naked.  Many of individuals within this group did smaller events. 

A well known novelist: Chuch Palahniuk- who was pranked himself at one of his book signing in San Francisco wrote about the Cacophony Society. "Fugitives and Refugees: A walk in Portland, Oregon" was the name of his book about the Portland chapter.  They are known as the PDX Cacophony Stumpton Lodge.  

There are about 2 dozen North American cities that participate in the Cacophony Society and about half a dozen in other countries.  

Are you a member?

FRUSTRATION RANT

All week long I've been having issues.. I can log into my blog but when I go to look at someone else's it kicks me out, so I'm not sure what to do. When I go to post  it writes it and then doesn't post it, so I don't know if it's my computer or what, but it's annoying and makes me look like a slacker, so now that the library is open hopefully I can post everything up--- hopefully this posts as well.

FOUR YIP.

FOUR YIP

The artist that I picked was Four Yip- she is an artist and fashion designer in Second Life; however when I would search about her I couldn't seem to find any background information on her but I was able to find some of her art and fashion pieces.  I joined Second Life to search and to see her pieces but I couldn't still find anything on her.  When I asked around to different people no one seemed to know who I was talking about either.  I found that she had a Twitter account so I tried following her but she has yet to accept that, and when I found her Youtube account her posts were from 3 or 4 months ago and then from there they were months and months apart as well.  I am not sure if she is off the radar right now, or if there just isn't a lot of information on her. 

Four Yip from what I could find has two small stores in Second Life where all of her creations are free.  Many people wear her creations and are excited about them.  Four Yip has many fans- I found many people who blogged about her and talked about her fashions and paintings that she created.  As I was reading I came across a quote from Four Yip as to why she gives her creations away for free, and she says, "I like the "share" part. That's why I give most things away. I like to hear from others what they think or if they enjoy it so I get new ideas. If you give away, it reaches a large group, I think."  I like how she wants to know the responses of her fans and those who like her creations, so she can go from there. I think it is important to hear what people have to say and I think it is neat that she does that.  



The invisible outfit. As Four Yip stated, "you can have birds in your stomach if that is what you wanted!"



The Wallflower. Speaks for itself- being a wallflower and blending, but yet still looking fashionable.

She was known for feathers, and extravagant outfits.

Unique outfits that made statements and spoke to people.

Besides just fashion creations she also "paints" and does portraits.  She takes snapshots of peoples "avies" as she calls them and then paints as she sees them portrayed in her mind.  She has many different visions which are sometimes hard to understand where they are coming from (at least for me)  but they are very interesting and detailed which I think is why they are so intriguing.  There is so much going on that your eye travels around the different pieces. 



The one on the left is an "avie" and the one on the right is the portrait that Four Yip painted and her interpretation of it!



These are all from her gallery in Second Life.

I found her YouTube channel and there were some videos that were on there, but as I said previously they were dated and not recent. Here is one video that shows her artwork and also how big she is getting- you can get her paintings as an iPhone cover!

I think her way of creating things are imaginable, and a way to escape and "wear" things you couldn't ever wear, or create in real life.  I think that Second Life has a wonderful way of escaping for that moment in time into things that you daydream of.  Four Yip has a really exquiste way of portraying those images that are dreamt of and putting them into "real" second life.

<3

Toni Dove

"Toni Dove lives and works in New York. Since the early 1990s, she has produced works that redefine the form of the traditional narrative through the use of interactive components. Her installations feature female characters from different eras who are subjected to the economic and technological determinants of their time. Dove’s works also offer a feminist rereading of conventions from popular genres such as science fiction and the Gothic novel." La fondation Daniel Langolis 

These two stills come from the video "Artificial Changelings" by Toni Dove in 1998. She used interactive laser disc and sound installation using video motion sensing.

 The video "Artificial Changelings"  is hard to understand at first.  I watched it a few times and I find something new every time.  I am getting a sense she is looking at herself and is trying to reach out and touch herself, but I'm not sure why. Things like these - these types of  videos or any artwork in this sense is hard for me to connect with because I don't really know what I am looking for. I am not sure if I am supposed to know exactly what it all means or if it is trying to get me to think and I'm just not comfortable getting to that point within myself. I haven't quite figured that part out yet. However, I do like her work  because it is different. There is a different way to see things. In the still to the right there are things flying around her head, and they are all random objects. I am not sure if there is a significance around that or not. Toni Dove seems interesting to me though, and I think I will do some more research on her later. 

<3

WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER.

TETSUYA NODA

Tetsuya Noda: Japanese Print maker, 1940
Noda was the first Japanese artist to combine photography and woodblock printing. His images are a diary of his entire life. Nods had received a number of awards for his pieces. He also became a lecturer at a few different schools and became a visiting artist also at a few different places.
Diary 22- August 1968
Diary 11- September 1968
Both received the International Grand Prize
1969- Noda was awarded the Society Friendship Prize by Nihon Hanga Kyoki [Japanese Print Society]
1977- He received the Grand Prize in the 12th Ljubljana International Print Biennale.
1978- Received the Grand Prize in Norway International Prize Biennale.
1980- One man show Noda Tetsuya no Sekai Ten [Exhibition of Nods Tetsuyas World]
1981- Became lecturer in Faculty of Art at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
1984- Became the visiting artist at Alberta College of Art, Calgary
1985- Took same position at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem
Noda's style is characterized by combination of traditional woodblock, modern media, and photographic images.

Whoa!