2020. NEOISM 40 YEARS OF POP-UP REVOLUTION 1979-2019

I haven't read this book yet. [June, 2023 note: I have now] I anticipate liking many aspects of it & being critical of others. For the moment, I want to use this page to explain that when the 30th anniversary of Neoism was coming near, the founder of Neoism, Monty Cantsin (Istvan Kantor), proposed an event to celebrate it in Toronto, where he lives, & invited me to participate because I've been one of the primary movers & shakers in Neoism. That festival didn't happen, apparently the logistics of it were too much for Monty to deal with at the time.

10 years later, in January, 2019, I was considering writing a book about Neoism - or, more accurately, about Neoists - & I started compiling a list of all the Neoists I could think of & their contact information. Given that Monty has many Neoist connections that I don't I emailed him explaining my plans for the book & asking him for names & contact info for people I don't know. He said that he'd just gotten back from Israel & that after he'd recovered from that trip a bit he'd be glad to pass along that information. I got the impression that he was actually upset about my book writing plans because he wanted his upcoming book to be THE ONE & didn't want me competing with him.

There're multiple Neoism groups on Facebook. I've participated in a few, so has Monty. The main one I participate in had the largest membership but almost all of them are lurkers, they never participate. I posted to that group asking how many people there consider themselves to be Neoists & explaining that I wanted to interview those who do for the proposed book. Monty immediately started interfering with this process saying something to the effect that everyone in the world is a Neoist so why sabotage that by implying the opposite?! I, personally, don't think that everyone in the world is a Neoist, nor do I want them to be. For me, such a statement reeks too much of imperialism & the ONE WAY movement of Christianity. We argued about it.

Soon thereafter, Monty decided to organize the 40th anniversary of Neoism in Montréal & decided to not invite me because I might 'fuck things up'. I found out about this because of an email exchange between an ex-Neoist in Montréal & Monty which the ex-Neoist shared with me.

I had some desire to participate in the event but was living in extreme penury at the time & decided that it wasn't financially plausible for me. Nonetheless, I conceived of a few potential actions for the festival, to be called NEOISM 40. One of these was to disguise mywelf as an old woman barely able to walk with a walker that would have a sign on it & to try to sell caps to the NEOISM 40 attendees that had "MAKE NEOISM GREAT AGAIN" printed on them. The ex-Neoist in Montréal has proposed the text as a parody of President Trump's well-known slogan "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN". We both thought that was funny because we felt that Monty is similarly megalomaniacal to Trump.

I didn't attend the festival but I eventually had the caps made. The festival came & went, I watched footage of it online & found the parts I watched to be essentially an open mic with little or no thought-out content that made any attempt to enrich the concept of Neoism.

I was contacted & told that there would be a NEOISM 40 book & that I was invited to contribute. I had my friend Julie Gonzalez photograph me as I somewhat imagined I would've looked if I'd managed to attend the festival & I wrote the following text.

"Neoism is as Neoism doesn't"

- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

- August 20, in the 40th year of Our Lard Neoism

Neoism is NOWHERESVILLE, pettio, babbio, mommio, daddio! "Where is today our fuckoff revolution situated?" Consider this: In January, in the 40th year of Our Lard Neoism, I received this email from a former Neoist who's a friend of mine in Montréal:

"Istvan wants to put together a 40th anniversary of Neoism get-together in Montreal this May.

Of course I proposed to invite YOU. His reply: "Tent is a difficult case as he loves to fuck things up"

and then he asked me to wait before talking to you about it."

Neoism is wherever Neoism isn't. Therefore, if you see the BRAND NAME OF NEOISM shouted at you you can be sure that that's NOT where Neoism's at. If you see a young woman wearing a mini-skirt with Neoism written on it & if she's carrying a megaphone with Neoism written on it, look for Neoism somewhere else. That's just an advertisement meant to further the career of some self-serving CEO.

How does Neoism work "in today's techno-glitterotarian society?" By being everywhere where Neoism isn't. It's long since ceased to work by using a collective identity, by using plagiarism. Neoism doesn't even disguise itself as Neoism anymore, it's ceased to be Neoism in defense of itself. If you find someone declaring themselves to be a Neoist & doing everything in the name of Neoism you can be sure that they are only a distraction.

If you encounter a Neoist who reserves "the rights of editing the contributions" look elsewhere for Neoism because this person is a censor. If a Neoist approaches you who says "And in fact for illustration we want to use strictly/mainly the photos taken in Montreal at Neoism40" be forewarned: this person means you harm & just wants to use you to further their career. The images are meant to historicize the CEO's position as a Puppet Master, look elsewhere for Neoism.

Look for Neoism among the people who won't call themselves Neoists, who won't even talk with you about Neoism. Look for Neoism amongst the activities of people who won't use the brand-name anymore or any of the buzz-words. Look for Neoism amongst the activites of people who didn't just present their usual act at Neoism40 without the slightest concern with whether it meant anything or not. Look for Neoism anywhere but at Neoism40.

Obviously, the text is expressing disgust with my having been essentially excluded from the festival. Censorship is not typically a Neoist thing. I figured that if Monty could be honest enough to include my text then it would go a long way to repairing my damaged perception of the openness of Neoism under his control. Neither text or the image were included in the book. I've decided to have nothing further to do with Monty Cantsin AMEN! (Itsvan Kantor) or his coeditor, who I call PNUL.

- November 16, 2020 (Vision) notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

*******************************

review of

Istvan Kantor's "Neoism - 40 Years of Pop-Up Revolution"

2173. "review of Istvan Kantor's "Neoism - 40 Years of Pop-Up Revolution - 1979-2019""

- the complete version of my review

-credited to: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE -

published on my "Critic" website June 18, 2023

- http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticNeoism40.html

review of

Istvan Kantor's "Neoism - 40 Years of Pop-Up Revolution - 1979-2019"

- by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - June 13-17, 2023

For the complete review go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticNeoism40.html

I dread writing this review. It's not going to be any fun at all. Nonetheless, if I don't write this review no-one else will ever write one even remotely as informed & in-detail. So the job devolves to me.

I lived in Baltimore City starting in 1975. At 1st, I was fairly socially isolated but I quickly got involved w/ other like-minded people & we started making things HAPPEN. There was the Merzaum Collective (founded ca 1977), who were organizers of performances & performers & publishers. They were fantastic. They had a performance group called CoAccident who were wonderful. One member of Merzaum, Chris Mason, founded an audio-tape publishing label called Widemouth Tapes in January, 1979. I took it over in the middle of 1981 when Chris moved to Amsterdam.

There was what eventually became the Krononautic Divector Field (founded ca 1977), a time-travelers society. I was part of that. My 1st bk was released in 1977. I founded t he nuclear brain physics surgery school in the fall of 1978, the same time I got involved w/ what most people call Mail Art. Note that these things predate Neoism. A small group of us founded B.O.M.B. (Baltimore Oblivion Marching Band, a guerrilla performance group) & B.U.T.N. (Baltimore Underground Telephone Network, a participatory mass media using telephones & answering machines) in the beginning of 1979. We had an umbrella group loosely called Balti-Media. We organized a substantial amt of public events, often somewhat large scale. All of the work produced was innovative & what might be commonly called 'politically progressive' or 'radical'.

The point is, our scene was much more happening than Neoism was when it came along yrs later. As such, I didn't 'need' Neoism as a social group of interesting active creative people. Alas, tho, the Baltimore scene was very ART oriented & I thought & felt that art was an outmoded context for creativity, I wanted to operate outside its confinements. Furthermore, I was the only anarchist is this rather sizeable group of Baltimore people - so, for me, many of the people involved were working w/in philosophies that I found that they took more for granted, rather then being critical.

SO, when Monty Cantsin (Itsvan Kantor) came to BalTimOre in December of 1980, it was refreshing to be able to talk w/ someone thinking along similar non-art/anarchistic lines. The downside was that Monty (Istvan)'s purpose was to incorporate what he thought of as The Krononauts (when, really, the people involved represented a plethora of groups) into Neoism in order to ultimately further the greater glory of Neoism w/o ever really bothering to understand what the BalTimOreans were up to. Nonetheless, among my friends, I was the one to most emphasize the NEW & Neoism seemed to promise more of that so I was glad to ally myself w/ it.

Hence, in February, 1981, I went to Montréal to participate in the 2nd international Neoist apartment festival, aka APT 81, joined a day or 2 later by 3 more BalTimOreans ( https://youtu.be/TZXcxzCoBrg ). Then, from the end of May to the beginning of June, 1981, I organized the 3rd fest, the 1st to be outside Montréal, in BalTimOre (vaudeo documentaion of that starts here: https://youtu.be/_FfY1dw6RDI ). Despite having no money this was easily done b/c we had such a large scene of people readily available & game AND I was living in an almost impossibly cheap rented mansion w/ something like 23 rms.

Jumpcut to 2009, the 30th anniversary of Neoism. By now I was the 1st (or 2nd) person to use the Monty Cantsin name as of 1982 & APT 5 ( https://archive.org/details/apt-5 ). Monty (Istvan) had called me "the cofounder of Neoism". Cantsin (Kantor) contacted me about participating in a proposed 30th anniversary APT fest in Toronto. I had a 22 person orchestra at the time (HiTEC (Histrionic Thought Experiment Orchestra) - witness our 1st gig here: https://archive.org/details/HiTEC051full ) & I proposed that we participate. He told me that was too much for him to be able to organize. I told him I'd try to organize it myself & I contacted the Music Gallery to see if they were interested. In a manner that's since become the norm in my life, they didn't reply. That APT fest, as far as I know, didn't happen - presumably b/c Monty (Istvan) was overwhelmed by the task.

Jumpcut to 2013, a 2 wknd memorial for the recently deceased "Blaster" Al Ackerman, held in BalTimOre & organized by John Berndt. Cantsin (Kantor) attended, entering the us@ possibly for the 1st time in 25 yrs after having gotten in trouble for painting a blood "X" on a MoMA interior wall & having gotten arrested for it. He'd been afraid of re-arrest. He called me "the greatest living neoist" & I countercomplimented w/ "then you must be the greatest dead neoist!".

Jumpcut to 2018, I organized the UNDERAPPRECIATED MOVIEMAKERS FESTIVAL ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/UNDERAPPRECIATED.html ). In my call for potential participants I stated:

Have you been making movies for at least 30 years without receiving much attention?

Do you have a large body of work that you don't get credit for?

Have you seen younger, richer friends of yours imitate you & go on to well-paying gigs at places where you're more likely to be confronted by security forces wondering why you're there?

Are you still controversial after decades of dedicated work?

Is it almost impossible for you to get a screening anywhere?!

Is your work almost never written about?! 

THEN THE UNDERAPPRECIATED MOVIEMAKERS FESTIVAL IS PROBABLY FOR YOU!!

Monty Cantsin (Istvan Kantor) wrote to me expressing a desire to be part of the festival. While he certainly has a large body of work produced in more than 30 yrs that work has been widely appreciated, he's rc'vd grants for producing a single work for more money than I've spent on hundreds of works. He'd rc'vd the Canadian government's highest acknowledgement, the Governor General's Award. B/c of this he didn't qualify. He is NOT UNDERAPPRECIATED. I wd've liked to include his work b/c I like it but I was sticking to the rules. Perhaps this rejection influenced what was to follow.

In 2018, I'd had a yr-long project of making a (M)Usic movie every day. When 2019 came along I decided that that wd be the yr I'd finally write my long-considered bk on Neoists (not so much on Neoism). Monty (Istvan) & I each have had our separate groups of Neoists that we work w/ & we don't necessarily know everyone in each other's groups. I was one of the people moderating a Neoism Fecesbook group. I'd been appointed as such by someone unknown to me & hadn't originally had much interest in it. The majority of the people in the group were lurkers - i.e.: people who were 'members' but who never contributed anything. In fact, there might not've been more than about 7 people who ever contributed at all.

In January, 2019, I emailed Monty (Istvan) & told him about my plan to write a bk about Neoists/Neoism & asked him for contact info for people he knows that I don't know. He told me he'd just gotten back from Israel & that he needed to recover from the trip & that then he'd share that info. Such sharing has been normal throughout our long association - usually w/ him asking for info from me more often than the reverse.

In my outreach for my proposed Neoist bk I asked the hundreds of people on the Fecesbook page whether they considered themselves to be Neoists - explaining that I wanted to interview them for my bk if they did. Only the obvious few replied, the hundreds of others continuted to lurk. Monty (Istavn) got furious saying that I was ruining what 'we' had worked for for so long, EVERYONE IN THE WORLD IS A NEOIST, he claimed, & my implying otherwise was a crime against neoism (not his words). I replied that I didn't think that everyone in the world is a Neoist, that, in fact, very few people even have the slightest idea of what Neoism is & that even fewer considered themselves to be Neoists. To me, Monty (Istvan)'s assertion was akin to the Christinane mvmt of the '70s in wch it was declared that there was "ONE WAY": in other words, everyone was to be made a Christinane, for 'their own salvation', of course. This conflict between us escalated, hundreds of lurkers dropped off (to my satisfaction). I substituted my half of the comments war w/ schmaltzy poetry, the intent of wch was to create a humorous conflict between 'pretty' poetry & angry responses.

Shortly thereafter, Monty (Istvan) starrted organizing the 40th anniversary APT Fest, planning to have it in Montréal, the place where APT Fests 1, 2, 4b, & 6 happened. He didn't manage to get any of the original participants, Kiki Bonbon (1, 2, 4b, & 6), Zbigniew Brotgehirn (1, 2, 4b, 6), Napoleon Moffat (1, 2, 4b?, 6), the Mignault Brothers (2, 4b?, 6), Boris Wanowitch (4b?, 6), Alan Lord (6), to be part of it. He DID write to Alan & asked him specifically NOT to let me know about it saying something to the effect that I "fuck things up". What this meant, in honest language, is that I opposed Monty (Istvan)'s 2 biggest Neoist pushes: 1. Do everything in the name of Neoism (I'm opposed to torture & rape in the name of Neoism, e.g.), 2. Everyone in the world is a Neoist (if that's the case, count me out - I'm perfectly happy w/ Neoism being an obscure cultural conspiracy w/ less than 20 active participants at any given time). In other words, a person who "fucks things up" is a person who rejects Monty (Istvan)'s one world vision in wch he's everyone's LEADER.

I was exceptionally impoverished at the time & cd barely afford to do ANYTHING, let alone get to the CacaNadaian border & risk getting turned back. Nonetheless, I made some work in preparation for the 40th anniversary fest in case I cd find someone willing to join me & help defray expenses. The fest came & went, I looked at footage of it online. What I looked at seemed like a fairly normal open mic - w/ no work presented that made any attempt to do something special, these people cd be doing the same work in any other context.

It might've been after the 40th anniversary that Pata-No UN LTD contacted me by email. This was a new younger Neoist who I hadn't been previously familiar w/. We traded thru the mail & interviewed each other for websites of mine:

"Interview with tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE conducted by Pata-No UN LTD" - http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/InterviewByPata.html

"2019.08 Pata-No UN LTD interviewed by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE by email" - http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/InterviewPata.html

Pata-No informed me that there was going to be published a bk connected to the 40th anniversary & that while it was mainly for people who'd attended the festival that he thought he'd be able to put something of mine in it. That brings us directly to the bk being reviewed. Pata-No sent me Istvan's invitation to contribute email:

"Present editorial board includes Blattella Germanica, Pata-No UN LTD and myself (Istvan Kantor), Amen.

"What we are NOT looking for are historical essays and Neoist manifestoes, not because they are

useless but because this publication won't be a history book of Neoism neither a collection of manifestoes.

"What are we looking for are essays investigating how Neoism works in today's techno-glitterotarian

society under the hyper-over-gentrified conditions of Total Disaster that characterize our everyday life situations,

including all creative sectors and the authoritarian controlfreak political systems, including the

army, the church and the rich.

Where is today our fuckoff revolution situated? Has it any any significant presence or we are just

wasting our time with this futile concept of Neoism? Do we have to reinterpret Neoism for the

present ideological stage of Total Disaster, for the newly elected worldwide dictatorship which we reject without any

need to explain it why. 

What we would like to read are essays reflecting not only on the above subjects but also describing your own

personal experiences and connections to your immediate and larger societies.

We hope this helps to define the character of this book in progress."

"We also keep the rights of editing the contributions and

we are only looking for texts but not visually already manipulated text. 

What we can do however is to give a limit to the length of the essays, like let's say 

maximum 4000 words, less or more. As we already said images will be used from the Montreal event."

"This is a primarily a collection of NEW Neoist essays for Neoism Now!! The book's title "Neoism - 40 Years of Pop-up Revolution" refers to the 40 years anniversary but it's going to be a

collection of newly written material. You can, of course, look back to previous events

or use quotes from their earlier writings but this book is essentially about present day,

just like the Montreal event was. And in fact for illustration we want to use strictly/mainly the photos

taken in Montreal at Neoism40. The main mention/deployment of older/prior texts are mainly as examples of the collection's mixed formatting/"style" but also to encourage additional submissions of any unpublished/undocumented Neoist rarities/fragments intermixed in for additional context and a deconstruction of the possibility of totalistically documented/historicized Neoism as these are many of the measures employed in the milieu of those art/avant garde historians/intelligencia and museum/gallery bosses its the ongoing undermining of these structural tropes (similar to parody) that may lend to options for Neoism Now!

"Everyone will be glad to be informed that we looped/cut-up/plagiarized/exappropriated/detourned this text mostly from the highlights of prior emails (chains) to/between those that've already agreed to submit materials as an act/move in the game of NEOISM as an example for/to be included in the book/text."

The claim is made in the above that "images will be used from the Montreal event." as if any other images wd be unwelcome. This, like so much else about the bk, is a lie. According to the credits: "book design, illustrations: Joseph Tasnadi". The bk design is very homogenous, no aesthetic other than Istvan Kantor's, certainly not that of any of the 40th anniversary participants, is allowed. Many of the larger images are taken from the Machine Sex Action Group, a project of Istvan's from no later than 2002 (when I published an image from them in Street Ratbag #6). The inside front cover of the bk is based on a rubber stamp of Istvan's dating back to about 1979. A more accurate editorial policy wd've been 'no images will be allowed that don't glorify Istvan Kantor.' The actual images from the festival are mostly presented in contact sheet style since the participants presented are mainly window dressing & aren't important enuf to be 'allowed' to have a full page or their own aesthetic. There are SOME exceptions: SPIEL!: 2, Istvan's girlfriend (Blattella Germanica): 2, &, of course, Istvan: 3.

I provided a photo of the action that I wd've performed had I been in attendance & the following text that I wrote after watching the festival footage online:

"Neoism is as Neoism doesn't"

- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

- August 20, in the 40th year of Our Lard Neoism

"Neoism is NOWHERESVILLE, pettio, babbio, mommio, daddio! "Where is today our fuckoff revolution situated?" Consider this: In January, in the 40th year of Our Lard Neoism, I received this email from a former Neoist who's a friend of mine in Montréal:

"Istvan wants to put together a 40th anniversary of Neoism get-together in Montreal this May.

"Of course I proposed to invite YOU. His reply: "Tent is a difficult case as he loves to fuck things up"

"and then he asked me to wait before talking to you about it."

"Neoism is wherever Neoism isn't. Therefore, if you see the BRAND NAME OF NEOISM shouted at you you can be sure that that's NOT where Neoism's at. If you see a young woman wearing a mini-skirt with Neoism written on it & if she's carrying a megaphone with Neoism written on it, look for Neoism somewhere else. That's just an advertisement meant to further the career of some self-serving CEO.

"How does Neoism work "in today's techno-glitterotarian society?" By being everywhere where Neoism isn't. It's long since ceased to work by using a collective identity, by using plagiarism. Neoism doesn't even disguise itself as Neoism anymore, it's ceased to be Neoism in defense of itself. If you find someone declaring themselves to be a Neoist & doing everything in the name of Neoism you can be sure that they are only a distraction.

"If you encounter a Neoist who reserves "the rights of editing the contributions" look elsewhere for Neoism because this person is a censor. If a Neoist approaches you who says "And in fact for illustration we want to use strictly/mainly the photos taken in Montreal at Neoism40" be forewarned: this person means you harm & just wants to use you to further their career. The images are meant to historicize the CEO's position as a Puppet Master, look elsewhere for Neoism.

"Look for Neoism among the people who won't call themselves Neoists, who won't even talk with you about Neoism. Look for Neoism amongst the activities of people who won't use the brand-name anymore or any of the buzz-words. Look for Neoism amongst the activites of people who didn't just present their usual act at Neoism40 without the slightest concern with whether it meant anything or not. Look for Neoism anywhere but at Neoism40."

This text wasn't included in "Neoism - 40 Years of Pop-Up Revolution - 1979-2019". This exclusion wasn't identified by the editors as censorship, instead there was a feeble justification from Pata-No that what was included was from people who attended the 40th anniversary fest. This, however, is another lie. The "Verbal Eternizations" are credited to: PataNo LTD / Amen Dot OBS / Esmeraldo Eldorado / Florian Cramer / Blattella Germanica / SPIEL! / Monty Cantsin". Ignoring not even getting PataNo's full name correct there's the issue that he didn't even arrive at the festival until the 4th day & didn't connect w/ it until the 5th day. "Amen Dot OBS", probably "Esmeraldo Eldorado", & "Monty Cantsin" are all Istvan Kantor. "Blattella Germanica" is Istvan's girlfriend & was there. "SPIEL!" was, apparently, there.

Florian Cramer didn't attend the fest & was in Rotterdam, Netherlands, at the time. An interesting thing about Florian's inclusion is that Istvan has hated his guts for the majority of the time that Florian's been involved w/ Neoism. But Istvan's seen that Florian has had some success as a Neoist in academia & has, apparently, decided to try to profit off of that success. Istvan despises Stewart Home too but Stewart had success promoting the idea of plagiarism so Istvan incorporated that into Neoism hoping to have similar success. Why are Blattella & PataNo prominent? As far as I can tell, at least partially, b/c they both appear to have money & that money might've been needed to get this bk published. Both Florian & PataNo have academic intellectual cred & that seems to be part of what this bk is also trying to establish for Neoism.

At any rate, where are actual attendees of the fest represented? As stated, SPIEL! has something in it; nothing from Charlotte Bonaparte; nothing from Jana Astanov; nothing from Burning Iceberg; nothing from Brian Damage; nothing from W.A. Davison; nothing from Neal Armstrong; nothing from Judith Jasmin-Vienneau; nothing from Frater Neo. Now these latter 6 people are presented as having presented "Neoist poetry, manifestos, songs and speeches". Surely a sample from each of them cd've been presented in this bk? But, no, this bk isn't meant to represent those people, they're just window dressing, they're there as if to say: "See, there are people in my cult!"

There's nothing from Martian Crises Unit; nothing from FoxP2; Jack5; The Bim Prongs (W.A. Davison solo). I wd've liked to've seen full page photos (the contact sheet sized photos are too small for good detail) of the musical set-up of The Bim Prongs at the very least. William uses interesting instrumentation & for those of us who care about such things a closer look wd've been informative. But the individuals are of no importance, except for, mainly, Istvan & his girlfriend. Almost everyone else, once again, is just window dressing. At 'best', they're Canon fodder.

In the call for contributions it's stated that "this publication won't be a history book of Neoism neither a collection of manifestoes." &, yet, there's plenty of that - even a re-enactment of the Neoist Chair action of 40 yrs before starts off the festival. As usual, it wd've been more honest to say that 'any history allowed has to come from Istvan Kantor & must glorify him.'

Istvan Kantor, the primary author of this bk, is desperate. He's in his 70s, he's been trying, in a completely obsessive way, to be a POP STAR, to be a FAMOUS ARTIST for 40 yrs by now. He has plenty of talent, he has an imagnation, he's very hard-working; the collective identity of Monty Cantsin has enabled him to plunder the minds of all the participants. The Open Pop Star concept makes that par for the course. The other people involved, regardless of how hidden it is, are Canon Fodder, they're just supporting actors for the one & only all-important superstar, Istvan himself.

Alas, most Neoists have strong personalities, we've always held our own, hence Istvan's ongoing mania leaves us burnt-out & Istvan's main collaborators tend to go away leaving the vampire in need of fresh blood.

Yes, Istvan is desperate; he wants to be David Bowie, he wants to be Andy Warhol, he wants to be a STAR in New York City - but he's never learned that NYC is built on the blood & guts of wannabes like himself. Richard Hambleton provided enuf paintings for the bloodsuckers to live & profit off of for many decades to come - & to make sure he sold them cheap the masterminds made sure he became a heroin addict, cranking out the work & selling it off to get a fix. Richard led a miserable life & ruined his health w/ scoliosis that didn't need to be so bad & wdn't've been if he hadn't destroyed himself w/ drug abuse. The people behind those drugs are the same people that Istvan wants to make him a star. Sure, his work might sell for a fortune someday.. after he's dead. In the meantime? Istvan's not going to get what he wants. EVER. This 'need' that people have to be a Famous Artist in New York is pathetic.

"Neoism - 40 Years of Pop-Up Revolution - 1979-2019": "Pop-Up Revolution"? I like the idea - even if it is somewhat of a rehash of Peter Lamborn Wilson's T.A.Z. (Temporary Autonomous Zone).

AMEN.'s 1st essay appears on what I count as p4 (the bk isn't paginated). The title is: "Chant for Total Disaster March - The Blattella Parade - Excerpts". Blattella Germanica is the name of one of the editors. Blattella Germanica translates to German Cockroach.

"The German cockroach is the cockroach of concern, the species that gives all other cockroaches a bad name. It occurs in structures throughout Florida, and is the species that typically plagues multifamily dwellings. In Florida, the German cockroach may be confused with the Asian cockroach, Blattella asahinai Mizukubo. While these cockroaches are very similar, there are some differences that a practiced eye can discern." - https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/roaches/german.htm

Before I knew that Blattella Germanica is lovers w/ Istvan Kantor we connected w/ each other on LinkedIn (although I don't remember if that's the name she used there). She presented herself as a cockroach, something I found hilarious. I asked her how much it wd cost me for her to make a business video promoting me - as a cockroach. I had a little money, I thought linking to something like that on LinkedIn wd be very funny. She gave me an honest answer telling me that she cdn't really do that. Too bad. Once I realized who she was I disconnected.

Much or most of the language contextualizing Neoism40 is apocalyptic language.

People eat that shit up. It's just like the craze for surreptitiously focusing on serial killers - all the cruelty & misery is fine as long as the spectator can stay safely separate from it. Here're some examples from the chant:

"What do law and order mean to you?

Total Disaster

What does getting up mean to you?

Total Disaster

What does being young mean to you?

Total Disaster

What does being in love mean to you?

Total Disaster

What does growing old mean to you?

Total Disaster" (p 4)

Really? & yet who wd most or all of these people turn to if their home was burglarized? The police. How many of them really feel that being young is a total disaster? There's plenty of pleasure to be gotten from having a fresh young body. Etc. The chant is modeled on a political protest chant except that it's much too long. Still, it enables mass participation by having a call & response w/ the response always being the same: "Total Disaster". Take an example of a more typical protest march chant:

"What do we want?

_____ [insert something like "Health Care"]

When do we want it?

Now!"

Istvan takes the tropes of activism & uses them to give his art an appearance of revolution. That cd be called co-opting. I don't really object but I do think that people who might mistake it for actual activism look again.

Lest the reader of this review think that I'm entirely negative about this bk, I'm not. In fact I think much of the language is wonderful, Istvan's best yet - I am, however, deeply resentful & critical of my being censored from this & thoroughly sick of the pretenses that Istvan has so deeply embedded in Neoism.

I've always been interested in what people actually DO, not in the bullshit that they use to obfuscate what they might not actually DO much. Neoism has always had a heavy facet of MYTH to it. That's been fun, Neoists get together & the myths gets thrown around for our mutual entertainment. I'm particularly fond of Boris Wanowitch's Unknown Neoist idea. One can be looking anywhere & 'spot' the Unknown Neoist. This is a source of endless entertainment. But it's things like Boris designing & building an igloo for APT 6 ( - on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/u8KUb-8Kutg ; on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/apt-6 ) that really do it for me - it's not just talk, talk, talk.

We move on to a collaborative txt written by Pata-No UN LTD & Monty Cantsin OBS ( Old Boring Shit ): "PreFUCKface: Of Impossible Revolution - Poppin-Off Mondo Neoism": Perhaps the italicized parts were written by OBS & the 'normal' parts by UN LTD.

""Fuckoff Neoism Now!" with this latter prefix and suffix sans definition" (p 6) I enter the narration, albeit obliquely, insofar as I defined Neoism at APT 5 (NYC, 1982) as "a prefix & a suffix with nothing in between", still one of my favorite definitions.

"Our Neoism today is neither aesthetic nor political and it is not part of the Hysterical Avantgarde. Total Disaster is here, its time has come and lies in front of us: The Mighty Concept of the Apocalypse is alive" (p 6)

"Frigid Bardot goes on to make the claim, terrifying in its full report, that all that remains is the Fascinating Adventure of Neoism for which these indifferent forms are useful and for which annihilation is a vital operational system." (p 7)

Oh, really?! Yep, the Total Disaster of Neoism?! embraces Annihilation! - unless, of course, it somehow gets in the way, even to the teeniest-tinest degree, w/ an attempt to further one's Art World Career as a great spokesperson of the Apocalypse. "If you find someone declaring themselves to be a Neoist & doing everything in the name of Neoism you can be sure that they are only a distraction."

But, what the hell, both of these guys can be really funny:

"This question of the 'now' and passage of the 'event' of the 'happening' not only exceeds the metaphysicalist/hermeneutic readings of those like Cunt, Bagel, Sharx, Kitschen, Heildigger or Lovena, and links post-mortemnity to deconstruction, but it also (un)ties to the passage/"overcoming" of/from Utility Nihilism to the enframing/frameworks from Prehistoric Neoism to Cosmic Eternity Neoism and Post-Mortem Neoism and beyond." (p 7)

Kant, Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, Chan?

"The spectacle of noise is an ongoing festival that needs no description as it includes everything from birth to death. This is why I can say any bullshit without worrying about making a statement that makes sense. My language is part of the spectacle of noise and thus it describes it through its own structure, What I'm trying here is to restructure what has already been said millions of times by people in the streets, in restaurants, in bedrooms, in offices. I'm just having fun with words that are so functional in negating linear progression and time." (p 10)

That wd be fair enuf.. except that, while the statement is certainly bullshit, it also makes sense & is clearly discursive w/o really restructuring anything or being in the least bit noisy. Oh, well. Maybe it's more the festival-of-likes-to-hear-himself-talk.

"Neoism emerged from the Mail Whatever Network in the late seventies in Portland(Ore) and in Montreal(Qué). The inspiration came from the US Mail

Artists David Zack and Dr Blaster Al Ackerman. Zack, through correspondence, convinced Istvan Kantor to become Monty Cantsin, the open-pop-star. Soon after their exchange of letters, Kantor visited Zack in Portland, Oregan, USA, in june/1978. From the moment of his arrival, Zack introduced Kantor to everyone as Monty Cantsin. Kantor/Cantsin spent six months in Portland under the auspices of the CASF (Correspondence Art Service Foundation) and underwent a special training coached by Zack and dr Ackerman. After returning to Montreal Kantor/Cantsin coined the name Neoism and inititated the movement. Neoism was then officially launched on May 22, 1979, in Montreal when Kantor/Cantsin and graffiti whateverist Lion Lazer, sitting on a Neoist Chair, distributed leaflets at the corner of Sherbrooke and McGill streets to passers-by and involved them in conversations about Neoism." (p 14)

To quote from the invitation to contribute to this bk:

"The book's title "Neoism - 40 Years of Pop-up Revolution" refers to the 40 years anniversary but it's going to be a

collection of newly written material. You can, of course, look back to previous events

or use quotes from their earlier writings but this book is essentially about present day,

just like the Montreal event was."

Except, as already noted, when the writing's about ISTVAN's past. No-one else's past need apply unless its funneled thru Istvan's telling.

"even with a more Salmineoist (retro/historic-"Neoism" position of Dr. Al Ackerman) spin on this by taking into account those various accounts given in the pages of YAWN or texts by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE or Floria Crimer we will not have the space-time in this text to fully develop this accounting of the challenges to reducing Neoism as a mere phase of the avantgarde or whatever(movement) in general." (p 15)

I think of Blaster's "Sal Mineoism" as a humorously intended evasion of being pigeon-holed a Neoist, I don't see it as "retro/historic". The next section to be quoted seems to be a slight rewrite of something that I wrote but I'm not sure wch txt it is. The substitution of "Whatever" for "Art" is one I highly approve of.

"I got involved with Neoism in the fall of 1980. As it developed, I monitored its progress with rapt interest. At 1st, when it was largely Montréal based, there was a conspiratorial intensity to it. The addition of BalTimOre brought in the North American networks of the Krononautic Organism & the Church of the SubGenius.

In retrospect, I still think my critique of the tendency of some Europeans to treat Neoism as yet-another-Avant-Garde-movement in Whatever-World-business-as-usual holds true. Nonetheless, there's still something about Neoism that manages, even under Whatever-As-Business like conditions, to keep the chaos alive." (p 15)

One of the most fun things about this bk is the ongoing practice of substituting puns for things preferred not to be referred to directly.

"their refinement into the "movements" like the avant-bard, Decadent Action and Whatever Strike/Whatever Glut/F'whatever/Spanish Whatever/Whatever Abolition Committee and so on..." (p 16)

All of these variations will probably be a source of amusement for those few of us immersed in such things & a source of confusion for people approaching these subjects freshly.

"To this end, we formulate (meta) noholism as a point of departure, not because we "believe' in it, but because it is a tENTATIVELY cONVENIENT position on the self-reflexive extreme of the mode of discourse (the 'contradictatory')." (p 19)

Make sense to you? Possibly not. Then try this on for size:

"Without other than through synecdoche/metonymy, to retrace the spiraling counterpath that ruins nihility. 'Dataphysics, 'shituationism', restrictionism, postmortemnity, hyper-dystopian unreality, on to Neoism and onwards we can at least refer to the recent Montreal events of Neoism40 - Total Disaster and its 'Zero-Sum Game No Show' exchance of silent a(u)ction between Pata-No UN LTD and tENTATIVELY A cONVENIENCE. These may be of some interest to those like Dias The Fixer (ironically as a/the? [text of] link) investigating the link between The Church of the SubGenius, Neoism and "...is it in some way, shape of form, related to disco-ordinaryism?"" (p 20)

The 1st sentence, alone, seems gratuitously confusing to me & I enjoy it as such. I think I'll try translating it: "Without other than through synecdoche/metonymy, to retrace the spiraling counterpath that ruins nihility.": Without using one word as a stand-in for many words (syncedoche/Neoism) or the substitution of a reference to an attribute of a thing rather than the thing itself (metonymy/Neoism) the thinker might try to find the origins of a focusing path that prevents destruction. Got that? I'm reminded of E. B. Ashton's "Translator's Note" to Theodor W. Adorno's "Negative Dialectics" wch begins thusly:

"This book-to begin with an admission-made me violate what I consider the Number One rule for translators of philosophy: never start translating until you think you know what the author means by every sentence, indeed by every word."

[..]

"But the enigmas piled up. I found myself translating entire pages without seeing how they led from the start of an argument to the conclusion."

[..]

"examining brick after brick to see whether they were really thrown together helter-skelter or there was some method in the madness. I found not one but several." - pp ix-x, "Negative Dialectics", Theodor W. Adorno, 2007 edition, Continuum International Publishing Group

As a professor at Frankfurt University, it's to be expected that Adorno wd have a vested interest in maintaining a high intellectual profile - as w/ many academics, that doesn't necessarily preclude bullshitting. I remember Alfred Jarry, a glorious non-academic, being quoted as saying something such as his 'writing over his head' when he wrote "The Exploits and Opinions of Doctor Faustroll, Pataphysician" - but, then, Jarry had no 'need' to convince anybody of anything to protect his cushy living, he didn't have one. Pata-No UN LTD, being influenced by both 20th century academic philosophers & 'Pataphysics, probably leans toward both forms of 'writing over one's head'.

Insider references abound: "Dias The Fixer" is Dias Gabriel, a fellow traveler in Brazil who's not a "fixer" in the gangster sense of someone who prearranges the outcome of a boxing match or nullifies a traffic ticket but is, instead, someone who can fix things, say computers. He can be witnessed here: https://youtu.be/QDtcfwvUH58?t=183 . As for "disco-ordinaryism"? To some mor(t)als that might be translated as "discordianism", thusly bringing us down to earthly goddesses & the like.

In a rare bit where I find the authors to be in agreement w/ me when almost no-one else is:

"A prime example of these rogue events, which are both farcical and terrifying, is the recent bird flu scare (where the terrorists were wild ducks!).

There is no greater masquerade than this global panic, the sacred onion in panic soup. The international community becomes hectic and epileptic from the virus of terror and the terror of viruses. Terror is multiplied by the grotesque profusion of security measures that end up causing perverse autoimmune effects: the antibodies turn against the body and cause more damage than the virus." (p 22)

As I currently like to say: "Your Viruses Are Someone Else's Evil Spirits. You're Both Superstitious." For a more in-depth analysis of oligarchical uses of fear-of-viruses for control purposes & its negative effect on one's autoimmune system both literally & figuratively I recommend reading my 2 bks: "Unconscious Suffocation - A Personal Journey through the PANDEMIC PANIC" ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/Book2020.09PANDEMIC.html ) & "THE SCIENCE (volume 1)" ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/Book2022SCIENCE.html ).

But, then, there's this:

"In Neoism, individual performances are approached not as isolated pieces but rather as part of the performance of a much larger work, Neoism itself. As such, everything done under the banner of Neoism - from writing a poem or a letter, to being interviewed by a newspaper or magazine- is to be considered a performance which in turn forms part of the performance of an art movement called Neoism.

Neoism, the international movement of confusion games and total freedom.

Neoism is, above all, a prefix and a suffix without anything in between." (p 24)

After all that substituting "whatever" for "art", suddenly Neoism is an "art movement". Harumph. As for the "performance of a much larger work, Neoism itself" it's not exactly coincidental that what this largely results in is the lack of credit that the individual participants get & the way Istvan Kantor becomes the primary focus of attn & figurehead. & what's this "total freedom" biz? "total freedom" means that Istvan has a philosophical excuse for using everyone else for his glorification - but someohow, the "total freedom" stops when it's time to censor anything that I might say that goes contrary to the not-really-so-totally-free mythologizing. I've actually published Istvan many times w/o ever once censoring him. Funny how that works.

At least the word-play runs throughout the entire bk:

"10. A multitude of intertextual patanational players/"examples" to play off of - take a tip from "us" and spend the next Election Day in bed with a fat joint/blunt and a Pataproxy track, researching not only revolutionaries like Baader or Meinhof, or serial killers like Zodiac or Thierry Paulin, but don't forget Some, tEMT, Cantos, Crimer, Booed Rea Lard, Lia Retard, Dorian Ridda, the Krackers of Sexous and "troublemakers the world over." Fuck the World!" (p 28)

Yes, but is it consensual?

Page 30 brings us Monty Cantsin's article entitled "The Poetical Plunderground of Neoism?!"" "Plunderground" is derivative of John Oswald's "Plunderphonics". Back when Oswald coined the term I found it inspired & entertaining, as was the work he made in its name. Alas, since then, every cheap pseudo-theorist & their pet frog's fanny-pack supplier has justified their shallow product w/ such claims that it's "looped/cut-up/plagiarized/exappropriated/detourned" when, really, it's just unoriginal b/c they're not capable of being otherwise. Appropriation theorists deride the notion of originality but one doesn't have to look far to see the difference between brilliant thinkers like Henry Flynt & hackademic exploiters like Kenneth Goldsmith.

"But there is no Neoist?! poetry and there are no Neoist?! manifestos. Neoism?! does not support the creation of artistic products. All the poems and manifestos that were written or made in the name of Neoism?! are fake or unnecessary by-products /<one way relation with TV>/." (p 30)

I agree that there's no Neoist?! poetry & no Neoist?! manifestos - but my reasons for that opinion are different. I prefer to think that there's no Neoist?! Poetry b/c Neoism?! isn't about establishing formal characteristics identified w/ itself. In other words, to say that there's Neoist?! Poetry implies not only that it's written by Neoists but also that it has formal characteristics that makes it different from non-Neoist?! Poetry. Of course, that doesn't stop Istvan from having Day 2 of Neoism40's programming be "Neoist poetry, manifestos, songs and speeches" (p 92) The problem is that if one takes away the most common categories then people who produce common work won't have anything to hold onto. The same goes for manifestos: what if by not writing Neoist?! manifestos we're proclaiming an independence from the clichés of yesteryear? One of the 1st things Stewart Home did when trying to establish himself as the leading theorist of Neoism was to provide simple-minded manifestos so that he cd have followers. The people who aren't looking for manifestos are more likely to be non-followers.

On the next page, Monty claims that "A list of names of Neoist?! conspirators is probably the only Neoist?! poem to remember" (p 31)

I like that idea & like that part of the txt that starts on p 34 & finishes on p 35. Here's an excerpt:

"Gary Singerman's money stamping project is Neoist?! poetry. Six Fingers Club is always open for Neoist?! poetry. Alain Snyers never stops talking about Neoist?! poetry. Zoe Szilagyi's letters are Neoist?! poetry. Stiletto's haircut is Neoist?! poetry. Pamela Stockwell's cunt is Neoist?! poetry. Joseph Tasnadi makes Neoist?! black humour poetry. Kent Tate's home is Neoist?! poetry. tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE's fucked-upedness is Neoist?! poetry. Miki Toma is an official Neoist?! photo-poetry-graphist. TTP lost contact with Neoist?! poetry. Gabor Toth got scared of Neoist?! poetry. Ruth Turner's laugh is Neoist?! poetry. Li-San Tibodo keeps doing Neoist?! poetry. Toyo takes pictures of Neoism?!. Ubi sings Neoist?! poetry in the streets. Via Vidorae fell in lone with Neoist?! poetry. Andras Voith's mail-box is full of Neoist?! poetry. Gordon W's chapati is Neoist?! poetry." (p 35)

I find that an inspired txt. Having known most of the people listed adds spice to it for me. How many of them wd think of themselves in the way they're presented is a different story. I was in the "Six Fingers Club" & I have no idea what it means for us to be "always open for Neoist?! poetry." I doubt that Ruth Turner, who I've known for more than 40 yrs, ever thought of anything whatsoever about herself as "Neoist?!" anything. Whatever.

"Because the poetical function of the people has been suppressed by society, someone like dr Ackerman considered, by the majority of our society, a mental patient. In march/86, after being arrested for the millionth time for dancing naked, holding a flaming steam iron in his right hand and a half empty bottle of Whyte & Mackay scotch whiskey in the left, in front of a shopping centre in San Antonio, Texas, he pointed out very clearly in a confessional letter (Confessions of an American Ling Master) he has sent from jail to the major of San Antonio, that poetry is a social issue and not just a question of publishing and selling books." (p 38)

I really don't know what the reader coming to such content cold wd think of it. Wd they think that this is a true story about a Sal Mineoist who's a doctor in San Antonio, TX? Maybe. I have a copy of "Confessions of an American Ling Master" given to me by "dr Ackerman" (henceforth "Blaster") when I visited him in-person in San Antonio for the 1st time around June 8, 1986. Looking thru this bk, I see no mention of Istvan's story at all. Knowing Blaster as I did, probably better than most, the story of his arrest seems far-fetched, to say the least. At any rate, he mentioned nothing about it to me when I visited him a mere 3 mnths later. I will say, tho, that once one enters the exquisitely deranged world of Blaster's imagination & the effects it had on his friends pretty much anything goes - as long as it's as convoluted as a thousand mile spaghetti noodle that never managed to get cut into more manageable pieces that was used by a yogi for cleaning his nasal passages. I remember laying on the floor under the Ling Master in Stephanie's bedroom & getting a quick glimpse of Istvan Kantor laying under her bed completely covered in polka-dotted maggots all swaying in sync w/ each other & singing a Neoist?! anthem in Esperanto but w/ a strangely irrelevant Chinese accent. So, you see, Istvan's story cd be true. This is why casual readers of "Neoism - 40 Years of Pop-Up Revolution - 1979-2019" shd really watch their back.

"Neoist?! conspirators in various countries are trying to utilize poetry as instrument of a fuck-off revolutionary critique, and some of them will partially succeed in this.

"One of them is Florian Cramer, this young Neoist?! liar, who is simply bluffing by trying to arouse admiration for her brilliant rediscovery of non-poetry poetry. Her career as Neoist?! began at around the late 80s when she personally insulted and ridiculed on several occasions some members of the German government who happened to cross her path. While she is denouncing Neoism?!, in which she participates for a number of years, she is the manufacturer of a superficial pseudocritical Neoist?! poetry rummaged out of the trashcans of history and technology. This superficial pseudoness is perhaps the most characteristic sign of Neoist?! poetry in general."

[..]

"Cramer's "Seven by Nine Squares" is a clever machine to create Neoist?! poetry automatically (because Neoists?! are actually too busy to make Neoism?!)." (p 42)

There's that noodle again. "the Neoism Machine" can be found in action here: http://permutations.pleintekst.nl/neoism/cantsin.cgi .

I have to thank Kantor for including something that I wrote in a fairly straightforward manner, even tho I wd've preferred that he include what I actually wrote for the bk.

"In an essay about his own activities as a film-poet & vaudio maker, "Upping the Anti-School of Fucked-Up & Away", tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE introduces himself as follows: 'I could be called a fuck-up. I could even be said to have made being a fuck-up into my modus operandi. Some people study to do things so that they can do them "right". By doing it "right" they're often doing it in the same way that someone before them has done it - or building on what's been previously done by expanding its understood logic. Other people just go ahead and do something making mistakes left, right & center-recklessly pursuing their own vision, despite unpromising conditions, in the hopes of, at least, retaining their own personality, complete w/ quirks, & in the hopes of twisting their mistakes into unforseen advantages... I shine the most as a fuck-up.'" (p 43)

That's ALMOST an accurate quote. Istvan cuts out the "As a film & vaudeo maker," that's between "unforseen advantages" & "I shine the most" & uses a 3 dot ellipsis in the process. Anyone who knows my writing knows that I use a TWO DOT ELLIPSIS to signify more than one & to avoid a reference to the Christinane holy trinity as a symbol of infinity. Anyone interested in the actual entire article can find it here:

http://www.thing.de/projekte/7:9%23/tent_upping_a.html

The article was written in 1995 & was about the making of my only 16mm feature, "The "Official" John Lennon's Erection As Blocking Our View Homage & Cheese Sandwich" ( onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/nRqfWwHAdqA ). I love this film & am sure that any self-respecting person wd feel honored to curl up w/ it in front of a fireplace on a cold snowy equatorial midday. "The "Official" [..] Sandwich" was my most ambitious 16mm film & in some ways marked the end of a particular era of my moviemaking. The essay is self-effacing humor & was never intended as an overall philosophical statement to describe my whole life. 16mm filmmaking was getting increasingly expensive & unaffordable for me. My moviemaking practice changed dramatically the more I finally had access to computer editing tools.

"The "Official" [..] Sandwich" was my 146th movie, my 25th feature. As of May, 2019, when Neoism40 took place, I'd made 152 more features & 447 more movies in general. That's quite a huge body of work that the essay no longer applies to. The 1st movie I made using computer editing, aside from a short animation not in my Movieography made in 1996 as a birthday present for my girlfriend of the time, was probably "Cuntralia" (2001). As of the end of 2004 I finally had saved enuf money to allow the purchase of a computer capable of vaudeo editing. Hence I made the 1st of many computer-edited features, "Story of a Fructiferous Society" (1:26:00, 2005) ( - on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/VSlPEsZIPPo - on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/StoryOfAFructiferous ) - 10 yrs later than "The "Official" [..] Sandwich" they're both chock-full of innovation but I was no longer reliant on cutting costs by using dramatically outdated filmstock & borrowed cameras that I had a very limited time-frame for using before they had to be returned. For a detailed explanation of this work that has an entirely different slant to it than the explanation for "The "Official" [..] Sandwich" does entitled "Story of a Fructiferous Society IT BEARS FRUIT IN (Y)OUR MIND" go here: http://www.othercinema.com/otherzine/archives/index.php?issueid=22&article_id=96 . Kantor's "Lebensraum Lifespace Spectacle of Noise" & my "Story of a Fructiferous Society" were screened as a double feature at the Olympia Film Festival on November 7, 2006. This was thanks to Monty Cantsin (Chris). My documentary about Monty (Chris) is called "Monty Cantsin Rides Again" (on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/MontyCantsinRidesAgain ).

"This radical philosopher of Neoism?! met Kantor for the first time in dec/1980 in Baltimore, Maryland. tENTATIVELY was member of the Krononauts, a networking group with an ambitious goal to attract the attention of extraterrestrial aliens by a global party that was going to take place at many locations all over the world on march 9, 1982. Kantor has been fascinated by this deliberately Neoist?!ic idea and rushed down from Montreal to Baltimore. The Neoist?! was greeted at the Baltimore bus station by several Krononauts, among them tENTATIVELY. On dec 9, 1980, the Krononautic Society officially joined forces with Neoism?!. The event was marked by a special conference/performance evening at Pratt Central of Baltimore Public Library and an all night long party at the Krononautic Headquarters." (p 43)

It's hard for me to know if Istvan is deliberately skewing this story or if he really doesn't understand what he's writing about. The Chrononautic Society, as it was originally known, changed into the Krononautic Society wch then changed into the Krononautic Organism.. & then there was the Krononautic Divector Field. I usually use Krononautic Organism. Chronos = time, Nautic = relevant to travel; Time Travelers. This was (or still is) a Time Travelers Society. It was conceived of & founded by & mostly directed by Richard Ellsberry, who became X Richard (NOT Richard X) who became Richard Tryzno Ellsberry. Let's just say Richard. Richard's idea was to throw parties for people in the future(s) who cd time travel BACK to the party. Richard did various things to publicize the party that he hoped wd last into the far distant future where such time travel might be possible. As such, he succeeded in getting Linda Goodman to write about the Krononauts in her popular astrology bk entitled "Love Signs", he put an ad in the prominent glossy NYC-based arts magazine Art Forum, & when we had our big party 2 reporters from the New York Times came & wrote a story on it. March 9, 1982, was picked as the date for the big party b/c that was when there was a partial alignment of the planets in out solar system. What makes this a "deliberately Neoist?!ic idea" is beyond me. It was a Krononautic idea, one conceived of no later than 1977, yrs before Neoism?! began. We "joined forces with Neoism?!" b/c Monty asked us to & b/c 2 or 3 of us were 'Mail Artists' & b/c we were all for large scale collaborations. Otherwise, this joining forces didn't amt to much, the Montréal Neoists?! were hostile & the only actual collaboration that took place after this 1st meeting was arranged almost exclusively by me.

"A few years later tENTATIVELY's extreme radicalism has been signified by his critical attitude towards Kantor's own interpretation of the open-pop-star project and it resulted in an exchange of insulting letters extended into temporary cold war between him and "The Only Monty Cantsin"(a title tENTATIVELY has given to Kantor in an open letter, attacking him for being dictatorial and abusing the name for the sake of his own carrier)." (p 43)

I'm trying to quote this bk verbatim - hence I leave in misspellings such as "carrier" instead of the apparently intended "career". You get the idea.

The criticism of Cantsin/Kantor's use of the open pop star concept probably originated more w/ Peter Below than it did w/ me. Peter had hosted the 1982 Würzburg Neoist Training Camp. On March 25, 1984 he wrote "An open letter" to Monty (Istvan), other Neoists, & friends. Below was living in Amsterdam at the time. In the letter it was stated:

"And, what ... you put leadership attitudes in your behaviour, plus attributes of an ideology

And, Monty Istvan Kantor/Cantsin ...

You put other people in charge of your

self promotion. A real egomaniac project, as it looks to me.

The nice people you use for this purpose are in the

believe of acting like chainlinks in a (another) network-

but what a misunderstanding." - "neoism open popstar popstar Cantsin/Kantor", 1984

I saw this open letter for the 1st time in Paris at Reinhardt U. Sevöl's apartment in the spring of 1984. Below published a small bk of the initial letter & its responses in an edition of 16 at the end of 1984. The responses were by Pete Horobin, Vittore Baroni, David Zack, Mark Bloch, R.U.Sevöl, "Tentatively", Pete Horobin (again), Monty Cantsin (alias "Tentatively"), Monty Cantsin (alias Istvan Kantor). "Niels Lomholt did not answer the open letter. My letter to Kiki Bonbon was returned stamped "unknown". Anyone knowing his new address?" Stewart Home isn't included in this bk but he'd already taken a similar angry position soon after meeting Kantor at the 8th International Neoist Apartment Festival in London in spring, 1984.

"tENTATIVELY calls himself a "messtermind" and his creations "messterpieces". His own misery plays an important and decisive factor in creating his mess or should I say "messry". Because poetry is about attempting to accomplish expensive things with almost no money, tENTATIVELY navigates through the obstacles of FUCKED-UPEDNESS to just get some damn things made in some shape or form. He works with film, sound, video, writing, poetry, performance, sculpture, whatever, but he hates to be called a filmmaker or a poet. He is a "fuck-up" and therefor all the difficult circumstances and bad conditions which would stop anyone else in making things, for tENTATIVELY are the shaping factors helping to create more deviations from the initial vision. A broken camera, a missing light meter, an uncooperating janitor, a moody performer, a bad mike, an old film, etc. Mistakes can also become special effects, like bad exposure, unprofessional development of film. The more complex the project, the more it becomes a compendium of these poetical effects." (pp 45-46)

Oh, sheesh. The majority or entirety of this is still based on ONE essay about ONE work. What Istvan doesn't understand is that I use "messterpiece" & "messtermind" as an alternative to "masterpiece" & "mastermind" b/c I object to the word "master" in the sense that I support the philosophy of "Neither Master Nor Slave". "Messterpiece" & "messtermind" are humorous alternatives for hierarchical language. As for misery & "messry"? Sure, I've been miserable from time-to-time but I wdn't call it the dominant state of my life & tying it in w/ "messry", a neologism I've never used, makes it seem as if "messterpiece" has more to do w/ misery than it does w/ rejecting hierarchy. Is that just Istvan's interpretation? Or is he deliberately trying to mislead the reader?

Not only do I call myself a "messtermind" (rarely) but I also call myself a "Mad Scientist / d composer / Sound Thinker / Thought Collector / As Been / PIN-UP (Postal Interaction Network Underground Participant) / Headless Deadbeat of the Pup tENT Cult / booed usician / Low Classicist / H.D.J. (Hard Disc Jockey) / Psychopathfinder / Jack-Off-Of-All-Trades / criminally sane / Homonymphonemiac / Practicing PromoTextual / Air Dresser / Sprocket Scientist / headitor & earchivist / Explicator / Sexorcist / Professional Resister of Character Defamation / Proponent of Classification-Resistant What-Have-Yous / tOGGLE nUT cASE / Princess of Dorkness's Right Hand Man / Human Attention-ExSpanDex Speculum / Imp Activist / SPLEENIUS / Cognitive Dissident". Note that none of those self-descriptions appears in Istvan's article despite their having been part of my email signature for many yrs.

"Fucked-upedness creates the atmosphere of Neoism?!. 20 years a film-poetry and he still has not learned how to use a light meter. 41 years old, who has made over 162 movies, but he is still usually too poor to afford fresh film and prints. What about fresh salad and fruits? Does the Neoist?! have to eat? According to Monty Cantsin "hunger is the mother of beauty!"

"In one of tENTATIVELY's film-poems people keep going to restaurants without ever managing to eat, eventually starving to death." (p 46)

Ok, I don't really mind where he went w/ this. Nonetheless, he's taking ONE essay of mine & turning it into an all-encompassing philosophy. "20 years a film poetry" shd've been '45 yrs of moviemaking' as of 2020 when this bk was published. "162 movies" shd've been '610 movies' as of the beginning of 2020 ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/tENTMoviesIndexanchored2.html ). I don't call my movies "film-poetry" or "film-poems" but if other people want to that's their business. The movie referred to is called "Peterson's Restaurant", it's one of my last 16mm films (1995). For the script go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/Petersons.html . To witness the movie, it's on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/m8ty3ReloA4 & on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/petersons-restaurant .

On page 48, Florian Cramer presents his one short txt contribution to the bk. It's basically a simple story, a contribution to the mythology. He concludes it w/:

"(A Neoist's personal reflection on their being in Neoism for 30 of its 40 years, plagiarized from various Neoist sources.)"

In the middle of it there's a list of titles:

""Mind of the Universe" - "Invaders of Higher Civilization" - "The Book of SMILE" - "Media in Contention" - "Dialectical Antimaterialism" - "Blueprint of Neoism.""

I'm not sure what all the titles refer to. I deduce that "Invaders of Higher Civilization" & "Blueprint of Neoism." refer to Henry Flynt's great bk "Blueprint for a Higher Civilization". Flynt has never been involved w/ Neoism?!. Perhaps "Mind of the Universe" refers to "Mind Invaders" edited by Stewart Home. "The Book of SMILE" may refer to Kantor's own "The Book of Neoism". "Media in Contention" may refer to Cramer's own "Anti-Media". "Dialectical Antimaterialism" may refer to a phrase that may've originated w/ Michael Moorcock that John Berndt used: "Dialectical Immaterialism".

On page 54 an article starts credited to "Esmeralda Eldorado":

"Written by

Esmeraldo Eldorado

Author of THE ILLOGICAL SOCIETY

"TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH BY

MONTY CANTSIN

"WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

JAROSLAW SCHULTZ

"BOOKS FOR FUEL

Akademgorod

1995" (p 54)

I deduce that this is all fiction, more Neoist Mythstory but perhaps it's based in something I don't know about. I reckon Istvan Kantor is the author but I might be wrong. The less I have to do w/ Neoism?! the more I lose track of the mythology origins.

"Esmeralda Eldorado's view of Neoism?! and her/his approach to the study of Neoism?! are confusing. The principle difference between her/his thought edifice and most other literature on Neoism?! is that Esmeralda Eldorado regards Neoism?! as a psycho-sociological phenomenon rather than as something made by certain people for certain purposes. Neoism?! exists and thrives; it is the Siamese twin of our utopian hi-tech society. Only in the super-technological trans-society can there be anything of the type and order of magnitude of Neoism?!, which is with us forever; and only with the all-pervading effects that flow from Neoism?! can the self-destructive technological society hold itself together and further expand.

"Most people are easy prey for Neoism?!, Eldorado says, because of their firm but entirely erroneous conviction that it is composed only of lies and "tall stories" and that, conversely, what is true cannot be Neoism?!. But Neoism?! has long disdained the ridiculous lies of past and outmoded forms of propaganda, it operates instead with many different kinds of truth-half truth, limited truth, truth out of context, stolen information, obscure symbolism, utopian theories, mindfucking bullshit." (p 54)

One cd say that "Neoism - 40 Years of Pop-Up Revolution - 1979-2019" really goes for broke: we're told that Neoism?! is "with us forever" & that "it is the Siamese twin of our utopian hi-tech society." Well, if you're going to brag you might as well be as outrageous as possible. After all, Neoism?! is both our mother & father, our God, & our eminently fuckable fill-in-the-blank; it is our arms manufacturer & every idiot customer; there's no escaping from Neoism?! b/c it's the quicksand of our nightmares, the flypaper that's human-sized.

"Neoism?! is usually regarded as a simple provocation; this in itself makes a study difficult. To study anything properly, one must put aside ethical judgments. Perhaps an objective study will lead us back to them, but only later and with full cognizance of the facts.

"Another general conviction is that NEOISM?! consists mainly of "tall stories" disseminated by means of lies. To adopt this view is to prevent oneself from understanding anything about the actual phenomenon." (p 58)

In fact, objective study has proven that it is YOU who are the lie, YOU who have never heard of Neoism?!, who cdn't care less about it one way or the other, YOU CANNOT EXIST b/c if you did then the whole edifice upon wch Neoism?! stands might crumble.

"To study Neoism?! we must turn not to the philosopher, but to the conspirator; we must examine not a test group, but a whole world subjected to real and effective Neoism?!." (p 62)

It's only Neoist?! MODESTY that causes us to stop there. It shd be obvious that not only is our SUN made entirely of Neoism?! but ALL SUNS, ALL MATTER, Alma Mater; MEMORY IS MADE OF NEOISM; ALL SEXUAL FLUIDS ARE NEOISM?! AT A PARTICULAR TEMPERATURE. & spat out of a wormhole that leads straight to NYC comes ISTVAN KANTOR, bow down to him. Even the Emperor Norton has been brought back from the dead to roll out a red carpet in front of ISTVAN wherever he goes. He is the benevolent terrorist, an angry God w/ the Neoist?! equivalent of the Midas touch: everything he touches turns to Neoism?! even tho it was already NEOISM?! to begin w/. Join him! He won't even gain weight no matter how many of you he eats!

"English anti-Neoists?! try to play down the effectiveness of Neoism?! because they cannot retain their ultimate trust in anarchism. Personally, I, too, tend to believe in the pre-eminence of anarchy, and, consequently, in its invincibility. But as I observe the facts, I realize anarchism is terribly malleable," (p 63)

"English anti-Neoists?!" means Stewart Home & his friends. Stewart is as critical of anarchism as he is of Neoism?! & has carried out anti-anarchist campaigns.

"Neoism?! has such motive force that it controls the whole of the individual. This explains the totalitarian attitude that the individual adopts - wherever Neoism?! successfully has been created - and that simply reflects the totalitarian action of Neoism?! on the whole universe." (p 71)

There, now, that's better. It's not just the whole world, it's the whole universe - why, we all know w/o having to think about it for even a nanosecond that all moons are just Neoist?! eyeballs watching our every move & that Santa Cantsin will punish us if we've been bad.

"Without a metaphysical analysis of the myth, let's mention a few of the great myths that have been created by Neoism?: the myth of Akademgorod, of the world wide conspiracy, of the Monty Cantsins, of total freedom. Eventually the myth takes possession of the conspirator's mind so completely that his life is consecrated to it. Neoists?! live in a collective myth." (p 78)

Isn't it more that individual Neoists?! have their ideas collectivized by the Central Committee of ONE? Istvan Kantor? Hence you don't read that the myth of Akademgorod as the Neoist?! Promised Land originated w/ Napoleon Moffat. I don't live in a collective myth but if I did I'd be a peasant there. Personally, I'm more interested in the individuals whose imaginations contributed to the myth, not in having the myth become my delusion.

The next piece is by SPIEL!. He's new to me, I find him somewhat refreshing. His piece is the last thing, p 80, of the introductory section that precedes the center section that's 'about' Neoism40 itself. It's called "FUCK THE WORLD" & has this passage:

"Are you harassed for just the way you look

Are you sick and tired of the permanent war games

Are you suffocated by the state of surveillance" (p 80)

I can relate to that. It's very straight-forward.

& on p 82 there's a red & black photo spread w/ a text in the upper left that reads:

"NEOISM 40 - 1979-2019

TOTAL DISASTER

MONTREAL, 22-28 May 2019"

There's a burning building on the left side of the spread & you-know-who on the right side holding a bk w/ a 6 O'Clock symbol on it. He's shouting into a mic. I think it's safe to say that he has nothing to do w/ the burning bldg. He didn't set it on fire & he didn't live there. But he sure as fuck wants to be associated w/ it b/c it evokes APOCALYPSE & TOTAL DISASTER &, besides, he can go to his favorite café afterward w/o suffering any ill side-effects. Yes, but remember, this TOTAL DISASTER excludes people who "fuck things up". Istvan has his own status quo to maintain, y'know.

On the 1st day of the TOTAL DISASTER Istvan re-enacts the Neoist Chair Action that started Neoism as Istvan knows it. Simultaneous w/ this, SPIEL! The Overnational Socialist Party performed a street action "Beggars for Trump". Ok, I laugh about that, no beggar is likely to try to raise funds for a rich president. Rump, the Idiot King was in power in the US - but this was in CacaNada - so why not have it be "Beggars for Justin Trudeau"? For that matter, ignoring the yr for the moment, it cd just as well be "Beggars for Obama" or "Beggars for Biden". Trump did set a new low standard of vulgarity in the US but he was hardly the 1st US president to be absolutely despicable. Always choosing Rump for a kick in the seat of his pants makes it seem like people believe that the other presidents were really ok in contrast. I beg to differ.

Later that night there was the "MOLOTOV COCKTAIL PARTY". Gosh, that's so revolutionary, so hard-core. NOT. Then there're 5pp of what I've been calling the contact sheets: 3 images across, 6 down, 18 total. Ony one full page image & guess who that's of (you'll never guess) - next to someone w/ a mask covering all but their eyes & holding a sparkler. There's a birthday cake w/ sparklers on it too. I guess the person wearing the mask is supposed to look like a terrorist. Ooo, scary. Neoism?! is so dangerous! NOT. I'm generally loathe to make any sort of positive reference to Stewart Home but he did write a bk w/ a relevant title: "Defiant Pose".

Day 2 begins w/ a "Total Disaster March". There's a "Club Social" later. On the opposite page of this schedule there's a full picture of Blatella. She has a red star on her chest, a sign w/ NEOISM written on it & a steam iron held high. Then there're 5 more contact sheet pages w/ Istvan & Blatella prominently figured & a 6th full page image of Blatella in a pose similar to the one 6pp before.

Page 100 there's the skivvy on the "BUNKER RIOT". Gosh, everything's a disaster, a riot. NOT. A page of contact sheet sized photos followed by a full page photo of, guess who? Yes, Istvan Kantor holding a flaming steam iron. I've never seen that before. Then there's a 2pp spread of the stage set-up. I find that slightly interesting. Then an entire page of contact sheet sized photos of Bim Prongs, I commented on that earlier. Next up, 3 more pages of contact sheet photos featuring exciting pictures of 1. People standing at mics, 2. PEOPLE STANDING AT MICS W/ GUITARS!! You can never get enuf guitars, y'know?, rock'n'roll rebels n'at?! I hope their friends applauded the talent show.

But wait, wait.. it gets good.. Day 4 was the "Disaster Ball". That must be when they all drank poisoned kool aid & cut their genitals off or some such - y'know to show that they'll do ANYTHING IN THE NAME OF NEOISM?!. But no, it was a concert opening w/ "Ominous synth noise with messianic vocals". Wow, how '80s. I loved the '80s didn't you? 4 more contact sheet pages w/ people at mics, some w/ guitars.

Page 116, "NEOIST BOOTCAMP". Gosh, Neoism?! is so paramilitary. These people are serious. I hope they got home in time to smoke some pot before going to bed. Maybe there's something good on TV. 6pp of contact sheets. The performances look a bit more inspired than the other nights.

Page 124, "TOTAL DISASTER - THE PARTY IS OVER!". There's a "Ceremonial burning of a copy of The Book of Neoism?!" & the day is dedicated to Greta Thunberg. I'm sure she'd approve, for ecological reasons, a bk burning. There's a full page photo of the participants on top of a bldg. That looks like fun. Then there're 5 more pages of contact sheets. They don't add much.

Page 132. "EXODUS". They leave. 2 pp of contact sheet. One full size photo of what's-'is-face, this time next to SPIEL!. 3 more pp of contact sheet. How about one full page photo of everyone who participated w/ a txt identifying them? Is that too much to ask? Apparently so, b/c this bk isn't about them, it's about Istvan, like all of his other bks, including the ones ostensibly about other people like the one about David Zack & the one about Richard Hambleton.

Well, that's over w/. The supposed central subject of the bk isn't very revealing, it's all hype & Canon fodder.

Page 140, An article by "Amen." (Istvan Kantor) that begins:

"The simple fact is that the outburst of Neoism coincided with the explosion of New Technology in the early 80s and it wasn't by accident, but at the time when Neoism went amok and mutated into a world wide communication network Artificial (Un)Intelligence and Counterintelligence was also heavily implemented in the increasing planetarian operations of computer control technology." (p 140)

While we're on the subject of AU I might as well direct you to some relevant movies of mine:

641. "Mind Control"

- using an excerpt from "Unconscious Suffocation - A Personal Journey through the PANDEMIC PANIC" as narration from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

- prominently featuring 5 Story2Hallucination colab notebook animations made using the above text by Ryan Broughman

- 1080p

- 2:15

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/CAC8QlRVOXo

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/mind-control

648. "Artificial Unintelligence"

- made in June 2021 as a collaboration between tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE + Dick Turner + Carrion Elited

- 1920 X 1440 - 30fps stereo

- 12:27

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/Iw-rTflW-EQ

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/artificial-unintelligence

652; a. "Get with the program."

- the original version made using an online AI demo that has a text in the upper right that reads: "Handling customer data" followed by a short smaller font text - this version was shared to Facebook, LinkedIn, & Twitter (basically with sarcastic intent)

- :18

b. "Get with the program."

- in this version I blacked out the above-mentioned upper-right text & substituted the title over it in white font - I also added a credit at the end.

- 2K

- :20

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/KsvBrZ4t1iM

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/get-with-the-program.

But, what the fuck, Istvan really has dedicated over 40 yrs of his life to pushing Neoism?!, to giving birth to it, his pelvis must hurt like fuck right now. No wonder he does so much yoga. So what if it's a bit monomaniacal? There're worse ways of spending one's life. He cd've been an insurance salesman. W/ this in mind, I found the following story touching:

"THE FAILED REVOLUTION

"My motivations for this long trip on the road to Neoism can be retraced to my childhood. I just passed ny 6th birthday when a revolution broke out in Hungary, in October, 1956. I was truly inspired by the events and wanted to be part of them. One day, while everybody in our building were hiding in the air raid shelter I stepped out to the street carrying a toy gun my grandfather had made for me from fire wood. Our street was a main line for the Russian military and tanks were roaming there day and night. A convoy happened to come when I got to the street. I went behind a tree and pointed my gun at the oncoming tanks." (p 144)

But then we get to more romantic drivel:

"Why learn art in school?

Make art from stale bread and water in prison." (p 149)

I didn't go to art school but if I had a choice between art school & prison I'd choose art school. I mean, c'mon, there's nothing good to be gotten out of going to prison. This is the kind of hardcore posing that I find so despicable in this bk.

Page 156 brings us back to Neoism40 w/ Pata-No UN LTD's diary-like descriptions of his participation in the fest.

"IT'S MAY 20TH, 2019

"I'M AT (UN)HOME READING MY HEIDEGGER WHEN I NOTICE ON INSTAGRAM THE ANNOUNCEMENT FOR NEOISM40 BETWEEN PUSSY, BONG RIPS AND THE NEWS ON OTHER NON-EVENTS (BREXIT & IRAN)

"IT'S MAY 23RD, 2019.

I VIEW THE PICS OF THE TOTAL DISASTER MARCH ONLINE AS MY PASSPORT GETS RENEWED.

"SATURDAY. MAY 25, 2019

"10:20 PM Montréal, Quebec, CANADA

Pataphysicians's Log, Patadate 8.10.146.

10:21 PM - We have through the smooth emptiness of a procession out into the abyss of the infinite void led to this nowhere late on this flight to Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport." (p 156)

"11:24 PM - I'm dropped off by the driver, I'm not in disguise (still in my suitcase), as we get to the Hotel Park Avenue not knowing if Istvan was indeed in this city despite the prior Instagram posts." (p 157)

"SUNDAY. MAY 26, 2019" (p 157)

"12:15 PM - We were somewhere into Terror in Beverly Hills on the edge of the game unit when the drugs began to take hold. At last, it's him. At last, it's him. We were in the midst of the game.

The door of LA PLANTE opened. He appeared." (p 158)

"MONDAY. MAY 27, 2019" (p 158)

"4:00 PM - He suggests, "Would you like to walk together?" I signal that I would. We take a wooden walkway downhill. On the way we exchange on NEOISM?! Stewart Home and tENT." (p 159)

"TUESDAY. MAY 28, 2019" (p 159)

"3:27 PM - After getting invited to contribute to and co-edit the Neoism40 collection, I take a meta-picture of Miki and Blattella photographing Monty Cantsin next to "The Sense of Neoism?! An Infinite Manifesto."

"3:51 PM - We're on our way to Central station after waiting for the cab, and smoking marijuana with Miki.

"4:28 PM - Soon the sign started appearing, TOTAL DISASTER. I could've held it longer but I let it go as the cops showed."

[..]

"4:46 PM - We simply say good-bye. After we line up in a group photo. Before he walks away along the streets, I meta-phorograph his back and let him go. Istvan K. did nothing. A banal ending to this banal story." (p 160)

Well, that's honest enuf, eh? No posturing there. What a relief.

"IT'S SEPTEMBER 19TH, 2019

"I GET YESTERDAYS EMAIL FROM ISTVAN INVITING ME TO WRITE THIS TEXT FOR THE ARGENTINE ZINE. I'VE BEEN EMAILING WITH TENTATIVELY A CONVENIENCE AS A PART OF THE GAME. I NOTIFY MY ASSOCIATES IN AKADEMGOROD OF THE TRANSLATION." (p 161)

"IT'S OCTOBER 7TH, 2019

"BACK FROM NYC/RHODE ISLAND AFTER MY DELIVERY TO THE MUSEE DE PATAMECHANIQUE, EMAILING WITH VARIOUS NEOISTS (TENT & FLORIAN) AND NICK ZEDD AS I WRAP UP THIS TEXT TO GET IT TRANSLATED. EDITING AND PREPARING FOR PARIS & COLLEGE DE PATAPHYSIQUE." (p 162)

Pata-No provides a list of "Zero-Sum Game No Shows (Counter-Footnotes)" wch includes what might ordinarily be perceived as a list of cultural products that Pata-No finds noteworthy &/or influential. This list ends w/

"Matty Mo's "100 Thousand Dollars", Res Ingold's 'superfictional' Ingold Airlines, Mark Ostabi's 'con-art', Fluxus 'happenings'/'event scores', the Rivington School, Istvan Kantor's loop-machine, tENTATIVELY a CONVENIENCE's booed usic busking-unit and "A Mere Outline", the K Foundation "Burns a Million Dollars", Nick Zedd's Cinema of Transgression/'extremist art', and Art In Ruins to name a few." (p 165)

I'm happy to be included.

"Neoism was a growth area within the culture industry, since 'Neoism is tailor-made for historification, it tidies up the loose ends left by the previous generation of avant-garde artists by drawing on the legacies of both the situationists and fluxus. Neoism is an art critic's wet dream!' Neoists were simply interested in historifying themselves as an important art movement. By producing absolutely no works of any worth and concentrating exclusively on publicity stunts, the Neoists exposed the mechanisms by which the culture industry seeks to endow objects, individuals and events with value.'" (p 166)

That seems like it's probably Pata-No paraphrasing or outright quoting Home's novel "Slow Death". I haven't read that one. Since I never thought of Neoism as an art mvmt, that just seems like another somewhat irrelevant distraction. But why quote Home when you can quote Shakespeare?

"Life's but a poor player ... It is a tale ... Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." (p 167)

That's more like it.

"PNUL (MONEY FOR NOTHING LOTTERY SERVER:

https:/discord.gg/BuqgZR

https://neoism40.home.blog " (p 168)

Pages 170-171 presents Monty Cantsin's "YES WE ARE! The Blattella Parade Chant".

"Are we the persona non grata?

Yes we are!" (p 170)

"Are we the fuckups?

Yes we are!" (p 171)

Whatever. There's no "Are we the censors?" or "Are we the art world careerists?".

Page 172 presents Blattella Germanica's "Free Brainwash!".

"In fact, when NEOISM?! presents itself as law, overthrow it! Believe it or not, NEOISM?! was created as a movement to overthrow NEOISM?!" (p 172)

Whatever.

The list of conspirators on page 176 is a little hard to swallow, even as a sweetened pill. It includes the "Volunteer Firemen of the Apocalypse", e.g., who I'm sure contributed nothing. Oh, well, I don't even want to get into analyzing the whys & wherefores of this one.

Do I recommend reading this bk? Not really. Do I recommend NOT reading it? Not really. If you're given a choice between reading this & reading a "Blaster" Al Ackeman bk by a psycho-killer who's testing you before deciding whether to kill you, choose the Ackerman & read it aloud to the killer. It might have the effect of the 1001 Nights. If you choose this bk & try reading it aloud the killer will probably just get annoyed & decapitate you before you get more than a few paragraphs in.

Once I learned that I'd been censored from this bk I withdrew from the Neoism Fecesbook group & informed Istvan & Pata-No that I wanted nothing further to do w/ either of them. This censorship was the last straw in a series of self-serving hypocrisies. "If you find someone declaring themselves to be a Neoist & doing everything in the name of Neoism you can be sure that they are only a distraction."

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

idioideo at gmail dot com

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Anti-Neoism page

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Audiography page

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Bibliography page

to my "Blaster" Al Ackerman index

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE BYOC page

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Censored or Rejected page

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Collaborations page

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE (d) compositions page

to Amir-ul Kafirs' Facebook page

to the "FLICKER" home-page for the alternative cinematic experience

to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's GoodReads profile

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Haircuts page

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Home Tapers page

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE index page

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Instagram Poetry page

to a listing of tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's manifestations on the Internet Archive

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Interviewee index

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Interviewer index

to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE'S Linked-In profile

for A Mere Outline for One Aspect of a Book on Mystery Catalysts, Guerrilla Playfare, booed usic, Mad Scientist Didactions, Acts of As-Beenism, So-Called Whatevers, Psychopathfinding, Uncerts, Air Dressing, Practicing Promotextuality, Imp Activism, etc..

to the mm index

to see an underdeveloped site re the N.A.A.M.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Multi-Colored Peoples)

to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Neoism page

to the DEFINITIVE Neoism/Anti-Neoism website

to the Philosopher's Union website

to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE movie-making "Press: Criticism, Interviews, Reviews" home-page

to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Score Movies

to SMILEs

to find out more about why the S.P.C.S.M.E.F. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sea Monkeys by Experimental Filmmakers) is so important

to the "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - Sprocket Scientist" home-page

to Psychic Weed's Twitter page

to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Vimeo index

to Vine movies relevant to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE made by Ryan Broughman

to tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's presence in the Visual Music Village

for info on tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's tape/CD publishing label: WIdémoUTH

to a very small selection of tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's Writing

to the onesownthoughts YouTube channel