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, CircumSubstantial Playing, etc..
{5th Edition - March 2012 Version with Text & Pictures}
- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
idioideo at gmail dot com
Extroverted behavior of a calculatedly complex & politically/socially theoretically backed nature has constituted a significant part of my activities throughout most of my life. To many people, such behaviour is so-called "performance art". Not wishing to be "pigeon-holed", thusly enabling entities perceiving my actions to superimpose their stereotypes to oversimplify me, I've been substantially occupied with public self-contextualization resistant to previously existing categories. Failing that, I've often opted in favor of unpopular categories to attempt to give an "edge" to my activities - hence, I've preferred being labeled "criminally insane" (or, better yet, "criminally sane"), for example, to being an "artist".
Since much of my life has centered around manifesting my imagination with "bizarre" appearance & behavior in everyday life, I've frequently encountered people trying to explain me. As such, I've been called "Hippie", "Jesus", "Charlie Manson", "Faggot", "Weirdo", "Hare Krishna", "Punk", "Clown", "Satanist", "Cult Leader", & "Skinhead" - to name some of the main ones that I've heard most often - "Weirdo" & "Clown" being, perhaps, the 2 most accurate. Given that even many of my friends find it difficult to even adjust to calling me "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE", it can accurately be said that my struggle for self-definition has a long way to go.
Terms that I've used to describe some of my activities are:
[Numbers are generally no longer correct except for those updated March 10, 2012 & in bold]
Mystery Catalysts: activities meant to stimulate people's curiosity - usually by creating an unusual situation with no obvious source or explanation - see #s 17, 18, 19, 28, 53, 89-105, 185, 186, 189, 204, 213, 217, 218, 219, 234, 247, 259, & 287
Guerrilla Playfare: unusual interactions &/or interventions in environments where such incidents are unexpected - see #s 12, 18, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 57, 59, 63, 66, 67, 68, 100, 104, 109, 110, 114, 115, 136, 143, 144, 198, 207, 211, 212, 226, 228, 251, (266 would be included if it hadn't happened in a context where such things might be expected), (269, 273, & 275 fall into a sort of 'gray area' here), 278, 279, 281, 292, 319, & 320 [I've long since neglected updating these categories - I HAVE created a webpage specifically for this one, though, that I might try to keep somewhat up-to-date]
booed usic: an unpopular use of something (usually, if not always, sound) - see #s 62, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 80, 81, 100, 101, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 123, 124, 125, 126, 128, 193, 334, & 339
Mad Scientist Didactions: lecture type situations generally with a perverse message & audio-visual aids - see #s 2, 8, 37, 38, 39, 47, 54, 56, 60, 65, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 102, 106, 107, 108, 111, 112, 116, 119, 121, 123, 124, 128, 191, 196, 200, 203, 206, 210, 220, 229, 243, 248, 250, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 263, 267, 273, 274, 284, 287, 305, 309, 310, 311, 312, 321, 323, 327, & 331
Acts of As-Beenism: these acts can be anything in which there's supposedly a demonstration of or reference to the possibility that roles are flexible - while in many ways this description might apply to almost anything I've presented, I've usually only applied this term in connection with "Generic As-Beenism" - see #s 102, 119, 123, 124, & 128 - however, it might also apply to #217
So-Called Whatevers: a very open term to describe just about anything that I might not want to label otherwise - see #s 178, 181, 182, 186, 194, 196, 205, 215, 218, & 235
Psychopathfinding: finding an outlet for psychopathic energy other than the violent ones usually associated with this explosive state of being - this usually involves some element of risk, confrontation, or role-reversal - see #s 12, 18, 24, 26, 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 48, 50, 51, 52, 57, 59, 60, 66, 70, 78, 100, 103, 108, 114, 115, 121, 143, 144, 231, 233, & 236
Uncerts: my most recent term for audio focused events - see #s 175, 177, 184, 190, 199, 201, 202, 204, 216, 221, 222, 224, 227, 230, 234, 236, 271, 282, 285, 289, 290, 291, 294, 313, 317, 318, 324, 325, 328, 330, 332, 333, & 337
Neoist: usually actions in neoist contexts - such as during neoist festivals - these aren't necessarily that conceptually distinct from any of the preceding categories except that they're presented in the name of neoism & tend to generate myths, buzz-words, & open signs, etc.. - see #s 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 53, 54, 58, 65, 66, 111, 113, 116, 117, 163, 164, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 189, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 221, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 267, 268, 269, 275, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 294, & 295 - many of these are (almost) 'clearly' neoist (because they used some sort of neoist vocabulary or had "neoist" or "neoism" in their names or would not have been presented outside of a neoist context - eg: 43, 45, 53, 65, 66, 116, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 213, 215, 216, 217, 219, 222, 225, 228, 230, 231, 233, & 234) while others are labelled neoist here because they were collaborations with neoists (eg: 178-184 were part of Herr Stiletto Studios' TV Hospital) or organized through neoist networking (but not contextualized as neoist at the time - eg: 189 was partially arranged through Gordon W. Zealot) or part of festivals that are bordeline neoist (eg: #s 111 & 113 were part of the Festival of Non-Participation, #s 163 & 164 were part of the Zerowork Jubilee, & 251 was part of Into the Wasteland) - many would be non-neoist outside of neoist contexts (eg: #s 212, 214, 223, 232, 267, & 269 - see also 220 {presented as neoist} & 229 {presented as non-neoist}, etc..) - #67 was a collaboration with a Neoist/Anti-Neoist & a Neoist but isn't listed as neoist here - you figure it out, eh?
Imp Activism: political activism with a sense of humor or, at least, imagination outside the established clichés - the name is somewhat obviously intended to mean Activism with (hopefully) an Impact (highly debatable) that's Impish (mischievous) - usually at protests & marchs - but also possibly thru mass media appearances: such as on radio or tv - often quasi-documented in a vaudeo magazine of the same name published by the Street Rats - see #s 18, 24, 52, 53, 59, 60, 68, 100, 109, 121, 131, 143, 144, 145, 208, 209, 211, 251, 253, 264, 265, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 283, 286, 288, 296, 297, 300, 335, & 336
CircumSubstantial Playing: playing in which the circumstances are a substantial influence - ie: site-specific playing that isn't necessarily limited to a fixed physical location & which takes into consideration non-physical aspects of the environment - see #s 216, 217, 233, 237, 238, 240, 242, 245, 246, 247, & 307
etc..: can include aspects that I somewhat accept previously existing terms for - such as "Reading" {see #s 2, 4, 5, 19, 35, 37, 47, 69, 121, 131, & 174}; "Concert" {see #s 1, 3, 27, 28, 29, 33, 34, 72,103,118,120, 122, 127, 129, 130, 133, 135, 139, 140, 146, 148, 151, 152, 173, 176, 188, & 338}; "Light Show" {298, 299, 302, 306, 308, 314, 315, 316, 326, & 329}; & "Audience Participatory" {4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 20, 21, 22, 25, 37, 39, 40, 42, 43, 52, 60, 110, 121, 141, 142, 143, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 181, 182, 184, & 186} - those actions in which I consider the conventional contexts of "Reading" & "Concert" to adequately describe their primary substance are isolated by being in brackets: [.....]
Some of the most 'interesting' actions may not've involved a vaudience & may not have any category name associated with them. Possible inclusions might be #s 6, 64, 83 to 99, & 235
{The lists (organized by years) don't include 'shows' in which I mainly participated by contributing 1 or more object(s) but at which I either wasn't present & at which no action oriented instructions of mine were being followed or 'shows' at which I was present but at which my presence added little more than simple explanations (such as my Retrospective of 14 Films at the Empire Salon in Baltimore on May 30, 1982 & many, many other such events).}
to Personal Favorites: 1959-1989