TAZ: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism

102 Pages·2012·0.45 MB·English

tecture of suffocation and paralysis will be blown up. only by
ourtotalcelebrationofeverything—evendarkness.
—SummerSolstice,1986
T.A.Z.: The Temporary
Autonomous Zone,
Ontological Anarchy, Poetic
Terrorism
Hakim Bey
1985
60
classes&powersbutoftheeternalrebel,thedarkonewhoun-
coverslight. Instead of greed say yearning, unconquerable de-
sire,madlove.Andthen insteadof famine,whichis akind of
mutilation, speak of wholeness, plenty, superabundance, gen-
erosityoftheselfwhichspiralsoutwardtowardtheOther.
Without this dance of masks, nothing will be created. The
oldestmythologymakesErosthefirstbornofChaos.Eros,the
wild one who tames, is the door through which the artist re-
turnstoChaos,theOne,andthenre-returns,comesbackagain,
bearingoneofthepatternsofbeauty.Theartist,thehunter,the
warrior:onewhoisbothpassionateandbalanced,bothgreedy
& altruistic to the utmost extreme. We must be saved from
all salvations which save us from ourselves, from our animal
whichisalsoouranima,ourverylifeforce,aswellasourani-
mus,ouranimatingself-empowerment,whichmayevenman-
ifestasanger &greed. BABYLONhas toldusthat ourflesh is
filth—withthisdevice&thepromiseofsalvationitenslaved
us.But—ifthefleshisalready“saved,”alreadylight —ifeven
consciousness itself is a kind of flesh, a palpable & simultane-
ouslivingaether—thenweneednopowertointercedeforus.
Thewilderness,asOmarsays,isparadiseevennow.
Thetrueproprietorshipofmurder lieswiththeEmpire,for
only freedom is complete life. War is Babylonian as well —
no free person will die for another’s aggrandizement. Famine
comes into existence only with the civilization of the saviors,
thepriest-kings—wasn’titJosephwhotaughtPharaohtospec-
ulate in grain futures? Greed — for land, for symbolic wealth,
forpowertodeformothers’souls&bodiesfortheirownsalva-
tion—greedtooarisesnotfrom“Naturenature-ing,”butfrom
thedammingup&canalizationofallenergiesfortheEmpire’s
Glory.Againstallthis,theartistpossessesthedanceofmasks,
thetotal radicalizationof language,the inventionofa “Poetic
Terrorism”whichwillstrikenotatlivingbeingsbutatmalign
ideas, dead-weights on the coffin-lid of our desires. The archi-
59
&returntothepleromaofpurelight.So:toevadetheevilsof
the flesh — murder, war, famine, greed — paradoxically only
onepathremains:murderofone’sownbody,warontheflesh,
famineuntodeath,greedforsalvation.
Contents
The radical monists however (Ismailis, Ranters, Antinomi-
ans) consider that body & spirit are one, that the same spirit
which pervades a black stone also infuses the flesh with its
light;thatalllives&allislife. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
“Thingsarewhattheyarespontaneously…everything
Chaos: The Broadsheets of Ontological Anar-
is natural…all in motion as if there were a True
Lord to move them — but if we seek for evidence chism 8
ofthislordwefailtofindany.”(KuoHsiang)
Chaos 10
Paradoxically,themonistpathalsocannotbefollowedwith-
PoeticTerrorism 12
outsomesortof“murder,war,famine,greed”:thetransforma-
tion of death into life (food, negentropy) — war against the
AmourFou 14
Empire of Lies — “fasting of the soul,” or renunciation of the
Lie, of all that is not life — & greed for life itself, the absolute WildChildren 16
powerofdesire.
Even more: without knowledge of the darkness (“carnal Paganism 19
knowledge”) there can exist no knowledge of the light (“gno-
sis”). The two knowledges are not merely complementary: ArtSabotage 21
say rather identical, like the same note played in different
TheAssassins 23
octaves. Heraclitus claims that reality persists in a state of
“war.” Only clashing notes can make harmony. (“Chaos is the
Pyrotechnics 25
sum of all orders.”) Give each of these four terms a different
mask of language (to call the Furies “The Kindly Ones” is not ChaosMyths 27
mere euphemism but a way of uncovering yet more meaning).
Masked,ritualized,realizedasart,thetermstakeontheirdark Pornography 31
beauty,their“BlackLight.”
Instead of murder say the hunt, the pure paleolithic econ- Crime 34
omyofallarchaicandnon-authoritariantribalsociety—“ven-
Sorcery 36
ery,” both the killing & eating of flesh & the way of Venus, of
desire. Instead of war say insurrection, not the revolution of
58 3
Advertisement 38 ism. He became a hermit, lived on a mountain sitting under a
tree..
Onedayaformerfellow-officercametovisithim&accused
CommuniquesoftheAssociationforOntolog- him of betrayal, cowardice, etc. The hermit said nothing, but
icalAnarchy 40 keptonsitting—&theofficerfellintoarage,drewhissword,
&struck.Spontaneouslytheunarmedmasterdisarmedtheoffi-
Communique#1(spring1986) 41
cer&returnedhissword.Again&againtheofficertriedtokill,
I.Slogans&MottosforSubwayGraffiti&OtherPur-
usingeverysubtlekatainhisrepertoire—butoutofhisempty
poses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
mindthehermiteachtimeinventedanewwaytodisarmhim.
II. Some Poetic-Terrorist Ideas Still Sadly Languish-
The officer of course became his first disciple. Later, they
ingintheRealmof“ConceptualArt” . . . . . 42
learnedhowtododgebullets.Wemightcontemplatesomeform
of metadrama meant to capture a taste of this performance,
Communique #2: The Kallikak Memorial Bolo &
whichgaverisetoawhollynewart,atotallynon-violentway
ChaosAshram:AProposal 44
of fighting — war without murder, “the sword of life” rather
thandeath.
Communique#3:HaymarketIssue 47
A conspiracy of artists, anonymous as any mad bombers,
Communique#4:TheEndoftheWorld 49 but aimed toward an act of gratuitous generosity rather than
violence—atthemillenniumratherthantheapocalypse—or
Communique #5: “Intellectual S/M Is the Fascism rather,aimedatapresentmoment ofaestheticshockintheser-
oftheEighties—TheAvant-GardeEatsShitand viceofrealization&liberation.
LikesIt” 52 Arttellsgorgeousliesthatcometrue.
IsitpossibletocreateaSECRETTHEATERinwhichboth
Communique#6 56
artist & audience have completely disappeared — only to re-
I.SalonApocalypse:“SecretTheater” . . . . . . . . 56
appear on another plane, where life & art have become the
II.Murder—War—Famine—Greed . . . . . . . . . 57
samething,thepuregivingofgifts?
(Note: The “Salon Apocalypse” was organized by Sharon
Communique #7: Psychic Paleolithism & High
GannoninJuly,1986.)
Technology:APositionPaper 61
Communique#8:ChaosTheory&theNuclearFamily 66 II. Murder — War — Famine — Greed
Communique#9:Double-DipDenunciations 68 Themanichees&catharsbelievedthatthebodycanbespir-
I.Xtianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 itualized—orrather,thatthebodymerelycontaminatespure
II.Abortionists&Anti-abortionists . . . . . . . . . 69 spirit & must be utterly rejected. The Gnostic perfecti (radi-
cal dualists) starved themselves to death to escape the body
4 57
Communique#10:PlenarySessionIssuesNewDe-
nunciations—PurgesExpected 70
Communique#11:SpecialHolidaySeasonFoodIs-
Communique #6 sueRant:TurnOfftheLite! 73
Special Halloween Communique: Black Magic as
RevolutionaryAction 77
I. Salon Apocalypse: “Secret Theater”
Specialcommunique:A.O.A.AnnouncesPurgesin
As long as no Stalin breathes down our necks, why not
ChaosMovement 81
makesome artintheserviceof…aninsurrection?
Never mind if it’s “impossible.” What else can we hope to
Post-AnarchismAnarchy 83
attainbutthe“impossible”?Shouldwewaitforsomeoneelseto
revealourtruedesires? Black Crown & Black Rose: Anarcho-Monarchism
Ifarthasdied,ortheaudiencehaswitheredaway,thenwe &Anarcho-Mysticism 87
findourselvesfreeoftwodeadweights.Potentially,everyone
isnowsomekindofartist—&potentiallyeveryaudiencehas InstructionsfortheKaliYuga 95
regained its innocence, its ability to become the art that it ex-
AgainsttheReproductionofDeath 99
periences.
Providedwecanescapefromthemuseumswecarryaround
RingingDenunciationofSurrealism 103
insideus,providedwecanstopsellingourselvesticketstothe
galleriesinourownskulls,wecanbegintocontemplateanart
ForaCongressofWeirdReligions 105
which re-creates the goal of the sorcerer: changing the struc-
ture of reality by the manipulation of living symbols (in this HollowEarth 110
case, the images we’ve been “given” by the organizers of this
salon—murder,war,famine,&greed). Nietzsche&theDervishes 113
Wemightnowcontemplateaestheticactionswhichpossess
Resolutionforthe1990’s:BoycottCopCulture‼! 117
someoftheresonanceofterrorism(or“cruelty,”asArtaudput
it)aimedatthedestructionofabstractionsratherthanpeople,
atliberationratherthanpower,pleasureratherthanprofit,joy
TheTemporaryAutonomousZone 122
rather than fear. “Poetic Terrorism.” Our chosen images have
thepotencyofdarkness—butallimagesaremasks,&behind
PirateUtopias 124
thesemaskslieenergieswecanturntowardlight&pleasure.
For example, the man who invented aikido was a samurai WaitingfortheRevolution 127
whobecameapacifist&refusedtofightforJapaneseimperial-
56 5
ThePsychotopologyofEverydayLife 131 “Leftists” who like to dress up & play Police-&-Victim, people
who jerk off to atrocity photos, people who like to think &
TheNetandtheWeb 137 intellectualizeaboutsplatterart&highfalutinhopelessness&
groovy ghoulishness & other people’s misery — such “artists”
“GonetoCroatan” 146
arenothingbutpolice-without-power(aperfectdefinitionfor
many “revolutionaries” too). We have a black bomb for these
MusicasanOrganizationalPrinciple 155
aesthetic fascists — it explodes with sperm & firecrackers,
TheWilltoPowerasDisappearance 160 raucous weeds & piracy, weird Shiite heresies & bubbling
paradise-fountains, complex rhythms, pulsations of life, all
RatholesintheBabylonofInformation 166 shapeless&exquisite.
Wake up! Breathe! Feel the world’s breath against your
skin!Seizetheday!Breathe!Breathe!
Appendix 169 (Thanx to J. Mander’s Four Arguments for the Abolition
of Television; Adam Exit; & the Moorish Cosmopolitan of
AppendixA:ChaosLinguistics 170
Williamsburg)
AppendixB:AppliedHedonics 173
AppendixC:ExtraQuotes 175
PirateRant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
TheDinnerParty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
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snuff-artcrap&runningthemoutoftownonarail.(Criticism Acknowledgments
becomes direct action in an anarchist context.) My space has
room neither for Jesus & his lords of the flies nor for Chas. Chaos: The Broadsheets of Ontological Anarchism was first
Manson & his literary admirers. I want no mundane police — published in 1985 by Grim Reaper Press of Weehawken, New
I want no cosmic axe-murderers either; no TV chainsaw mas- Jersey; a later re-issue was published in Providence, Rhode Is-
sacres,nosensitivepoststructuralistnovelsaboutnecrophilia. land, and this edition was pirated in Boulder, Colorado. An-
Asithappens,theA.O.A.canscarcelyhopetosabotagethe other edition was released by Verlag Golem of Providence in
suffocating mechanisms of the State & its ghostly circuitry — 1990,andpiratedinSantaCruz,California,byWePress.“The
but we just might happen to find ourselves in a position to TemporaryAutonomousZone”wasperformedattheJackKer-
do something about lesser manifestations of the DOR plague ouacSchoolofDisembodiedPoeticsinBoulder,andonWBAI-
such as the Corpse-Eaters of the Lower East Side & other Art FMinNewYorkCity,in1990.
scum. We support artists who use terrifying material in some Thanx to the following publications, current and defunct,
“higher cause” — who use loving/sexual material of any kind, in which some of these pieces appeared (no doubt I’ve lost
however shocking or illegal — who use their anger & disgust or forgotten many — sorry!): KAOS (London); Ganymede
&theirtruedesirestolurchtowardself-realization&beauty& (London); Pan (Amsterdam); Popular Reality; Exquisite Corpse
adventure.“SocialNihilism,”yes—butnotthedeadnihilismof (also Stiffest of the Corpse, City Lights); Anarchy (Columbia,
gnosticself-disgust.Evenifit’sviolent&abrasive,anyonewith MO); Factsheet Five; Dharma Combat; OVO; City Lights Re-
a vestigial 3rd eye can see the differences between revolution- view; Rants and Incendiary Tracts (Amok); Apocalypse Culture
arypro-lifeart&reactionarypro-deathart.DORstinks,&the (Amok); Mondo 2000; The Sporadical; Black Eye; Moorish Sci-
chaote nose can sniff it out — just as it knows the perfume of enceMonitor;FEH!;FagRag;TheStorm!;Panic (Chicago);Bolo
spiritual/sexualjoy,howeverburiedormaskedbyotherdarker Log (Zurich); Anathema; Seditious Delicious; Minor Problems
scents.EventheRadicalRight,forallitshorrorofflesh&the (London);AQUA;Prakilpana.
senses, occasionally comes up with a moment of perception Also, thanx to the following individuals: Jim Fleming;
&consciousness-enhancement—buttheDeathSquads,forall James Koehnline; Sue Ann Harkey; Sharon Gannon; Dave
theirtiredlipservicetofashionablerevolutionaryabstractions, Mandl; Bob Black; Robert Anton Wilson; William Burroughs;
offerusaboutasmuchtruelibertarianenergyastheFBI,FDA, “P.M.”; Joel Birroco; Adam Parfrey; Brett Rutherford; Jake
orthedouble-dipBaptists. Rabinowitz; Allen Ginsberg; Anne Waldman; Frank Torey;
We live in a society which advertises its costliest com- Andr Codrescu; Dave Crowbar; Ivan Stang; Nathaniel Tarn;
modities with images of death & mutilation, beaming them Chris Funkhauser; Steve Englander; Alex Trotter. — March,
direct to the reptilian back-brain of the millions thru alpha- 1991
wave-generating carcinogenic reality-warping devices —
while certain images of life (such as our favorite, a child
masturbating) are banned & punished with incredible feroc-
ity. It takes no guts at all to be an Art Sadist, for salacious
death lies at the aesthetic center of our Consensus Paradigm.
54 7
Anarchycollectsnosnufffilms&isboredtotearswithdomina-
trices who spout french philosophy. (“Everything is hopeless
&Iknewitbeforeyoudid,asshole.Nyahh!”)
Wilhelm Reich was driven half mad & killed by agents of
theEmotionalPlague;maybehalfhisworkderivedfromsheer
paranoia (UFO conspiracies, homophobia, even his orgasm
theory),BUTononepointweagreewholeheartedly—sexpol:
sexual repression breeds death obsession, which leads to bad
politics. A great deal of avant-garde Art is saturated with
Deadly Orgone Rays (DOR). Ontological Anarchy aims to
buildaestheticcloud-busters(OR-guns)todispersethemiasma
Chaos: The Broadsheets
of cerebral sado-masochism which now passes for slick, hip,
new, fashionable. Self-mutilating “performance” artists strike
of Ontological
us as banal & stupid — their art makes everyone more un-
happy. What kind of two-bit conniving horseshit…what kind
Anarchism
of cockroach-brained Art creeps cooked up this apocalypse
stew?
Ofcoursetheavant-gardeseems“smart”—sodidMarinetti
&theFuturists,sodidPound&Celine.Comparedtothatkind
of intelligence we’d choose real stupidity, bucolic New Age
blissed-out inanity — we’d rather be pinheads than queer for
death.Butluckilywedon’thavetoscoopoutourbrainstoat-
tain our own queer brand of satori. All the faculties, all the
sensesbelongtousasourproperty—bothheart&head,intel-
lect & spirit, body & soul. Ours is no art of mutilation but of
excess,superabundance,amazement.
The purveyors of pointless gloom are the Death Squads of
contemporary aesthetics — & we are the “disappeared ones.”
Theirmake-believeballroomofoccult3rd-Reichbric-a-brac&
childmurderattractsthemanipulatorsoftheSpectacle—death
looks better on TV than life — & we Chaotes, who preach an
insurrectionaryjoy,areedgedouttowardssilence.
NeedlesstosaywerejectallcensorshipbyChurch&State
—but“aftertherevolution”wewouldbewillingtotakeindivid-
ual & personal responsibility for burning all the Death Squad
53
(DedicatedtoUstadMahmudAliAbdal-Khabir)
Communique #5:
“Intellectual S/M Is the
Fascism of the Eighties — The
Avant-Garde Eats Shit and
Likes It”
COMRADES!
Recently some confusion about “Chaos” has plagued the
A.O.A. from certain revanchist quarters, forcing us (who de-
spisepolemics)atlasttoindulgeinaPlenarySessiondevoted
todenunciationsexcathedra,portentousashell;ourfacesburn
redwithrhetoric,spitfliesfromourlips,neckveinsbulgewith
pulpit fervor. We must at last descend to flying banners with
angryslogans(in1930’stypefaces)declaringwhatOntological
Anarchyisnot.
Remember,onlyinClassicalPhysicsdoesChaoshaveany-
thing to do with entropy, heat-death, or decay. In our physics
(ChaosTheory),Chaosidentifieswithtao,beyondbothyin-as-
entropy & yang-as-energy, more a principle of continual cre-
ation than of any nihil, void in the sense of potentia, not ex-
haustion.(Chaosasthe“sumofallorders.”)
Fromthisalchemywequintessentializeanaesthetictheory.
Chaote art may act terrifying, it may even act grand guignol,
but it can never allow itself to be drenched in putrid negativ-
ity,thanatosis,schadenfreude (delightinthemiseryofothers),
crooningoverNazimemorabilia&serialmurders.Ontological
52 9
self,toitsowncentrality&divinity.“Rejoice,fellowcreature,”
wastheirgreeting.“Allisours!”
IwantnopartofanyotherEndoftheWorld.Aboysmiles
at me in the street. A black crow sits in a pink magnolia tree,
Chaos
cawing as orgone accumulates & discharges in a split second
over the city…summer begins. I may be your lover…but I spit
onyourMillenium.
Chaos never died. Primordial uncarved block, sole wor-
shipful monster, inert & spontaneous, more ultraviolet than
any mythology (like the shadows before Babylon), the orig-
inal undifferentiated oneness-of-being still radiates serene
as the black pennants of Assassins, random & perpetually
intoxicated.
Chaos comes before all principles of order & entropy, it’s
neither a god nor a maggot, its idiotic desires encompass &
defineeverypossiblechoreography,allmeaninglessaethers&
phlogistons: its masks are crystallizations of its own faceless-
ness,likeclouds.
Everything in nature is perfectly real including conscious-
ness,there’sabsolutelynothingtoworryabout.Notonlyhave
thechainsoftheLawbeenbroken,theyneverexisted;demons
never guarded the stars, the Empire never got started, Eros
nevergrewabeard.
No, listen, what happened was this: they lied to you, sold
you ideas of good & evil, gave you distrust of your body &
shame for your prophethood of chaos, invented words of dis-
gustforyourmolecularlove,mesmerizedyouwithinattention,
boredyouwithcivilization&allitsusuriousemotions.
There is no becoming, no revolution, no struggle, no path;
already you’re the monarch of your own skin — your invio-
lablefreedomwaitstobecompletedonlybytheloveofother
monarchs:apoliticsofdream,urgentasthebluenessofsky.
To shed all the illusory rights & hesitations of history de-
mandstheeconomyofsomelegendaryStoneAge—shamans
not priests, bards not lords, hunters not police, gatherers of
10 51