Chchophony—the Ōtautahi chapter of the Cacophony Society—exists in two distinct phases, separated by five years of dormancy. This is the story of seeds planted, patience tested, and a strange garden that finally found its gardeners.
The Planting
Winter 2020In early 2020, roughly 15 Shanghai Cacophonists arrived in post-quake Ōtautahi after their ecstatic neighborly visit to Kiwi Burn. They found a city still transforming—gaps where buildings had been, transitional architecture, a population that had grown comfortable with the experimental and in-between. And in a time of such global uncertainty, a seed was planted in the minds of many - both local and international.
The ground was fertile. Within months, The Daily Daikon was born—"The Bibulous Mouthpiece of the Christchurch Chchophony Society." Four issues documented events ranging from the Zootopia MOOP Parade to Zone Trips across the South Island.
But circumstances shifted. By late 2020, the planters had moved on, leaving behind seeds dormant in the Canterbury soil. The city continued its slow transformation, unaware that something was waiting to bloom.
Phase I Highlights
- 4 newsletters published (The Daily Daikon)
- 11 events organized (July - October 2020)
- 2 Zone Trips completed
- Established Cacophony presence in Aotearoa
The Dormancy
For five years, the seeds lay quiet. The city rebuilt. New buildings rose where gaps had been. The Dance-o-Mat spun without strange visitors. But beneath the surface, the appetite for chaos remained—waiting for someone to remember it was there.
"Normal" had been reinvented once. It could be reinvented again.
The Bloom
2025 — PresentIn September 2025, one of the original planters returned. But this time, something different happened. The seeds didn't just sprout—they found gardeners.
Local Cacophonists emerged, drawn to the strange energy. Where Phase I had been planted by outsiders, Phase II was cultivated by the city itself. The Horse's Mouth launched, picking up where The Daily Daikon left off five years earlier.
Events proliferated: Darth Vader parades, clown bowling leagues, vampire blood drives, and the legendary Dance-o-Mat Dance Off. The garden grew wilder than the planters ever imagined, now tended by those who had been waiting—knowingly or not—for permission to be strange.
Phase II So Far
- 4+ newsletters and counting (The Horse's Mouth)
- 12+ events organized (September - November 2025)
- Collaboration with SAUM (Society of Unnecessary Meetings)
- Growing community of local Cacophonists
The Philosophy
"Chchophony is a randomly gathered network of free spirits united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society. We are the contemporary pranksters of compassion, the fermented vegetables of dreamtime, nomads of the abstract boundaries of fear."
Cities should be playgrounds. Strangers should be collaborators. The line between performance and participation should blur until it disappears entirely. This is what Chchophony believes, and what two phases of Cacophonists have worked to create in Ōtautahi.
Part of Something Larger
Chchophony is part of the Pacific Cacophony network, with sibling chapters in Shanghai and Haikou. The seeds that arrived in Ōtautahi in 2020 had been carried from Shanghai, where the Cacophony Society had been active since 2014.
From San Francisco to Shanghai to Christchurch, the thread continues—a loose network of culture jammers and pranksters creating temporary autonomous zones wherever they land.
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