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Events & Photos
Visual Documentation
Photographic evidence of the strange and beautiful things we've done. Each gathering left its mark — on the city, on us, on the unsuspecting public.
Zootopia MOOP Parade
The first official Cacophony event in Shanghai. The premise was simple: get 20 people together in animal costumes and collect trash around the city in some sort of bizarre parade-like fashion. Four animals arrived. Four. And just like that we came face to face with the sort of vulnerability that often stops people from organizing their own events. But screw it, four animals it is. We walked the streets bumping trap music, collecting cigarette butts, roaring at pedestrians, and joining dancing grandmothers in the park.
Suzhou River Fire Spinning
Beer Lady, a bar run by some auntie by the Suzhou River, became a gathering point. At night, the river is extraordinarily beautiful — like a silk ribbon drifting across the city, moonlight reflected on the water. Here the Cacophonists would gather for Hot Wheels: fire spinning with iron forks, lighting up the quiet Suzhou night. This is where many members first encountered the Society.
Jianbing Takeover (煎饼拼占边)
The official breakfast of Cacophony, as decreed in Emperor’s Tongue #3: an 8:30am muster on GuangYuan Road near Hongqiao Road for jianbing and Jim Beam. Some traditions deserve inventing.
Polar Bear Pub Crawl
Sub-zero temperatures. White body paint. Underwear. For climate change. The annual Polar Bear Pub Crawl saw Cacophonists strip down, paint themselves white with black noses, and brave -3°C weather hopping between bars in the French Concession. Vodka for courage, chants of 'climate change!' on the dance floor, karaoke at My Place, and eventually being asked to leave establishments for being 'unbecoming.' The perfect initiation.
Call of the Unjust Architect
The Alchemists are dead, and the Architects have arrived. The Society’s bi-monthly meeting, reborn under new management: brainstorming, reveling, and dinner at DiShuiDong on the corner of Changle and Maoming. Announced in Emperor’s Tongue #3 as the Wuthering of the Unrighteous Architects.
Train Dancing (列车舞蹈)
Coordinated public painting of a single Cacophonist aboard the public train, with members stationed at every stop. Planning required; RSVP with Mango. Announced in Emperor’s Tongue #4 for the evening of February 27th. The metro was not consulted.
Traditional Clothing, Modern Foolishness
Appreciation, not appropriation. An afternoon at the HQ in ancient dress, doing distinctly un-ancient things. Emperor’s Tongue #4 supplied the dress code; the nonsense was ours to bring.
Tutu City Run
We put on tutus like ballerinas and went running through the city. In the crowded subway car, we presented carefully prepared gifts to the urban prisoners of a dull existence. All of this surpassed and broke ordinary Chinese conventions of how a person should act. We were bold, unreserved, expressive.
Railroad Track Picnic
We spent the night picnicking on railroad tracks somewhere in northern Shanghai. As the morning rose grey and heavy, sleeping in laps, backs sinking into the tracks, soft rain and distant conversation drizzling down. A man with a rainbow-colored umbrella walked past. Then a truck was ordered to cart the group and two bicycles back downtown, but the driver wouldn't let us inside. 'This is probably the weirdest 100 kuai the truck driver has ever made.'
The Magic Carpet Ride to Yiwu
Less than two hours south of Shanghai by High Speed Train lies the magical Chinese trade city of Yiwu. Ten Cacophonists answered the call to explore the monumental Futian wholesale market — a five-story bazaar stretching through the city like an engorged anaconda. Treasure hunts through streets of power tools and Christmas displays, hookah lounges with Bollywood-charisma locals, dancing on bars, Colombian bands, and awards for finding the most absurd items (including an anatomically correct male doll).
From the Archive
Recovered from the first version of this site by way of the Wayback Machine. More surfaces as the excavation continues.
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