DiY-Fest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DiY-Fest "the touring carnival of Do-it-Yourself mediamaking" was a festival of ultra-independent movies, books, zines, music, poetry, and performance art that ran from 1999 until 2002.

Contents 1 History 2 Soundtrack 2.1 DiY-Fest (Audio CD) 2.1.1 Track listing 3 DiY-Fest participants 3.1 Filmmakers 3.2 Writers 3.3 Activist Media 3.4 Performance Artists 3.5 Illustrators/Photographers 3.6 Musicians

[edit] History

Founded by filmmaker Matt Pizzolo and organized by Kings Mob Productions, the festival initially launched as part of a “Do-it-Yourself Filmmaking Workshop” that Pizzolo and partner Katie Nisa ran after rough cut screenings of their cult movie “Threat.” The workshops were attended by a diverse, cross-subcultural audience largely from the independent film, digital hardcore, underground hip hop, hardcore punk, alternative media, and culture jamming scenes. Pizzolo observed that the DiY mediamakers shared a common ideology but developed their art in isolation from one another, so he expanded the workshop into the larger forum of DiY-Fest with the intention of engendering cross-subcultural DiY collaborations.

In 2001, Digital Hardcore Recordings released the fest-soundtrack CD “DiY-Fest” compiling spoken word clips from people such as Howard Zinn and Jello Biafra with underground music ranging from agit-prop folk musician Ani Difranco to hip hop artists The Arsonists. Standout tracks on the album included the original collaborations “43% Burnt [remix]” (math-rockers Dillinger Escape Plan with noise-artists Atari Teenage Riot) and “Ghetto Birds [remix]” (hip hop songstress Mystic with breakbeat diva Nic Endo) . These collaborations were conceived by Pizzolo, who was so pleased by the results that he used them as the template for the mash-up album “Threat: Music That Inspired The Movie.”

In late 2000, DiY-Fest was integrated into The Van’s Warped Tour with the hopes of exposing the underground mediamakers to a broader audience.

After the hotly contested 2000 presidential election, the political content of the activist media submitted to DiY-Fest became fiercely anti-Bush. Following the events of September 11th 2001, the organizers of DiY-Fest found it difficult to book cross-cultural artists as the political climate grew increasingly bitter and partisan. The festival slowed down with intermittent bookings throughout 2002.

A dubious legacy of DiY-Fest is the growth of alt-porn. The organizers of DiY-Fest observed porn as being independent media and were among the first to recognize and include gonzo, female-owned adult company Shane’s World as a DiY organization. DiY-Fest also hosted Suicide Girls at events when the site was still obscure, and, in a clever and controversial twist on the “Do it Yourself” theme, DiY-Fest partnered with female-owned sex shop Toys In Babeland to give away free vibrators at live events.

[edit] Soundtrack

[edit] DiY-Fest (Audio CD)

A compilation of spoken word and underground music released by Digital Hardcore Recordings in January 2006.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Missing Press Conference" - George W. Bush
2. "Alleged Accused Reputed Reused" - Matt Pizzolo vs Alec Empire feat. Seth Tobocman & Jello Biafra
3. "Live At The Solidarity Conference" - Jello Biafra
4. "The Life" - Mystic
5. "43% Burnt [remix]" - Dillinger Escape Plan vs Atari Teenage Riot
6. "Live At The Solidarity Conference" - Howard Zinn
7. "Child Autonomous" - Creation Is Crucifixion
8. "White Collar Crime Fight Song" - White Collar Crime
9. "A Less Important Place (live acoustic)" - Miracle of 86
10. "Digital Skinhead" - Space Robot Scientists
11. "The Fight" - Hanin Elias
12. "Iris" - Nicole Blackman
13. "Fuel" - Ani Difranco
14. "Ghetto Birds [remix]" - Mystic vs Nic Endo
15. "Fellow Candymakers" - Sander Hicks vs The Heartworm
16. "No More Prisons" - William Upski Wimsatt
17. "The Show Must Go On" - D-Stroy
18. "One Fight" - Holocaust
19. "Kill Cupid With A Nail File" - The Icarus Line
20. "Live At The Solidarity Conference" - Safiya Asya Bukhari
21. "Threat" - Kings Mob Productions
22. "Bells I [Sci Fi Mix]" - Nic Endo
23. "Orgasm" - Ducky Doolittle with Jello Biafra

[edit] DiY-Fest participants

[edit] Filmmakers

• Abel Ferrara
• Kings Mob Productions
• Matt Pizzolo
• Katie Nisa
• Lloyd Kaufman
• Jem Cohen
• Sarah Jacobson
• Harris Smith
• Esther Bell
• Shane’s World
• Debbie Rochon
• Hook-Ups (“Destroying America”)
• Jim Jarmusch

[edit] Writers

• Howard Zinn
• Nicole Blackman
• Sander Hicks
• William Upski Wimsatt
• Brigette M Moore
• Cat Tyc
• Clamor Magazine

[edit] Activist Media

• CrimethInc.
• Zack Exley
• Safiya Asya Bukhari
• Independent Media Center
• PickAxe Productions
• Big Noise Films
• Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Soft Skull Press

[edit] Performance Artists

• Jello Biafra
• Ducky Doolittle
• Radical Cheerleaders
• Kaiju Big Battel
• Aurora Cicero (tarot readings)

[edit] Illustrators/Photographers

• Seth Tobocman
• Jason Rose
• Buddyhead
• Suicide Girls

[edit] Musicians

• Kevin Devine
• Mystic
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• Atari Teenage Riot
• Creation Is Crucifixion
• White Collar Crime
• Miracle Of 86
• Space Robot Scientists
• Hanin Elias
• Ani Difranco
• D-Stroy
• Holocaust
• The Icarus Line
• Audiofile Collective
• Ian MacKaye
• Shipwreck
• Liars
• This Year’s Model