The Posthuman Dada Guide

On May 4th, Andrei Codrescu read from The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess at the Solas Bar in New York City. The text is described as "an impractical handbook for practical living in our posthuman world", based around a 1916 chess match between Lenin and Dada founder Tristan Tzara. Rather than offering up a run-of-the-mill reading, Mister Codrescu engaged attendees in a participatory question-and-answer session wherein he, armed with the manuscript, took on the role of Dada Oracle, responding to audience inquiries via randomly chosen excerpts from the text. The result was a raucous reenactment and reenvisioning of the "total pandemonium" of the Cabaret Voltaire (Mister Codrescu appeared sans Hugo Ball's blue and white striped cardboard tophat).