What is a Temporary Autonomous Zones?

The Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ) is a rhizomatic concept first coined by Hakim Bey in his 1991 book of the same name. The concept offers a vision for an alternative creative process: a momentary assemblage where dominant structures and practices are set aside, roles are reconfigured, and something new, messy, and uncertain can potentially emerge. Temporary Autonomous Zones are where highly transversally linked networks can gain autonomy and agency to disrupt more well-established linear and neatly segmented practices. Their logic is temporary by necessity. They run in parallel – often within dominant structures, and are highly ambiguous. But if and when novelty might emerge, they can transform to stabilize into a novel ecosystem.

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See also: Rhizomes, Transversal Thickets, Emergence, Apparatus/Dispositif