Survival Research Laboratories Explained

Survival Research Laboratories (SRL) is an American performance art group that pioneered the genre of large-scale machine performance.[1] [2] [3] Founded in 1978 by Mark Pauline in San Francisco, the group is known in particular for their performances where custom-built machines, often robotic, compete to destroy each other.[4] [5] The performances, described by one critic as "noisy, violent and destructive",[6] are noted for the visual and aural cacophony created by the often dangerous interactions of the machinery.[7] [8] SRL's work is also related to process art and generative art. [9]

History

SRL was founded in San Francisco in 1978 by Mark Pauline.[4] [10] [11] Critics have drawn parallels between the group's founding and the punk and industrial music scenes of San Francisco at the time.[12] [13] [14] The group's name is a parody of corporate culture. Pauline has said that "the vision for SRL was always about creepy, scary, violent and extreme performances that really captured the feeling of machines as living things".[15]

SRL's early collaborators included the machine artists including Matt Heckert and Eric Werner.[16] [17] Heckert's main work in the group centered on the acoustic and musical parts of performance.[18] He left the group in 1988 to follow his musical interests.[18]

After about 30 years in San Francisco, California, SRL moved to Petaluma, California in 2008.[19] [20]

Shows

As of late 2023, SRL has conducted over 120 shows throughout the world, mostly in the Western United States.[21] [22] SRL shows are essentially performance art installations acted out by machines rather than people. The interactions between the machines have been characterized as "noisy, violent, and destructive".[6] A frequent tag-line on SRL literature is "Producing the most dangerous shows on Earth."[23] A side-effect of the group's activities is frequent interactions with governmental and legal authorities.

Their performances are also given colorfully elaborate names as a comment on bureaucratically generated research projects & papers, such as A Calculated Forecast of Ultimate Doom: Sickening Episodes of Widespread Devastation Accompanied by Sensations of Pleasurable Excitement.[24]

The first SRL show was Machine Sex on February 25, 1979.[25] [26] [4] The event featured a device called The Demanufacturing Machine which "demanufactured" objects by shredding them and flinging them toward the audience.[4]

The 1982 show A Cruel and Relentless Plot to Pervert the Flesh of beasts to Unholy Uses integrated machines with objects such as mummified and dissected animals and a robot that was part metallic dog, part cadaver.[26] [27] [28]

In August 11, 1985 8pm, at 330 Santa Fe Ave., LA CA. SLR performed "Extremely Cruel Practices: A series of events designed to instruct those interested in policies that correct or punish". Billed as: LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) and ANTICLUB present: A Machine Performance by Survival Research Laboratories / Mark Pauline and Matt Heckert, assisted by Eric Werner, Neal Pauline, and Monte Cazazza. Performed at an abandoned Train Depo lot, situated with the LA concrete river to the east, the 1st street bridge to the north, the 4th street bridge to the south. Attendees were required to sign a waver before admission. [29]

The group performed The Misfortunes of Desire (Acted Out at an Imaginary Location Symbolizing Everything Worth Having) in 1988 in the parking lot of Shea Stadium.[30] [31] Using 22 tons of equipment, the show included a shock wave cannon, a 4-legged walking machine, a high power flame thrower, a radio-controlled tank and a 1,200-pound catapult.[30] [32] The show was sponsored by the New York City arts groups The New Museum, Creative Time, and The Kitchen.[32]

In 1989 the group presented Illusions of Shameless Abundance in San Francisco. The show, staged in the SOMA area under an on-ramp to the Bay Bridge, featured stacks of burning pianos, vats of spoiled food and flame-breathing robots.[33] The show's use of fake sculptures that resembled high explosive devices led to beach closures and the involvement of the city's bomb squad the next day.[33] [34]

The group produced the 1995 show Crime Wave in San Francisco.

Their 1996 show in Phoenix, Arizona, titled Survival Research Laboratories Contemplates a Million Inconsiderate Experiments, featured robots, flame throwers and a V-1 jet engine.[35] [36]

In 1997 SRL staged The Unexpected Destruction of Elaborately Engineered Artifacts in Austin, Texas.[37] [38]

In 2006 they performed Ghostly Scenes of Infernal Desecration in San Jose, California.[15] The performance featured an air launcher, a hovercraft and a shockwave cannon.[39] [8]

Reception

SRL has received serious consideration as not only a pioneer of industrial performance art,[40] but also as a legitimate heir to the traditions of Dada and the art of Jean Tinguely, in which paradoxical creations are used to call into question the state and direction of technological society.[41]

In addition, many SRL members have gone on to be involved in other avant-garde artistic projects such as the Cacophony Society, the Suicide Club, The Haters, Robochrist Industries, People Hater, Seemen, Burning Man, and robotics projects such as Battlebots and Robot Wars.

SRL has also been praised as being one place where many women have had access to robotics and advanced machine workshop tools.[42] [43] [44] [4]

List of SRL devices

See also Survival Research Laboratories' own list of machines

Accidents and controversies

In 1982 Pauline lost two fingers from his right hand while attempting to make solid rocket fuel.[52] [5]

On the basis of their 1989 San Francisco show Illusions of Shameless Abundance SRL was banned in 2011 from performing in the city by the San Francisco Fire Department.[53]

The sound of 1991 test in San Francisco of a homemade V-1 rocket engine resulted in police attention and a reported 300 calls to the city's earthquake hotline.[33] [54]

In 2007 SRL crew member Todd Blair suffered a serious brain injury during the take-down of an SRL show at the Robodock Arts & Technology Festival in Amsterdam.[5] [55]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: LA – The Art of Extreme Robotics . February 24, 2002. rhizome.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20070706223215/http://beverlytang.com/feb24_2002.php.htm . 2007-07-06.
  2. V. Vale (ed), "Industrial Culture Handbook", Re/Search Publications, 1983
  3. http://www.nndb.com/people/406/000025331/ Mark Pauline
  4. Book: Art + DIY Electronics. 9780262044936. Hertz. Garnet. 30 May 2023. MIT Press .
  5. Book: Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music. 9780199832583. Alexander Reed. S.. 11 July 2013. Oxford University Press .
  6. Book: Kostelanetz, Richard. A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes. November 15, 2018. Routledge. 9781351267106. Google Books.
  7. Web site: Terrorism as art: Mark Pauline's dangerous machines. October 9, 2012. The Verge.
  8. https://www.cnet.com/culture/a-day-with-survival-research-labs/ A day with Survival Research Labs
  9. Web site: Gottlieb . Baruch . Los signos vitales del arte procesual . Laboral Centro de Arte . 2010 . May 17, 2020 . es.
  10. Book: A Cultural Dictionary of Punk: 1974-1982. 9781441105059. Rombes. Nicholas. June 2010. Bloomsbury Publishing USA .
  11. Book: Interface: Art + tech in the Bay area. June 1998. 9780938989189. Eggebeen. Rachel. Duke University Museum of Art .
  12. Web site: SPIN. August 1999.
  13. Book: Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967. 978-0300134261. Molon. Dominic. Diederichsen. Diedrich. Elms. Anthony. Hell. Richard. Graham. Dan. Higgs. Matthew. Koether. Jutta. Nickas. Bob. Kelley. Mike. Tumlir. Jan. 2007. Yale University Press.
  14. Web site: How to Get Away With Stealing Military-Grade Technology: An Interview With Survival Research Labs' Mark Pauline. Artspace.
  15. Book: Benedetto, Stephen Di. The Provocation of the Senses in Contemporary Theatre. January 13, 2011. Routledge. 9781136974083. Google Books.
  16. Book: Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of ArtistsÕ Writings (Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Kristine Stiles). 9780520253742. Stiles. Kristine. Selz. Peter. 25 September 2012. Univ of California Press .
  17. Book: Kac, Eduardo. Telepresence & Bio Art: Networking Humans, Rabbits, & Robots. April 23, 2005. University of Michigan Press. 0472068105. Google Books.
  18. The Big Bang Theory of Art. Brad. King. Wired. August 9, 2001. www.wired.com.
  19. http://srl.org/petaluma/ Petaluma
  20. Web site: A Visit to the Survival Research Laboratories Workshop. Rhizome. 28 September 2011 .
  21. Web site: SRL - Chronological Shows and Events. www.srl.org.
  22. Web site: SRL - Survivial Research Laboratories Show Archive. www.srl.org.
  23. Web site: Apocalyptic Robo-Art Performers Survival Research Labs Have Been Banned in San Francisco. Derek. Mead. February 1, 2012.
  24. Lucas, Adam (1995). "Mark Pauline – The Art Of War". 21-C Magazine.
  25. V. Vale (ed), "Industrial Culture Handbook", Re/Search Publications, 1983, page 40.
  26. Book: Critical Digital Studies: A Reader, Second Edition. 9781442666719. Kroker. Arthur. Kroker. Marilouise. 11 December 2013.
  27. Web site: SiteWorks - A Cruel and Relentless Plot to Pervert the Flesh of Beasts to Unholy Uses. siteworks.exeter.ac.uk.
  28. Book: Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century. 9780802196507. Dery. Mark. December 2007.
  29. https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrOqNIfKA5m5w0CghdXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3BpdnM-?p=survival+research+laboratories&fr2=piv-web&type=hp-banner-v2Aug27&fr=yset_chr_syc_hp-s#id=191&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Ffiles.abovetopsecret.com%2Ffiles%2Fimg%2Fpk5844d78d.jpg&action=click
  30. News: Monster Robots Bash Paradise in Mock Battle. The New York Times. 17 May 1988. Holden. Stephen.
  31. Web site: C: A Critical Visual Art Magazine. 1987.
  32. Web site: Exhibitions. New Museum Digital Archive.
  33. Book: Stone, Brad. Gearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robotic Sports. November 1, 2007. Simon and Schuster. 9781416587323. Google Books.
  34. News: Pimsleur . J.L. . Bomb Scare traced to Performance Art . San Francisco Chronicle . May 31, 1989.
  35. Web site: Survival Research Laboratories. wc.arizona.edu.
  36. Is Phoenix Burning. Bruce. Sterling. Wired. July 1, 1996. www.wired.com.
  37. Web site: Appetite for Destruction. December 31, 1969. Texas Monthly.
  38. Web site: New Art Examiner. April 23, 1998. Chicago, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. New Art Associations. Google Books.
  39. Web site: The Arts in San Jose, CA | ZeroOne San Jose + ISEA2006. www.metroactive.com.
  40. see e.g. Vale, "industrial Culture Handbook"
  41. Ballet, Nicolas. 29 January 2019. Survival Research Laboratories: A Dystopian Industrial Performance Art. Arts. 8. 17. 10.3390/arts8010017. free.
  42. Web site: Tentacle Session #35: The Women of Survival Research Labs.
  43. Web site: Women in SRL.
  44. Web site: Java goes to the extreme. August 1998.
  45. V. Vale (ed), "Industrial Culture Handbook", Re/Search Publications, 1983, page 40.
  46. Book: Robots and Art: Exploring an Unlikely Symbiosis. 9789811003219. Herath. Damith. Kroos. Christian. Stelarc. 4 May 2016.
  47. Web site: Flame Hurricane . Survival Research Laboratories . 2001 . February 23, 2022.
  48. Book: The Internet Imaginaire. 9780262062619. Flichy. Patrice. 2007.
  49. Web site: Stu Walker (Guinea Pig Controlled Robot) . Survival Research Laboratories . 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100731051339/http://srl.org/machines/stuwalker.html . July 31, 2010 . February 23, 2022.
  50. Web site: This Artist Builds High-Tech Robots—Then Has Them Attack Each Other . Scott . Indrisek . January 8, 2018 . . February 23, 2022.
  51. Web site: De-Manufactured Machines: A Profile of Survival Research Laboratories . Ceci . Moss . January 21, 2017 . SFAQ . February 23, 2022.
  52. Web site: How Mark Pauline critiques corporate power with an army of otherworldly machines.
  53. Web site: Survival Research Labs Gets Banned in San Francisco. January 31, 2012.
  54. Web site: PRANKS 2 Excerpt: Survival Research Laboratories. 19 July 2012.
  55. Web site: Benefit Saturday for stricken Survival Research Labs crew member. Daniel. Terdiman. CNET.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Survival Research Laboratories".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.