Survival Research Laboratories

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SRL Performance in Los Angeles, 2006 SurvivalResearch2006.jpg
SRL Performance in Los Angeles, 2006

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]

Contents

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. [15] 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". [16]

SRL's early collaborators included the machine artists including Matt Heckert and Eric Werner. [15] [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]

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. [29] [30] 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. [29] [31] The show was sponsored by the New York City arts groups The New Museum, Creative Time, and The Kitchen. [31]

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. [32] 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. [32] [33]

The group produced the 1995 show Crime Wave in San Francisco. [17]

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. [34] [35]

In 1997 SRL staged The Unexpected Destruction of Elaborately Engineered Artifacts in Austin, Texas. [36] [37]

In 2006 they performed Ghostly Scenes of Infernal Desecration in San Jose, California. [16] The performance featured an air launcher, a hovercraft and a shockwave cannon. [38] [8]

Reception

SRL has received serious consideration as not only a pioneer of industrial performance art, [39] 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. [40]

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. [41] [42] [43] [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. [51] [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. [23] [52]

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. [32] [53]

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] [54]

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References

  1. ↑ "LA – The Art of Extreme Robotics". rhizome.org. February 24, 2002. Archived from the original on 2007-07-06.
  2. ↑ V. Vale (ed), "Industrial Culture Handbook", Re/Search Publications, 1983
  3. ↑ Mark Pauline NNDB.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hertz, Garnet (30 May 2023). Art + DIY Electronics. MIT Press. ISBN   9780262044936.
  5. 1 2 3 Alexander Reed, S. (11 July 2013). Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780199832583.
  6. 1 2 Kostelanetz, Richard (November 15, 2018). A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes. Routledge. ISBN   9781351267106 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ "Terrorism as art: Mark Pauline's dangerous machines". The Verge. October 9, 2012.
  8. 1 2 A day with Survival Research Labs News.com reporter risks life and ego at a post-industrial robot and fire art show. by Daniel Terdiman Aug. 14, 2006, cnet.
  9. ↑ Gottlieb, Baruch (2010). "Los signos vitales del arte procesual" (in Spanish). Laboral Centro de Arte. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  10. ↑ Rombes, Nicholas (June 2010). A Cultural Dictionary of Punk: 1974-1982. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN   9781441105059.
  11. ↑ Eggebeen, Rachel (June 1998). Interface: Art + tech in the Bay area. Duke University Museum of Art. ISBN   9780938989189.
  12. ↑ "SPIN". August 1999.
  13. ↑ Molon, Dominic; Diederichsen, Diedrich; Elms, Anthony; Hell, Richard; Graham, Dan; Higgs, Matthew; Koether, Jutta; Nickas, Bob; Kelley, Mike; Tumlir, Jan (2007). Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967. Yale University Press. ISBN   978-0300134261.
  14. ↑ "How to Get Away With Stealing Military-Grade Technology: An Interview With Survival Research Labs' Mark Pauline". Artspace.
  15. 1 2 Stiles, Kristine; Selz, Peter (25 September 2012). Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of ArtistsÕ Writings (Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Kristine Stiles). Univ of California Press. ISBN   9780520253742.
  16. 1 2 Benedetto, Stephen Di (January 13, 2011). The Provocation of the Senses in Contemporary Theatre. Routledge. ISBN   9781136974083 – via Google Books.
  17. 1 2 Kac, Eduardo (April 23, 2005). Telepresence & Bio Art: Networking Humans, Rabbits, & Robots. University of Michigan Press. ISBN   0472068105 – via Google Books.
  18. 1 2 King, Brad (August 9, 2001). "The Big Bang Theory of Art". Wired– via www.wired.com.
  19. ↑ Petaluma. Survival Research Laboratories. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
  20. ↑ "A Visit to the Survival Research Laboratories Workshop". Rhizome. 28 September 2011.
  21. ↑ "SRL - Chronological Shows and Events". www.srl.org.
  22. ↑ "SRL - Survivial Research Laboratories Show Archive". www.srl.org.
  23. 1 2 Mead, Derek (February 1, 2012). "Apocalyptic Robo-Art Performers Survival Research Labs Have Been Banned in San Francisco".
  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. 1 2 3 Kroker, Arthur; Kroker, Marilouise (11 December 2013). Critical Digital Studies: A Reader, Second Edition. ISBN   9781442666719.
  27. ↑ "SiteWorks - A Cruel and Relentless Plot to Pervert the Flesh of Beasts to Unholy Uses". siteworks.exeter.ac.uk.
  28. ↑ Dery, Mark (December 2007). Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century. ISBN   9780802196507.
  29. 1 2 Holden, Stephen (17 May 1988). "Monster Robots Bash Paradise in Mock Battle". The New York Times.
  30. ↑ "C: A Critical Visual Art Magazine". 1987.
  31. 1 2 "Exhibitions". New Museum Digital Archive.
  32. 1 2 3 Stone, Brad (November 1, 2007). Gearheads: The Turbulent Rise of Robotic Sports. Simon and Schuster. ISBN   9781416587323 – via Google Books.
  33. ↑ Pimsleur, J.L. (May 31, 1989). "Bomb Scare traced to Performance Art". San Francisco Chronicle.
  34. ↑ "Survival Research Laboratories". wc.arizona.edu.
  35. ↑ Sterling, Bruce (July 1, 1996). "Is Phoenix Burning". Wired– via www.wired.com.
  36. ↑ "Appetite for Destruction". Texas Monthly. December 31, 1969.
  37. ↑ "New Art Examiner". Chicago, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. New Art Associations. April 23, 1998 – via Google Books.
  38. ↑ "The Arts in San Jose, CA | ZeroOne San Jose + ISEA2006". www.metroactive.com.
  39. ↑ see e.g. Vale, "industrial Culture Handbook"
  40. ↑ Ballet, Nicolas (29 January 2019). "Survival Research Laboratories: A Dystopian Industrial Performance Art". Arts. 8: 17. doi: 10.3390/arts8010017 .
  41. ↑ "Tentacle Session #35: The Women of Survival Research Labs".
  42. ↑ "Women in SRL".
  43. ↑ "Java goes to the extreme". August 1998.
  44. ↑ V. Vale (ed), "Industrial Culture Handbook", Re/Search Publications, 1983, page 40.
  45. ↑ Herath, Damith; Kroos, Christian; Stelarc (4 May 2016). Robots and Art: Exploring an Unlikely Symbiosis. ISBN   9789811003219.
  46. ↑ "Flame Hurricane". Survival Research Laboratories. 2001. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  47. ↑ Flichy, Patrice (2007). The Internet Imaginaire. ISBN   9780262062619.
  48. ↑ "Stu Walker (Guinea Pig Controlled Robot)". Survival Research Laboratories. 2010. Archived from the original on July 31, 2010. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  49. ↑ Indrisek, Scott (January 8, 2018). "This Artist Builds High-Tech Robots—Then Has Them Attack Each Other". Artsy . Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  50. ↑ Moss, Ceci (January 21, 2017). "De-Manufactured Machines: A Profile of Survival Research Laboratories". SFAQ. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  51. ↑ "How Mark Pauline critiques corporate power with an army of otherworldly machines".
  52. ↑ "Survival Research Labs Gets Banned in San Francisco". January 31, 2012.
  53. ↑ "PRANKS 2 Excerpt: Survival Research Laboratories". 19 July 2012.
  54. ↑ Terdiman, Daniel. "Benefit Saturday for stricken Survival Research Labs crew member". CNET.
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