In every SRL show, some of the large, more complex machines are damaged. Normally, these are repaired between shows. For the last 2 years though, getting moved and set up again was the priority, so few repairs were carried out. We’ve added a new section of the site: The Machine Repair Log which describes damage to, and the repair of SRL machines. The Big Walker was first on the list.
At last year’s dorkbotSF at TCHO Mark Pauline talked about the latest machine he’d been working on and a review of other snake-like robot arms in existence. The SRL one is coming along. Read more about it and track its progress here or by clicking on the image above.
February 2010. More accurate translation forthcoming in the meantime, here’s the original and some links to Google and Babelfish:
Well, after a year and a half of moving from San Francisco to Petaluma and a few months of setting everything up again, SRL is finally back in the robot making business. We’re working on a couple new machine projects and want to be ready to show them off to the public.
Photo from John Behrens
Photo from Jon Alloway
Please contact Mark Pauline at markp [at] srl [dot] org if you can offer us an opportunity for a live SRL performance. We offer public events of almost any scale, from a few machines to shows with over 40 tons of robots! In keeping with the SRL tradition over the past 30 years, our performances give new meaning to the word extreme. So, please, if you’re looking for SRL “lite” type events, look elsewhere.
—
Mark Pauline
Survival Research labs
839 Petaluma Blvd North
Petaluma, CA 94952
What do Andrew Stanton (writer director of Wall-e), Lynn Hershman (acclaimed filmmaker/video artist), Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead), Anne Lamott (author/activist), Mark Pauline (SRL), and Jane Metcalfe (co-founder WIRED) have in common?
They (and 40+ other artists and activists) support the Renegade Liberal (as labeled by the National Journal) and champion of the public option in health care reform, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey and think so should you.
Each is participating and contributing to an event and art auction to raise funds for the congresswoman not to be missed.
Renegade Art and Democracy
October 4th, 2009
4:00 – 5:00
Artist+Patron Reception
$250
Featuring a Conversation of Renegades including Mark Pauline, Mickey Hart , Lynn Hershman and Andrew Stanton, hosted by co-founder of WIRED Magazine Jane Metcalfe
5:00 – 7:30
Silent and Live Auction
$50
Musical performance by Christie Winn and The Lowdowns
Program featuring author Anne Lamott
40+ piece silent and live auction with art work by Christo, William Wiley, Robert Hudson, David Best, Tiffany Shlain & Ken Goldberg, Jock McDonlad, Lisa Kristine, Philip Krohn, Dave Eggers, George Lucas, Joan Blades and many many more
The Gardens at Cornerstone
23750 Arnold Dr
Sonoma CA 95476
www.cornerstonegardens.com
RSVP: renegade@woolseyforcongress.com
If you are unable to attend you can certainly support Woolsey by joining her on facebook and contributing to her progressive efforts at woolseyforcongress.com
30 years ago today, I started Survival Research Laboratories. I had
come up with the idea of machine performances a few weeks earlier,
and when the owner of a local free magazine, “Boulevards Magazine”
heard my spiel, and learned that I was thinking of forming SRL as a
company, he offered me, a free, full page ad space in his November
issue.
I started working on the first SRL machine ” The
Demanufacturing Plant” the next week. It appeared in the first SRL
show “Machine Sex” staged on St. Patrick’s Day in 1979.
Id like to thank all those who have helped me make SRL what it is,
both voluntarily and involuntarily. Im still having a blast. Even
moving all 160 tons of my stuff to the new shop in Petaluma has been
kind of fun. In a few more weeks, Ill be totally out of here and SRL
will lurch into the next 30 year chapter.
2038 here we come!
Mark Pauline
Finally after 25.5 years at the San Bruno Ave shop in SF,
we’ve moved. Thankfully, to a shop that’s twice the size of the previous one
and does not leak. It also features a large flat paved lot for testing
machines. The new SRL shop in located at 839 North Petaluma Blvd in Petaluma
Calif. 32 miles north of the Golden gate Bridge. This is the third move for
SRL. (The first SRL shop was the junkyard on Carolina St in SF from 1978-1982).
Over the past year, I’ve sorted through all the SRL stuff and distilled it to
around 160 tons of the finest machines, Robots, tools, and weird paraphernalia.
We’re now fully operational, and looking forward to building some new
performing machines. North Bay volunteers are welcome to stop by and have a
look and get involved. We are also accepting interns for the first time. Please
contact me at the email address here.
For those curious as to why we moved out of SF I will cite the four primary reasons.
We were out of room. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stage and prepare for shows at the shop. After completing the last machine in Aug 2007, the Dual-Mule, there was simply nowhere left to work inside the shop, severely limiting our options for building new machines. I founded SRL as an organization that was based on experimentation and the continuous creation of new work, and a general dedication to the idea that more is more.
Relocation within SF or Oakland/East Bay was too expensive. Two years of searching had yielded zilch. It would have required either a radical downsizing or maybe turning SRL into some sort of domesticated, grant writing, artistic petting zoo.
We just didn’t feel very welcome; the recent history in the area is rife with hostility to industrial arts activities, with several such organizations undergoing relentless harassment and shutdowns. We ourselves were recently threatened with a nasty lawsuit by the SF fire department, forestalled only by the intervention of city hall officials and the fact that we were in the process of moving out of town. These threats were based on such trivial things as not having a forklift driver’s license and storing lubricating oil on the premises, to name a few.
Finally, the owners of the property we were renting the shop from just wanted us out of there. I credit them with tolerating our shenanigans for 25 years and renting to us on the cheap. However, when they decided to nearly triple our rent in 2007 to encourage us to move out, it was time to go.
In any case the new facility is a real treat, room to grow and low overhead. I will be maintaining a public record of day to day activities at the new shop with images, videos and other information starting later this month.
Mark Pauline. Director Founder SRL.
A new mechanical, kinetic sculpture made by SRL and several among the growing Todd Blair community was unveiled last Sunday at Rhythmix Culture Works in Alameda. It’s a 7×9 steel wall with 25 movable aluminum gears built with love by Todd’s friends and family to raise funds for his continued rehabilitation. Todd suffered a traumatic brain injury at the SRL show in Amsterdam September 2007.
Image from Scott Beale
The wall was designed and built by Greg Jones, Kevin Binkert, and Mark Pauline. It has 25 movable gears customized by Todd’s friends! Click here to see each gear labeled by gear modifier!
We are now seeking a cultural organization, collector, corporate collection or curator to purchase the piece. All proceeds go to Todd Blair’s ongoing recovery fund. Please direct purchase inquiries to Amy Critchett at amy [at] tcho [dot] com
or refer to upcoming information on http://toddnow.org
This is a short clip taken by Scott Beale of the Wall in action:
Wall of Gears from Scott Beale on Vimeo.
Some new images of the SRL show at Robodock (A Complete Mastery of Sinister Forces: Employed With Callous Disregard to Produce Catastrophic Changes in the Natural Order of Events) have been posted by the following photographers:
Nina Alter
Jon Alloway
Jurgen Barel
in addition to the ones from Jessica Hobbes, John Mathieu, and Steve Double.
Also there is another event: the Todd Blair Gear Wall Project this July 20, 2008. Click on the link for more details!
More to come so keep checking the site!
Image of Hovercraft from Jon Alloway
A kinetic sculpture will be erected on July 20, 2008 in honor of Todd Blair and also to raise funds for his ongoing rehabilitation and recovery. As many know, Todd was in a serious accident at the SRL Robodock performance last September.
The wall is being designed and built by Mark Pauline, Kevin Binkert, and Greg Jones and will be made up of 25 gears that can be purchased and customized by participants. If you would like to participate in this project, please see how you can be involved in the Todd Blair Wall project here
The Wall will be unveiled at the July 20 event at Rhythmix Cultural Works in Alameda.
