SRL News

Join Fringe Exhibitions for an Artist Talk and Reception on Saturday Feb 25 2006 from 5-7pm

Director of SRL Mark Pauline will give a talk in the
gallery and screen videos from the recent SRL shows in
Los Angeles.

Survival Research Laboratories has established a
reputation of producing the most dangerous shows on
earth, since its inception in 1978 SRL has operated as
an independent organization, producing its own live
mechanical performances.

Fringe Exhibitions is a new exhibition space dedicated
to showing cutting edge and experimental art projects
that focus on installation, video, new media, and art
that engages with technology.

504 Chung King Court
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-613-0160

See the April 2005 LA show, LA <3 SRL on video as a special SF Indie Fest fundraiser! Feb 10 2006, Friday 9:30pm Women’s Building 18th @ Valencia SF

Proceeds will go toward the impending move of SRL from our current location (of over 24 years), to a new home (somewhere). An estimated $100,000 is needed to accomplish this move. Come see a great program and support home grown SF cutting edge art!

Video premiere at 9:30pm followed by a conversation between RE/Search founder V. Vale and SRL founder and director Mark Pauline, and possibly Dave Scardina. Video shot by Dave Scardina and edited by Mark Pauline.

Contrary to info posted elsewhere, there is NO fundraiser/party at the Hayes Valley Market on Feb. 11. As always, official, confirmed SRL news on this site, rumors (confirmed or not) on those *other places* :p

Exploiting the Momentum of Self Righteousness
Mark Pauline to speak at Ken Goldberg’s Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium
of UC Berkeley’s Center for New Media

Feb 1 2006 – Wed – 7:30-9:00pm
160 Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley

http://ieor.berkeley.edu/~goldberg/lecs/

Also, post-show roundup for The Fish Boy’s Dream (Chinatown Show) here. Please contact karen at srl dot org if you have video footage and/or images of the show!

Tune in to the official post-show roundup page of the recent mini-show in LA this past weekend organized by Fringe Exhibitions periodically in the next few weeks for official images from the event, crew info, anecdotes, etc. as they trickle in. Please contact karen at srl dot org if you would like your photo set linked to/credited on our site.

Post-show roundup for Chinatown/Fringe Exhibitions Show

Exhibition Dates: January 21 – February 25, 2006

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 21, from 6 – 8 PM
504 chung king court,
los angeles 90012
213 613 0160

For its inaugural exhibition Fringe Exhibitions is pleased to present the work of Mark Pauline, director of Survival Research Laboratories (SRL).

This exhibition will feature the newest addition to the SRL machine family- the Sneaky Soldiers- near life sized, remote controlled army of revolutionaries. Also included in the exhibition will be large-scale documentary images, and the premier of the video from SRL’s recent show in Downtown Los Angeles. This video features the first invasion of the Sneaky Soldiers. The SRL commentary on the art of war debued a Sneaky Soldier emerging from an 18-foot tall wooden Trojan horse to face danger from large-scale destructive robots enduring the pain of flame and damage through a hail of sparks and projectiles. After the fog of war was lifted from the field of battle revealing mangled wrecks of machinery, the Sneaky Soldiers were gathered to be repaired to fight again another day. Similar to a real theater of war where battle takes place, these machines and props engage in a struggle for survival. Both the machines and operators expend intense energy creating an atmosphere of immediacy and choreographed chaos. Each of the eight soldiers has an individual number and distinct battle wounds from the performance. The Sneaky Soldier has been a recurring character in many SRL performances. The new Sneaky Soldier is a major technological improvement with a steel torso enclosing a battery powered, chain driven mechanism to create a crawling action.

SRL engages new vocabularies by integrating machines, theatrical sets and props, with dramatic, visual metaphors bringing to life, large-scale mechanical performances for audiences that rival other popular culture events. By taking things to extreme ends, SRL attempts to create new levels of sensory and emotional intensity. Using diverse disciplines such as performance, literature, and engineering, in concert with artistic expression, ideas are transformed into visceral experiences. Employing technology to the fullest and breaking new ground by trying to build collaboration between art and electronic culture, the creative work of SRL is constantly evolving as advances in new technologies are being developed. We are just beginning to scratch the surface on understanding the potential of technology and its relationship to contemporary art. With the assimilation of machine to technology, cultural transformations take place. The evolution of electronic culture is a change in the dynamics of society, representation and experience.

Survival Research Laboratories was conceived and founded by Mark Pauline in 1978 as an organization of creative technicians dedicated to redirecting the techniques, tools, and tenets of industry, science, and the military away from their typical manifestations in practicality, product, or warfare. SRL has staged over 50 mechanized presentations in the United States, Europe, and Japan that consist of a unique set of ritualized interactions between machines, robots, and special effects devices, employed in developing themes of socio-political satire. Since its inception SRL has operated as a not for profit organization producing its own live mechanical performances.

More info at fringexhibitions.com

SRL received a request from a Shell Oil Engineer In houston asking to rent the Pitching Machine for some tests.

Read more on the Best of the Yard Section

Mark Pauline to speak at Ken Goldberg’s Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium
of UC Berkeley’s Center for New Media

Feb 1 2006 – Wed – 7:30-9:00pm
160 Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley

Links to images from the event can be found here:

http://srl.org/shows/events/hayes/

NEW RE/Search book out now: J.G. BALLARD CONVERSATIONS with Mark Pauline, Graeme Revell, David Pringle, Maura Devereux, Lynn Fox, and V. Vale.

BOOK RELEASE PARTY with dynamic art installation from Survival Research Laboratories (SRL)

Sept 10, 7-10pm
Hayes Valley Market, San Francisco