Survival Research Laboratory sells out

[some seeing eye]

SRL was formed in 1978. It influenced Burning Man art.

SRL has a gallery show in New York with machines for sale for the first time.

http://theartnewspaper.com/interview/ro ... boratories

[Token]

SSE, that is a darn irresponsible and disappointing title you gave there. Are you CNN/Fox News/MSNBC ???

You getting click-income from this?

Shake Mark’s hand then come back and tell me what he sold out.

SMH

[Elliot]

Artists SELLING their works?! The horror!
Artists NOT starving?! Sacrilege!
And so on and so forth.

[AntiM]

If my art was good enough, I'd sell out.

[Token]

Back in the day, before SF got all gentrified and SOMA was full of art ...

Auntie remembers the days of Project Artaud ...

Chicken John was still a barmaid...

Jello Biafra was running for Mayor...

Mark and SRL would have grand shows in the vacant lots down 3rd street, under freeways that collapsed in the earthquake of 89. Never quite made it to Larry’s party tho.

It was a sight to behold. A visceral experience that cannot be described.

Closest thing I have seen on Playa was Dustdevil’s works with the jet engine over the years and the oil derric in 07, and even those were a fraction of the full SRL experience.

The Seemen and Hellco gig in 96 had some stuff from Christian Ristow, a member of SRL who was behind RoboChrist in later years, then more recently did large kinetic sculptures and other big art.

So, influence - maybe, a few hops and jumps, sure.

But for those who want to dig into the art history of the time, there is so much more.

[AntiM]

Ah, Artaud. Madness in Torque Motel.

[korierika4]

Hi Guys. Just wanted to send everyone a hug!

[Token]

Hi Guys. Just wanted to send everyone a hug!

Are you trying to mellow my harsh?

Mmmmmmm ...

Harshmellows!!!

[AntiM]

Mmmmmm, crunchy.

[some seeing eye]

Maybe I was too terse. I'm a huge supporter of SRL and have seen them twice. Explicitly:

- "never sell out," decommodification, etc. is temporary; BM will never sell out, right?
- SRL's contribution to the event is huge both in aesthetics and individuals who cross-fertilized creative SF projects. That would include the Suicide Club and Cacophony
- we can't bring back art danger to the playa because current participants are irresponsible and altered, as well as the event needing liability insurance
- I think it's great when artists make money, how exactly does that work with the current art contract?
- BMORG is following the same strategy of BM art in galleries and museums

I heard that the founder of The Verve commented something like it's not a question of if you sell out it's a question of when.Said as they lost their publishing rights for a song to the Rolling Stones, sold the song to Nike and that song received a Grammy nomination for Jagger/Richards/Ashcroft.

(I've seen performances, taken workshops and friends performed at Project Artaud and I've enjoyed shows at Southern Exposure)

[Token]

I dunno SSE, simply don’t see the connection outside of some shared aesthetics.

The one link between TTITD and SRL is via Ristow and RoboChrist, and even then it was just Christian under his name and brand.

In the 80s and 90s in SF when SRL was very active, it was in a sphere completely of its own making. Industrial deconstructionism with a punchline.

Suicide Club and Cacophony Society were completely different beasts. An evolution of subculture from Dadaism through the Beatnik movement into a post-modernism niche in the SF scene. From there you can say there was a brief overlap in the early years with TTITD, long lost over time.

With SRL, I see shared aesthetic, perhaps some inspiration, but influence - just not there.

I will say that minds that are attracted to either SRL or TTITD will likely find a common thread. If you are a fan of one, good chance you’d be a fan of the other.

[korierika4]

Hi Guys. Just wanted to send everyone a hug!

Are you trying to mellow my harsh?

Mmmmmmm ...

Harshmellows!!!

Mmmmmmmm... this thread is making me hungry