Did Survival Research Labs ever perform at Burning Man?

[vargaso]

I always considered SRL to be Burning Man before there was a Burning Man, and I know there's a lot of overlap in the people involved, but did SRL proper ever perform on the playa? As far as I can tell, they never did, which is odd because BM would seem to be the absolute ideal environment. They always had issues with permits and their shows getting shut down. The one I went to out in Hunter's Point in 1993, for instance. Anyway, just a thought I had. I miss the 90s, sometimes, ha.

[trilobyte]

They did, but have been banned.

[junglesmacks]

I wanna hear this one..

[vargaso]

They did, but have been banned.

Really? That's hilarious. I bet it was more ego-driven politics than anything else. Do tell, if you care to.

[trilobyte]

I'll clarify - Individual members have participated, and put together some great projects. But my understanding is there were some significant differing views on safety and protocol at Burning Man that led to what amounts to a ban.

[vargaso]

I'll clarify - Individual members have participated, and put together some great projects. But my understanding is there were some significant differing views on safety and protocol at Burning Man that led to what amounts to a ban.

Makes sense. Their shows are stupid dangerous, but man, what an experience they are/were. Not to mention a HUGE influence on Burning Man itself. And so fucking loud! Like, unbelievably, physically damaging loud. Even with ear plugs.

It's fun to trace the lineage, and fairly easy too, because the Bay Area is a relatively small place, and the arts community even smaller. The prankster aspect of the counter-culture really is unique to the area, for whatever reasons, and it's this that has informed much of where we're at now.

[Ugly Dougly]

The See Men did BM as well, but they haven't been around in years. So did Aesthetic Meat.

[vargaso]

TheSee Mendid BM as well, but they haven't been around in years.

Yeah, Hellco was very SRL-inspired. Damn, I'm feeling nostalgic today. I remember reading about all this back then, and thinking, hmm, sounds fun, as soon as my kid gets a bit older and I finish school and I'm not so damn broke, etc etc...Ha. Well, it only took 17 years after first hearing about it, but dammit, I made it there in 2007.

[zerzura]

SRL has never officially worked with Burning Man. A number of the most prominent members of SRL have done quite a few projects out there, including several who did things last year. Some have been there since the the beginning of the event. And a portion of SRL had the giant Tesla Coil out there in 1998. But Mark Pauline has never been to Burning Man and has no desire to go. I have never heard of them being banned in any capacity, I would think Mark would brag about that if it were true. They have been banned from San Francisco... and I believe Tokyo. Perhaps Austin as well?

[Simon of the Playa]

TheSee Mendid BM as well, but they haven't been around in years.

Yeah, Hellco was very SRL-inspired. Damn, I'm feeling nostalgic today. I remember reading about all this back then, and thinking, hmm, sounds fun, as soon as my kid gets a bit older and I finish school and I'm not so damn broke, etc etc...Ha. Well, it only took 17 years after first hearing about it, but dammit, I made it there in 2007.

yes, it was cool, some of us were there...


*cough, cough*...

[Roberto Dobbisano]

and some of us are actually cacophony, instead of just talking about it...

[H.G.Crosby]

you can be such a snotty douchebag sometimes.







thank god, because somebody has to do it....

[gyre]

is this Simon in real life?

[Bin Noddin]

Gyre, now your life is in serious danger. But, you're used to that by now.

[Simon of the Playa]

i did once almost purchase a gull-wing mercedes, as pictured above, when i went to school in switzerland.

however, gyre is mistaken, my feet are bigger.

ah, the truth, how it burns those that cant handle it.

[gyre]

Lovely cars, really.

Desmodromic valvetrain on some of them.

[H.G.Crosby]

Lovely cars, really.

until they fly off the track and kill a number of spectators.

1959 i believe it was, a year of a number of tragedies.

[Elliot]

Spectator safety is a difficult question, but for the performers a good solution was suggested a couple of decades ago by one of the sanest people I know of, Peter Egan of Road & Track Magazine and several other publications.

Egan proposed a "risk acceptance license" (I forget his exact phrase). Holders of such a license would effectively remove themselves from the "see-you-in-court" marketplace. They would be contractually forbidden from suing event organizers, venue property owners, equipment manufacturers and so forth.

[theCryptofishist]

I think that the problem with that is that you cannot actually sign away your right to sue. Which could make it worse for the performers...

[gyre]

You're probably thinking of the 1955 Lemans crash.
It was a 300 SLR that crashed, avoiding a braking Jaguar.
It was a highly specialized model composed almost entirely of magnesium alloy, Elektron, which added to the damage.
Most drivers still didn't use belts at that time, with speeds at Lemans reaching 300 km/h.
It's worth mentioning that the 300 was an exceptionally safe design for 1955.

I tend to think of racing being most dangerous when the nazi war machine first geared up for racing, and differential speeds were suddenly doubled or tripled.
It was as if flying saucers abruptly appeared on the track.
The german cars were often airborne on tracks built for the current technology.


It's much nicer now with deaths on the track quite a rarity, and some racing classes going an entire season with no injuries at all.
It still happens though, and I've lost friends to crashes.

The fatalism many drivers once had seems quite archaic now, doesn't it?

[ygmir]

I think that the problem with that is that you cannot actually sign away your right to sue. Which could make it worse for the performers...

that's correct, from my info. "suing" is a civil/constitutional right, and you can't sign those away, just as no one (in theory) can take them.

[Simon of the Playa]

so who is up for a class action suit against larry for ruining their lives and dooming them forever?

[ygmir]

so who is up for a class action suit against larry for ruining their lives and dooming them forever?

it's have to be 3rd class.

[Ugly Dougly]

I'll bet they like to get paid for their work. Or something lke that.

[youtube][/youtube]

[gyre]

Why are we having such issues with the blm?

There's a guy in Vegas, with "some germans", trying to get the blm to give him 8,000 acres to reproduce the Nürburgring in nevada.

[forty_eight]

The prankster aspect of the counter-culture really is unique to the area

Alien biker gangs frequented the Bay Area in the 50s and infected the culture with the prankster ethic.

[CitizenRandom]

I used to live with some of those freaks Mark Pauline and the crew- I lived however at a shared warehouse that was one of three artist spaces in SF South of Market called the A-hole. This was in 1984. One night We were sitting around at about 4 am in a hive of artistic speed fueled fury painting and sculpting and some of us comming home from working in the developing art nightclub scene- That was Club 9 and DNA- ect and My room mate Annette comes peeling in with David and Mark and Michael Fury - just back from General Hospital - from were his fingers were blown off at The Robot show in the Mission- It was pretty crazy- we had Flipper and The Dead Kenadys -Polkaside living upstairs with the crew from Alternative Tenticle records and the Arts nightclub household downstairs-

My point was- The only person I recall from that group from those days Was Michael Fury - whom sadly I was told at my first desert burn had died before the event and thus the birth of the Temple was notched into our perminate temporary city experiance.. The SRL and the SOMA renasaince actually started in the early 80s WAAAAAAAY before the 90s arts generation kinda tapped it out with the infestation of Artist LiveWork Conos and the birth of the Gulch- Cub 9 was the kick start for all that fun.. Mark Renne was the spin master of collecting and erecting the famous New Culture of the Bay Area - where you could hang out with the likes of a certain Freddy Really -bounce to Doc Martin- - eaves drop on a conversation between Hunter S and Wavey Gravy- see an SRL robot show- inspect the Art motel- and cram drugs in your face with Hells Angels comendering one of the hotel room bathrooms..come out, turn around and trip over Chris Issak while spilling a drink on Jerry Brown. I had the privilage of embarking on this wild ride and as I was shat from the womb of Art school and played in the emerging petri dish that held the crazed talents and phsycotic prankclivity of those affore mentioned. I am only to fucking amazed to be both witness and participant in the suddenly humongous art thigamawatsit we all do now. Paulines stuff was always so frickin wild- I loved his Carosel of Meat- It was grotesque -but so fresh and in your face funny cool- the Yuppies would just spectate and gawk- pay their fees and freak out. Burningman is excellent for the grooming of the creative influence into the evolving into the creative mind- Those who freak out this year are usually freaking us out the next.. its that No Spectators thing..
Occasionally tho I do recall that we also have famous fuck ups involving limb loss ( my exhusband 2001) and other tremendous contributions to the accidents of enfamie...

But not like we used to- maybe we will enjoy some slightly more dangerous art in the future- but the thing is..I think we just got better at it.

[theCryptofishist]

Apparently not.

[Simon of the Playa]

The prankster aspect of the counter-culture really is unique to the area

Alien biker gangs frequented the Bay Area in the 50s and infected the culture with the prankster ethic.

i miss La Honda.

and AppleJacks.