Survival Research Laboratories: Inconsiderate fantasies of negative acceleration

“Pleased and slightly nervous” aptly describes my feelings as an audience member at an SRL event. Maybe not “slightly”. I remember one in downtown SF (next to the SFMOMA site?) with a V-1 buzz bomb engine. They were dropping what I guessed might be balloons of acetylene gas into it. I thought the audience would be showered with glass from the adjacent building, but that didn’t quite happen. (IIRC, there were also giant stumbling robots of some sort, but I was more focused on the loud explosions and subsonic rumblings.)

100 years from now, SRL will be considered to be the DaVinci of massively dangerous robotic art.

Been watching SRL performances since the 80's... Went to one in the early 90's and feared for my life. Great fun!

Yeah, brought a SRL history/photo book to my first week of work, my manager was both slightly terrified and also happy he hired me.

I think this piece is actually a sculpted version of Mark Pauline's hand: https://cdn-blog.adafruit.com/uploads/2018/01/IMG_0245.jpg

Details and gory photos at http://www.srl.org/yard/misc/injury.html ("In 1982 Mark was working with a rocket motor that exploded in front of him.")

I wasnt sure if this was pure satire or something real until I read this part:

...capable of hurling a standard two-by-four at speeds up to 200 miles per hour. Violence and danger are materials in Pauline’s work, and fear is often a reasonable response..."

Then I was nearly sure it was satire. I read more and saw the photos, and am now nearly convinced it's real. I kind of don't want to look further and pierce the veil of uncertainty.

Saw these guys in LA a few years ago. Mark Pauline is a true visionary.Excellent show, well worth attending.