Pauline will present an overview of recent SRL shenanigans using video and images, plus a few choice outrages from the past. He will focus on the peculiar† motivational mechanics which underlie and sustain the impractical activities of SRL. Depending on your perspective, Pauline's talk will be a stark warning of the pitfalls facing anyone daring to attempt the genuinely original, or a celebration of the thrills in store for those who actually get away with it.
Survival Research Laboratories was conceived of and founded by Mark Pauline in November 1978. Since then, SRL has operated as an organization of creative technicians dedicated to re-directing the techniques, tools, and tenets of industry, science, and the military away from their typical manifestations in practicality, product, and warfare. Since 1979, SRL has staged over 45 mechanized presentations. Each performance consists of a unique set of ritualized interactions between machines, robots, and special effects devices, employed in developing themes of socio-political satire. Humans are present only as audience or operators.
-- As of 2/1/06