NEW PALTZ, NY — Wednesday, December 1 Lecture Center 112, 7pm free
From flame-throwing robots to manipulator arms that smash through concrete, Survival Research Laboratories is bringing apocalyptic art to the masses. The San Francisco-based group, led by its founding artistic director Mark Pauline has acquired an international cult status in recent years through its anarchic gut-wrenching machine performances; theatrical displays which blend high and low technology and transform junkyard, industrial and avant-garde aesthetics into explosive socio-political satire. SRL describes itself as a group of “creative technicians dedicated to redirecting the techniques, tools, and tenets of industry and science away from their typical manifestations in practicality or product.” With titles like “Illusions of Shameless Abundance,” “Mysteries of the Reactionary Mind,” “Will to Provoke,” “Delusions of Expediency: How to Avoid Responsibility for Social Disintegration by Acting without Principle under the Pretenses of Utility,” SRL has staged almost 50 shows in the united States and Europe to enthusiastic and at times bewildered crowds.
