SRL Fantasy Lecture Paper

The Fantasy of Survival Research Laboratories

    Survival Research Laboratories fulfill a fantasy of destruction and mayhem. A world without rules and borders, a very natural and instinctive way of life. A more raw way of survival in an acceptable environment.
    Some of the same kind of mainstream events that articulate the same kinds of fantasies in our society are action/ sci-fi movies. They both can show things getting destroyed and blown up and existing in an environment that habituates that specific kind of world.  Both have lots of bright lights and loud booms. A major element that is different would be the safety  factor of the audience, and the vibrancy and realness of the explosions.
    The criticism “Yanks with tanks” I believe to be a very crude uneducated comment and an understatement to the meaning behind what they do at Survival Research Laboratories. These machines that they create require a great mechanical mind. Though their resourcefulness is a bit on the questionable side they are intending to make a statement with everything they do. I would have to say that their work both promotes and critiques the mechanized violence depending on the viewer’s perspective. For me at first it is just a live action movie with machines, then it became about the dangers of battling machines.
    Survival Research Laboratories’ audience is the people, the everyday average person. I believe that with the type of society that Amsterdam tends to attract they can easily bring in viewers to watch a fight and hop that maybe some leave with more than when they came.

Big Ideas

1. metaphor-music as emotion
Small shadow boxes , emotion photos. with top layer black and white with cutouts, bottom layer black and white solid, middle layer (cutouts) be different pictures. Abstract with each color relating to the emotion in the top photo, or a picture of different emotion altogether.

2. Modular- gift cards
Use gift cards to create a sculpture with a reference to the failing economy, play with the different colors and styles of the cards. dollar sign, gas pump

3. Modular-peeps
Use the candy peeps to create a sculpture. luxury chicken coop with jail outer structure, weight scale, chicks to create an egg (what came first the chicken or the egg?).

4. Dots
create a photograph using dots with contrasting colors turn a calming image into a more dramatic playing with the color pallet and pixilation of the dots

5. Auditory and color relationships
a series of lit shadow boxes with picts of dif natural elements with music playing for each different element. Each element has its own light color and genre of music to be played softly. when stepped away from a specific element the music will blend together to create a sub genre of noise beautiful in its own way.

6.  metaphor-light, water, and rose (me) snow globe?
Use submersible lights in glass block (most likely floating), fill with water (rainwater if possible) insert a black and a white rose/petals in the container (on the bottom). show in a dark room.  show with low and very dramatic lighting,

7. modular- Dr. Pepper cans
create a sculpture. recycle symbol, heart (for my love of it), weight scale.

Menil

I had to go on my own so here is some of what I saw...

Esquisite corpse Revised

The body as a site of conflict.

 

Photo assistants were Maggie, and Megan Williams (my roommate)

Idenity esentials

Body as site of conflict

MFA trip

Really enjoyed this trip it was a lot of fun, just wish I'd had more time to really look around and enjoy.

Proyecto Mural, by Cruz-Diez
Casein & latex house paint on plywood w metal rods
Colors in the mural were black metal rods with red, yellow, green,  and blue cylindrical rods at various angles, on a white background.

The elder sister by William Bourgeau
oil & canvas
European 19th centery painting
natural colors, realistic looking

Still life with musical instruments
by Bartolomeo Bettera
Oil painting on canvas
17th century European painting
dark colors dominated such as red and browns and golds

Flywhisk
Ivory
Mid 18th century Indian sculputure

Video Still from John Wood and Paul Harrison

Exquisite Corpse

We passed a paper around the room and in mass confusion got a bunch of random words,or lines depending on peoples ability to follow instructions. Not that I'm judging because my understanding of this assignment was to pick out one part of the poem to try to tell...if I'm wrong sorry.
My poem was:
Huge women ran wet ski
Smooth light floated dirty bodies
Confused I throw beautiful house

See if you can figure out which line I chose?

Answer: Smooth light floated dirty bodies

Did you get it right?
If not my bad. Let me know what you think.