A selection of Survival Research Laboratories early performances, a must for those interested in how such an enterprise ever got started in the first place.
Related Movies
Fall 1 (1970)
Bas Jan Ader's first fall film shows him seated on a chair, tumbling from the roof of his two-storey house in the Inland Empire.
I'm Too Sad to Tell You (1971)
This short film is part of a mixed media artwork of the same name, which also included postcards of Ader crying, sent to friends of his, with the title of the work as a caption. The film was initially ten minutes long, and included Ader rubbing his eyes to produce the tears, but was cut down to three and a half minutes. This shorter version captures Ader at his most anguished. His face is framed closely. There is no introduction or conclusion, no reason given and no relief from the anguish that is presented.
Broken Fall (Geometric) (1971)
One of a series of ‘falls’ by Bas Jan Ader that he recorded on film, this work was filmed in West Kapelle, Holland in 1970.
Broken Fall (Organic) (1971)
Bas Jan Ader hangs from the branch of a tall tree, until he loses his grip and falls into a river below.
Nightfall (1971)
Shot in his garage-studio, the camera records Ader painstakingly hoisting a large brick over his shoulder. His figure is harshly lit by two tangles of light bulbs. He drops the brick, crushing one strand of lights. He again lifts the brick, allowing tension to accrue. The climax inevitable—the brick falls and crushes the second set of lights. Here the film abruptly ends, all illumination extinguished.
Desolation Center (2018)
The untold story of a series of Reagan-era guerrilla punk and industrial desert happenings in Southern California that are now recognized as the inspiration for Burning Man, Lollapalooza, and Coachella. Interviews and rare performance footage of Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Redd Kross, Einstürzende Neubauten, Survival Research Laboratories, Savage Republic, Swans and more.
Balkan Baroque (1999)
Balkan Baroque is a real and imaginary biography of the Yugoslavian performance artist Marina Abramovic. Rather than a mechanical reproduction of the artist's work, the film tries to create a new reality by translating the performances into cinematographic images that intensify the fictional context of the film. Abramovic plays herself, but ,appearing in multiple forms, blurs her own identity. Memories and fantasies intermingle with day to day rituals. The chronological narrative often breaks to reflect the interior voyage of the protagonist from the present to the past and back to the present. The result is a visually impressive film. Balkan Baroque had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, 1999.
Blue Man Group: The Complex Rock Tour Live (2003)
Offbeat performance artists The Blue Man Group have finally been captured live on this disc that features concert footage, three full-length music videos and three songs from Blue Man Group's album, "The Complex." The live footage was filmed during Blue Man Group's successful and widely acclaimed August 2003 rock tour, where they wowed 9,000 fans in two sold-out concerts.
Maimed Artist (1984)
Documentary that profiles Mark Pauline, the machine performance artist of Survival Research Laboratories. As the Title suggests, Pauline lost most of one hand during experimentation. 'Maimed Artist' explores the often destructive world of such performance art, where there is a fine line between entertainment and insanity.
A Scenic Harvest from the Kingdom of Pain (1984)
Documentation of three Survival Research Laboratories events, 1983-1984. Meet Stu, the SRL guinea pig, and see him training to operate the 4-legged Walking Machine, see 10-barrel shotguns, hear the "Stairway to Hell".
Virtues Of Negative Fascination (1986)
Five mechanized performances of Survival Research Laboratories, 1985-1986. 70 min. of endless pursuits, unavoidable captures, and merciless punishments.
The Will To Provoke: An Account Of Fantastic Schemes For Initiating Social Improvements (1989)
The 1988 European tour of Survival Research Laboratories, with shows in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. SRL ferrets out and gleefully satirizes assorted icons of cultural pride in two of Europes more allegedly libertarian democracies.
The Pleasures of Uninhibited Excess (1991)
A fast-moving and comprehensive documentation of three Survival Research Laboratories performances 1989-1990. Includes "Illusions of Shameless Abundance ...", ArtSpace Computer-Controlled Installation, "A Carnival of Misplaced Devotion ...", plus details of the 1989 bomb hoax incident.
Pranks! (1988)
Video accompaniment to the book of the same name released by RE/SEARCH magazine, featuring interviews with Survival Research Lab's Mark Pauline, Joe Coleman, Karen Finley, Boyd Rice, and Frank Discussion. "Five Fabulously Funny Interviews with Fiendishly Flamboyant Pranksters discussing diabolical (and sometimes illegal) deeds. Dazzling deceptions and put-ons from some of the most outrageous artists living today."
Moving Together (2023)
Moving Together is a celebratory love letter to music and dance that brims with kinetic life and energy. This documentary explores the intricate collaboration between dancers and musicians, moving seamlessly between Flamenco, Modern, and New Orleans Second Line.
DJ Punk: The Photographer Daniel Josefsohn (2018)
Nobody captured the atmosphere of 1990s Berlin better than German photographer Daniel Josefsohn, who died in 2016 at the age of 54, leaving his mark in advertising with his irreverent aesthetic and punk sensibility. It was his spontaneous, imperfect images shot for an MTV campaign in 1994 that first made him famous.
Seedbed (1972)
“In this legendary sculpture/performance Acconci lay beneath a ramp built in the Sonnabend Gallery. Over the course of three weeks, he masturbated eight hours a day while murmuring things like, "You're pushing your cunt down on my mouth" or "You're ramming your cock down into my ass." Not only does the architectural intervention presage much of his subsequent work, but all of Acconci's fixations converge in this, the spiritual sphincter of his art. In Seedbed Acconci is the producer and the receiver of the work's pleasure. He is simultaneously public and private, making marks yet leaving little behind, and demonstrating ultra-awareness of his viewer while being in a semi-trance state.” – Jerry Saltz (via: http://www.ubu.com/film/acconci_seedbed.html)
Dragphoria (2025)
Dragphoria is a short film about drag and identity, finding yourself in a noisy crowd, and slowly accepting yourself after a long-awaited denial.
Pretend Not to See Me (2009)
Life and art intersect on a spectacular Newfoundland farm where visual artist Colette Urban mounts thirteen art performances in the fields and barns of her property. Resilient, determined, self aware and funny, Colette embraces the transformative power of art as she restages the significant art performances of her thirty-year career. With the camera as her audience she transforms the quotidian into a playful world of the imagination with elaborate costumes and idiosyncratic self invented rituals.