[rohrpost] monochrom: Experience the Experience

[das ende der nahrungskette]

monochrom:
EXPERIENCE THE EXPERIENCE
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Los Angeles, Vancouver, San Francisco
June 14-July 24
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So-called "experience" is a highly Anglo-American term. Roughly speaking,
everything is plugged as "experience". Whether it is a "dining experience"
in a restaurant or the "Disney experience" in Orlando or "experience the
sorrow and tragedy of Ground Zero" in New York City... everything has to be
made "experiencable" or presented as an "experience". Yet there is not even
a word for it in German. "Experience" is untranslatable. Of course, this is
the same as with all cultural ideas: being untranslatable, ergo driving you
crazy. Even though we are coming disguised as tourists, we don't want to
always just take. We would also like to give. We bring something with us
for North America. And when we leave, we will have gained the experience of
how our experience has been experienced. We want to see what that does to
us and what the what-it-does-to-us does to North America. We want to convey
a total of 7 new "experiences" to the local population in three North
American cities, making them "experiencable" in performances and events.

More tour infos:
http://www.monochrom.at/experiences/

About monochrom:
http://www.monochrom.at/english/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monochrom

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DATES AND EXPERIENCES

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LOS ANGELES
Basecamp:
The Machine Project (http://www.machineproject.com/)

* Experience The Experience Of Being Buried Alive (June 14)
The people present will have an opportunity to be buried alive in a coffin
for fifteen minutes. As a framework program there will be lectures about
the history of the science of determining death and the medical cultural
history of "buried alive". People buried alive not only populate the horror
stories of past centuries, but also countless reports in specialized
medical literature. The theme of unintentional resurrection by grave
robbers also runs through forensic protocols. Even in the 19th century it
was said that every tenth person was buried alive. No wonder that the fear
of this fate was immense and led - especially in the German-speaking region
- to all kinds of precautions to avoid it. Various death test methods were
developed, for instance. "Security coffins" with bell pulls and air hoses
were patented; mortuaries were built, in which corpses were left for days
to natural decay.

* Experience The Experience Of A Magnetism Party (June 18)
Electromagnetic data carriers are subject to the influences of time. Errors
thus accumulate, due to mechanical influences, chemical influences, thermic
influences, influences from external magnetic fields. The data carriers
age, and the information stored on them is affected. The bits can no longer
be read, or they are altered, or the information is lost. Accompanied by
contemporary alternative mainstream techno and house rhythms and using
several heavy-duty neodym magnets, monochrom will delete all the data
carriers that can be found. Naturally the public is invited to bring data
carriers themselves. The destruction of magnetic storage media is a form of
destruction that can reasonably be called unspectacular. But it is
important. Our society collects and collects and collects. The hard drives
are full. However, we can also dispense with the bourgeois-humanist
criticism of the "information flood", this maelstrom that is said to attack
the printed word. The Magnetism Party is therefore an attempt to actively
come to terms with one aspect of the information society that is almost
completely ignored by our epistemological machinery. Delete is just another
word for nothing left to lose.

* Experience the Experience of a Brick of Coke (June 21)
Sugar has always been expensive enough that in a variety of cultures and
eras it has even been used as a medium of exchange. In Europe sugar was
first introduced around the year 600, and it reached England via the
Mediterranean region in the 11th century - of course as a luxury good
reserved for the ruling class. The first recorded delivery of slaves (to
Lagos, Portugal in 1444) was intended for sugar cultivation on Portugal’s
Atlantic islands. In order to provide sufficient “personnel” for the
colonies overseas, the slave trade was promoted intensively. Sugar was in
part responsible for the development of the gigantic preindustrial
bureaucratic mercantile system of “prosperity.” Refined white sugar was the
symbol of European conquest and of century-long repression and colonial
dependency. Sugar still dominates the Western meal plan as the main energy
provider. The “former” tropical colonies are still ruled by the
multinational concerns of the sugar industry. Coca Cola is the largest
seller on the world market. monochrom is going to put several gallons of
Coca Cola into a pot and boil it down until the residue left behind can be
molded into a brick. A symbolic endeavor!

* Experience The Experience Of An Illegal Space Race (June 25)
The California desert begins just a few minutes' drive away from the
gallery. We will place the planets true to scale in the desert (sun, 4
meters in diameter, Pluto, one centimeter in diameter, about 20 miles
away). Then we will conduct a car race. The team that makes it through the
desert fastest wins the "illegal space race". In conclusion, of course, the
speeds of the cars will be calculated, for example, how much faster than
light they were. Planetary scientists will be on hand as guests to comment
on the events.

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VANCOUVER
Basecamp: Contemporary Art Gallery 
(http://www.contemporaryartgallery.ca/)

* Experience The Experience Of Being Buried Alive (June 30)
(See above)

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SAN FRANCISCO
Basecamp:
RxGallery/Blasthaus (http://www.rxgallery.com/)

* Experience The Experience Of Being Buried Alive (July 8)
(See above)

* Experience the Experience of Growing Money (July 10)
Money is frozen desire. Thus it governs the world. Money is used for all
forms of trade, from daily shopping at the supermarket to trafficking in
human beings and drugs. In the course of all these transactions, our money
wears out quickly, especially the smaller bank notes that are changing
hands constantly. Although paper money (consisting of a robust blend of 75
percent cotton and 25 percent linen) is manufactured to endure intensive
use (4,000 folds in each direction without tearing!), a dollar bill only
lasts an average of 18 months in the USA. The Federal Reserve is
responsible for ensuring that money is not too worn, torn or soiled. For
this purpose, all bank notes that are returned to the Fed by other
financial institutions are tested, and the bills that don’t make the grade
are pulled out of circulation. Money is dirty, and thus it is a living
entity. This is something we take literally: money is an ideal environment
for microscopic organisms and bacteria. We want to make your money grow. In
a potent nutrient fluid under heat lamps we want to get as much life as we
can out of your dollar bills. Take part!

* Experience the Experience of Catapulting Wireless Devices (Workshop: July
9; Event: July 16)
The term catapult (from the Greek kata + paltes, to hurl down or against)
generally refers to a machine that converts conserved energy into movement
(movement energy) with the aim of putting an object at rest into a state of
motion (to “catapult”). In antiquity and during the Middle Ages, the
catapult was used to hurl stones or arrows. These devices were primarily
implemented during sieges. The propulsion medium for this sort of catapult
was usually a material such as wood, rope or sinew under tension, with the
tension having been accumulated through the work of the operating personnel
(bow and arrow principle). The catapult is one of the oldest machines in
the history of technology. It is no coincidence that monochrom would like
to instigate a creative return. The knife edge of technology hype is sharp,
most of all on the west coast of the United States. Thus monochrom would
like to initiate a competition. We invite interested persons to design and
build a catapult capable of hurling a cell phone or a PDA unit the greatest
possible distance. In order to ensure that no participant has any unfair
advantage, monochrom will provide a specifications list regarding materials
(e.g. metal) that may not be used and other limitations (e.g. size and
weight). 

* Experience the Experience of 1 Baud (Workshop: July 17; Event: July 22)
The International Code of Signals serves to facilitate communication at
sea. It defines the meaning of alphabetical identification codes for safety
and navigation purposes. The key for “sending” was drafted by a committee
of the British Board of Trade in 1855 and published in 1857. The 1969
edition, revised in 2003, is still in use today.We have expanded the flag
alphabet, not just so that it also includes the @ sign, but so that city
dwellers have access to pure communication. The flag alphabet will be
taught in a workshop lasting several hours. After a few days set aside for
study and practice, we would like, in the form of a competition, to send an
identical message across the city over two equally long routes
simultaneously. Will it work?