Survival Research Laboratories is a performance art group founded by Mark Pauline in November, 1978. Through early 2004, SRL has conducted 45 shows throughout the world, most frequently in the Western United States.
SRL presentations feature various machines, which 'interact' in various ways - these interactions are usually noisy, violent, and destructive. A frequent tagline on SRL literature is 'Producing the most dangerous shows on Earth'. A side effect of the group's activities is frequent interactions with governmental and legal authorities.
SRL devices are usually given interesting names, such as the Flame Hurricane, the Large Shock Wave Cannon and the Hand o God. Their performances are also given colorful names, such as The Unexpected Destruction of Elaborately Engineered Artifacts and Survival Research Laboratories Contemplates A Million Inconsiderate Experiments.
SRL can be seen to be very influential-Battlebots and Burning Man both share a large amount of ideas and aesthetics with past SRL performances. Whether this was a direct influence or a coincidence remains to be seen.
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