Monday, October 8, 2007

Arse Elektronika Lecture



















Johannes Grenzfurthner in the dungeon at Arse Elektronika

Sunday my kids were super needy. I spent the morning with them at a park and they were so bad, we had to go home early as some form of punishment. Then I'm home with them...and I don't really see what was gained by taking the whole family home rather than being at the park, because now they are behaving just as bad, but at home. Oh well, I tried.

I had to give a talk that evening. I told a friend who teaches a photography class about the talk, and she tells her class to attend the event for extra credit. We never really discuss the nature of the event or where it is being held, just me, giving a talk about photography, thus appropriate for extra class credit. Admittedly, I had been out of town a bunch and hadn't really paid attention to the specifics of the event.

We head to the event and find ourselves on a terrifying street in SF. Crack hungry zombies wander the sidewalks with their pants unzipped. Cops are searching cars, people are sleeping in boxes, excrement on the street. Hmmm...this isn't the address, unfortunately. We need to find "Jessie Lane". Sounds quaint enough. Jessie Lane is an alley off of this block. We wander down, see the numbers "415" and wander in.

We are now in a Gothic dungeon. Oh...I get it...Lord of the Rings was filmed here, right?
Wrong. This space is used for filming sado-masochistic pornographic films. People can be hung from the ceiling, people can be...oh...never mind. Here? This is where the lecture is? The students will be coming here for extra credit??? Oh...I think we've made a terrible mistake.

My friend, the teacher....she doesn't look happy with the situation. We wander into a room that looks like a horse stable. There is a room that looks like a jail cell. I'm sure the students will see the space and run away....be afraid to get out of their car. Oh no, they are at the door now, they are taking notes.
Thank god for tenure. You do have tenure, correct?










4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. That'd be a hot spot for some live action role playing. Or our next photo shoot. Lightning Bolt!

http://streetneeds.com/uploads/video/ogre_battle%5B1%5D.large.mpeg

Timothy Archibald said...

Hi Randi-
Wow, that video was great. Are you in that scene?
BTW, I think some role playing does go on in that room, but most likely different roles then those depicted in your "ogre battle" video.
If we had a mad scientist shoot and needed a location, we know we got it, huh?

Suzanne G. said...

Truly amazing. Did your kids learn anything? I'm surprised the lecturer wasn't wearing assless chaps.

Timothy Archibald said...

Oh, I didn't take the kids to the lecture...it was too late in the evening. The chaps...sure, people were wearing those things, but I opted for more traditional attire. I did wear black though.