http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/1998-04-16/nightday2.html




Paranoid androids
By Christina Rees

Machine art. Interactive kinetic sculpture.
Robotic performance art. Extreme technology
art. Whatever you call it, it's usually violent, incendiary, and nihilistic. That's what
makes it fun.

The Seemen, a San Francisco-based machine-art collective, descend on the Orbit
Room on Tuesday, April 21, to show this cloistered town the thrill of robotic
theater. The 40-odd members of the group--all tech-heads, inventors, and
self-styled obsessive mechanics--are led by Kal Spelletich, a sort of mad scientist
(he calls himself a post-industrial folk artist) who insists on the "incredible
expressive power of technology." The group builds wicked robotic creatures, most
remote-controlled, and then sets the things loose to search and destroy (or at least
to provoke and entertain). Some mainstays of their collection: Serberus, a
400-pound, 80-mph, three-headed dog that aggressively begs the audience for
attention; Clappyboy, an 8-foot tall, fire-spewing monster that features
talking-head Rush Limbaugh on its TV-monitor face, giant crashing cymbals for
hands, and blasts the "1812 Overture"; and Guardian Angel, a "flapping-winged,
goat-headed, chain-swinging, claw-scratching angel."

You get the idea. How the small courtyard of the Orbit Room will contain these
and 20-odd other like beasts and their audience will prove a trick in itself.

Spelletich, once the right-hand man of Mark Pauline, the leader of the infamous
machine-art collective Survival Research Laboratories, split from SRL years ago to
form the Seemen. His group differs from the bigger, louder granddaddy robot-art
group in a few crucial ways. First, the Seemen can tour and show their artwork
more freely, given the Seemen's robots' more manageable sizes (SRL favors
gargantuan monsters that are a bitch to ship around and require weeks of
re-building). Second, Spelletich insists on involving the audience in the operation
of his wee beasties. Third, he's open to lay discussion about the building and
meaning of his machines (Pauline tends toward condescending and opaque
explanations). The results: a user-friendly SRL, but with all the dark humor and
Frankenstein theory intact.

And it's paid off. Over the last 14 years, the Seemen have presented over 150
performances in the U.S. and Canada, often in warehouses, galleries, and vacant
lots. The group has received grants from every venerable foundation in the art
world, and has pieces featured in the permanent collections of the New York
Museum of Modern Art and the new Getty Museum in Los Angeles--a perfect
combo of underground perversity and broad appeal.

This Dallas stop is one of seven on the Seemen's current Southwestern tour; if
Tuesday night proves a sell-out, a second show will be added on Wednesday.

So check it out. How often do you get a chance to pet a three-headed mechanical
dog from hell?
(actual size: 350 x 284) Title ok press from St. Louis Album PRESS ARTICLES Description an also write Green for info at: mogus@bigfoot.com. INDUSTRIAL ROCK, Pt. II: Beavis (remember him?) would've been in love with the scene at the Side Door last Saturday night, as Seemen came to town to promote their unique brand of "machine art," with fire, fire everywhere. A former collaborator with the noted industrial pranksters of Survival Research Laboratories, Kal Spelletich is the mastermind of Seemen, who put together shows in which audience members manipulate robots to do a variety of tasks. They machine allowed a giant hand to feed the equivalent of a metallic Venus flytrap. Another had an arm punching a bucket, the effect being that of giving your boss a good sock in the eye. Another, smaller contraption, sat on the bar and poured beer for Spelletich. The night was broken into two shows; the first was an all-ages event, while the latter supposedly offered a bit more adult fare. Spelletich and his quiet assistant Jay kept the pace moving, while sneaking in plenty of calls for t-shirt sales. In the adult one, the run included a bed that caught on fire; a strapped-on, er, device that, well, shot fire; a cage that was engulfed in fire; and "the ring of fire," which blasted four columns of the flaming stuff into the alley next to the club. As mentioned earlier, human beings took part in each one of these experiments, either latched down onto or into the machines. These were volunteers, mind you, who got all the fun. Well, not quite all the fun. Even standing close to the machines was quite a sight -- and feeling -- as the heat was significant. If you're interested in seeing what the Spelletich is up to, see his website: www.seemen.org. (For trivia fans, he was also a member of the large ensemble cast of "Slacker.") As for the musical component, well three things come to mind. For one, it took place in a rock'n'roll club. Pretty apparent. For another, creepy, circus-style music played throughout the portions that took place inside the club; with pauses as the entire audience left the building to watch the proceedings in the alley and gangway. Yes, this was eerie music, indeed. And, lastly, the "band" that followed the last show, Brain Transplant, featured several players from the avant noise set of St. Louis. Think of three young men crouched behind computer terminals and laptops, surrounded by primitive keyboards, looping devices and reconstructed sound recording gear, and you've got the visuals. Aurally imagine crashings, blips and burps and sounds repeated for minutes on end, and you've got the musical side of things. Somehow, on that night, it all made perfect sense. The next time Seemen come through town, do go. It won't change your life, but you will be entertained.