LA Weekly article
4/23/03


http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/22/live-bemis.php

SEEMEN

at someplace in downtown Los Angeles, April 11



A peeling barn roof sloughs the soul of aged wood in the calm before the spectacle that is to silence and solemnity what Saddam was to the Kurds. "You get to run a machine that can kill you. It's fun!" Demonstrating 10 interactive mechanisms, Seemen's Kal Spelletich speaks down a bullhorn: "These are experiments, so there's no right or wrong." An EKG measures a huge dog's heartbeat across a gently drifting jazz backdrop. The somatic sounds make a small machine march and bark flame; an altered chew toy opens and closes demonic metallic flower petals. "Kali," a velvet chair with spindly metal arms, is operated at the armrests by a fetching volunteer in fine footwear. The scent of raped ozone oozes as a hacked lie detector belches flames from a halo over another volunteer's head whenever her lies manifest.



A man rotates in a chair through hugely blinding bursts of flame to gasps of amusement and amazement. Spelletich exults: "The coolest thing I think I can do is empower people." A walking machine fitfully mimics a subject attached to a kludge of ripcords and coffee bean-sensing technology. Malfunctions occur: "So close — it's like a dry fuck!" A lovely lady girds a strap-on flamethrower, resulting in a burning sensation. A hydraulic flying carpet nearly throws a tenacious volunteer, but he stands steadfast, and a "fire shower" holds a subject in a rapidly rotating cage of flame spit outward in centrifugal-forced fury. The "Hugging Machine," a padded hydraulic press (like those of modern slaughterhouses that comfort cattle before they ascend the Stairway to Heaven) propagates mothering endorphins as it clasps tightly. Finally, the "Ring of Fire" (propane tanks propelling rhythmic fireballs) surrounds a man until the gas dies, and that's that. (David Cotner)