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SEEMEN

'People are scared to death when machines don't do what they're supposed to do' Photos by Christopher Gardner Text by John Whalen If you've never seen a SEEMEN show, the best way to envision the spectacle is to think of Grand Guignol starring the Terminator on the streets of San Francisco. Then think of yourself leaving the "theater" with inner-ear damage and an acute case of post-traumatic stress disorder. SEEMEN are a troupe of performers and machinists who like to blur the lines between street theater and barely contained chaos. Specifically, their stock in trade is aggressive, flame-spewing automata--haywire robots in riot-style confrontation. And unlike a lot of San Francisco performance artists, the SEEMEN aren't pretentious; for the most part, they're too happy blowing things up to lapse into didactic anarcho-babble. As one San Francisco wag succinctly summed up the high-lowbrow attraction of a SEEMEN show: it's art, but art that can kill you. [ CyberScape | MetroActive Central ]