Founded in 1978 by Mark Pauline, Survival Research Laboratories is an organization of creative technicians dedicated re-directing the techniques, tools, and tenets of industry, science, and the military away from their typical manifestations both in their commercial or military use.
Since 1979, they have carried out more than 45 mechanized performances which consist of a unique set of ritualized interactions between machines, robots, and special effects devices, employed in developing themes of socio-political satire. Humans are present only as audience or operators. The interactions between the machines are usually noisy, violent, and destructive. A frequent tag-line on SRL literature is 'Producing the most dangerous shows on Earth', which often have the collateral effect of the undesired intervention of the authorities.