The Concept

1. We Europeans-and-not-proud-of-it are always hearing that "experience", a ubiquitous word in the USA and Canada, is basically untranslatable. Of course, this is the same as with all cultural ideas: being untranslatable, ergo driving you crazy. monochrom would like to understand America, even if the media no longer can. And monochrom would like to beat America at its own game, but without having Austria end up in danger of getting flattened for being suspected of operating underground poison gas factories. Therefore: "experiences".

2. As a body without organs, America is certainly always worth an osmosis.

3. Social spaces are always a parody of Disney World, especially, for example, Euro Disney or Florida ("I don’t know if it means something but it looks like a gun" [David Thomas])

4. Social spaces are set up around ideas, concepts, practices. They produce the most diverse forms of money, e.g. experiences. We would like to trade "experience" for "the experience of experiences". Even though we are coming disguised as tourists, we don't want to always just take. We would also like to give.

5. This is our idea: We bring something with us for America. And when we leave, we will have gained the experience of how our experience has been experienced.

6. We want to see what that does to us and what the what-it-does-to-us does to America. We could also imagine what it would be like to be a tree or a cell phone ring tone. Someone from among us once took part in an experience weekend. That included a tree meditation. Everyone was supposed to imagine being a tree. Afterward the experience coach asked how it was. One person said he had really become a tree. If that works, it means that we could try it too.

7. When we have nothing to do, we go fishing or brainstorming. The following possibilities for bringing experiences to America are from our brainstorming. Or maybe we will do something completely different. Or go on vacation, that would be a nice experience ...

Experience The Experience Of Being Buried Alive
The people present will have an opportunity to be buried alive in a coffin for fifteen minutes. As a framework program there will be lectures about the history of the science of determining death and the medical cultural history of "buried alive". People buried alive not only populate the horror stories of past centuries, but also countless reports in specialized medical literature. The theme of unintentional resurrection by grave robbers also runs through forensic protocols. Even in the 19th century it was said that every tenth person was buried alive. No wonder that the fear of this fate was immense and led - especially in the German-speaking region - to all kinds of precautions to avoid it. Various death test methods were developed, for instance. "Security coffins" with bell pulls and air hoses were patented; mortuaries were built, in which corpses were left for days to natural decay.
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Los Angeles (Machine Project): June 14, 8 PM.
Vancouver (Contemporary Art Gallery): June 30, 8 PM.
San Francisco (RxGallery): July 8, 7 PM.

Experience The Experience Of An Illegal Space Race
The California desert begins just a few minutes' drive away from the gallery. We will place the planets true to scale in the desert (sun, 4 meters in diameter, Pluto, one centimeter in diameter, about 20 miles away). Then we will conduct a car race. The team that makes it through the desert fastest wins the "illegal space race". In conclusion, of course, the speeds of the cars will be calculated, for example, how much faster than light they were. Planetary scientists will be on hand as guests to comment on the events.
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Los Angeles (Machine Project): June 25, 2 PM.

Experience the Experience of Growing Money
Money is frozen desire. Thus it governs the world. Money is used for all forms of trade, from daily shopping at the supermarket to trafficking in human beings and drugs. In the course of all these transactions, our money wears out quickly, especially the smaller bank notes that are changing hands constantly. Although paper money (consisting of a robust blend of 75 percent cotton and 25 percent linen) is manufactured to endure intensive use (4,000 folds in each direction without tearing!), a dollar bill only lasts an average of 18 months in the USA. The Federal Reserve is responsible for ensuring that money is not too worn, torn or soiled. For this purpose, all bank notes that are returned to the Fed by other financial institutions are tested, and the bills that don’t make the grade are pulled out of circulation. Money is dirty, and thus it is a living entity. This is something we take literally: money is an ideal environment for microscopic organisms and bacteria. We want to make your money grow. In a potent nutrient fluid under heat lamps we want to get as much life as we can out of your dollar bills. Take part!
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San Francisco (RxGallery): July 14, 8 PM.

Experience The Experience Of A Magnetism Party
Electromagnetic data carriers are subject to the influences of time. Errors thus accumulate, due to mechanical influences, chemical influences, thermic influences, influences from external magnetic fields. The data carriers age, and the information stored on them is affected. The bits can no longer be read, or they are altered, or the information is lost. Accompanied by contemporary alternative mainstream techno and house rhythms and using several heavy-duty neodym magnets, monochrom will delete all the data carriers that can be found. Naturally the public is invited to bring data carriers themselves. The destruction of magnetic storage media is a form of destruction that can reasonably be called unspectacular. But it is important. Our society collects and collects and collects. The hard drives are full. However, we can also dispense with the bourgeois-humanist criticism of the "information flood", this maelstrom that is said to attack the printed word. The Magnetism Party is therefore an attempt to actively come to terms with one aspect of the information society that is almost completely ignored by our epistemological machinery. Delete is just another word for nothing left to lose.
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Los Angeles (Machine Project): June 18, 8 PM.

Experience the Experience of Catapulting Wireless Devices
The term catapult (from the Greek kata + paltes, to hurl down or against) generally refers to a machine that converts conserved energy into movement (movement energy) with the aim of putting an object at rest into a state of motion (to “catapult”). In antiquity and during the Middle Ages, the catapult was used to hurl stones or arrows. These devices were primarily implemented during sieges. The propulsion medium for this sort of catapult was usually a material such as wood, rope or sinew under tension, with the tension having been accumulated through the work of the operating personnel (bow and arrow principle).
The catapult is one of the oldest machines in the history of technology. It is no coincidence that monochrom would like to instigate a creative return. The knife edge of technology hype is sharp, most of all on the west coast of the United States. Thus monochrom would like to initiate a competition. We invite interested persons to design and build a catapult capable of hurling a cell phone or a PDA unit the greatest possible distance. In order to ensure that no participant has any unfair advantage, monochrom will provide a specifications list regarding materials (e.g. metal) that may not be used and other limitations (e.g. size and weight).
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San Francisco (RxGallery):
Workshop: July 9, 6 PM.
Event: July 16, 2 PM.

Experience the Experience of a Brick of Coke
Sugar has always been expensive enough that in a variety of cultures and eras it has even been used as a medium of exchange. In Europe sugar was first introduced around the year 600, and it reached England via the Mediterranean region in the 11th century - of course as a luxury good reserved for the ruling class. The first recorded delivery of slaves (to Lagos, Portugal in 1444) was intended for sugar cultivation on Portugal’s Atlantic islands. In order to provide sufficient “personnel” for the colonies overseas, the slave trade was promoted intensively. Sugar was in part responsible for the development of the gigantic preindustrial bureaucratic mercantile system of “prosperity.” Refined white sugar was the symbol of European conquest and of century-long repression and colonial dependency. Sugar still dominates the Western meal plan as the main energy provider. The “former” tropical colonies are still ruled by the multinational concerns of the sugar industry. Coca Cola is the largest seller on the world market. monochrom is going to put several gallons of Coca Cola into a pot and boil it down until the residue left behind can be molded into a brick. A symbolic endeavor!
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Los Angeles (Machine Project): June 21, 8 PM.

Experience the Experience of 1 Baud
The International Code of Signals serves to facilitate communication at sea. It defines the meaning of alphabetical identification codes for safety and navigation purposes. The key for “sending” was drafted by a committee of the British Board of Trade in 1855 and published in 1857. The 1969 edition, revised in 2003, is still in use today.
We have expanded the flag alphabet, not just so that it also includes the @ sign, but so that city dwellers have access to pure communication. The flag alphabet will be taught in a workshop lasting several hours. After a few days set aside for study and practice, we would like, in the form of a competition, to send an identical message across the city over two equally long routes simultaneously. Will it work?
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San Francisco (RxGallery):
Workshop: July 20, 6 PM.
Event: July 22, 5 PM.