Buried Alive is an art and lecture
performance
A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Performance has evolved glo ...
series by art-tech group
monochrom
Monochrom (stylised as monochrom) is an international art-technology-philosophy group, publishing house and film production company. It was founded in 1993, and defines itself as "an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop att ...
. The basic concept is to offer willing participants the opportunity of being buried alive in a real coffin underground for fifteen to twenty minutes. As a framework program, monochrom offers lectures about the history of the science of determining death and the medical cultural history of
premature burial
Premature burial, also known as live burial, burial alive, or vivisepulture, means to be buried while still alive.
Animals or humans may be buried alive accidentally on the mistaken assumption that they are dead, or intentionally as a form of ...
. To date, they have buried around 600 people. The series has created controversy in some places it has been staged.
monochrom's founder and conceptualist
Johannes Grenzfurthner
Johannes Grenzfurthner (; born 1975 in Vienna) is an Austrian artist, filmmaker, writer, actor, curator, theatre director, performer and lecturer. Grenzfurthner is the founder, conceiver and artistic director of ''monochrom'', an international ar ...
states that the performance series wants to start a conversation about death, culture, medical and scientific myths and mass media. Grenzfurthner says that one of the inspirations for the performance series was the wish to deal with his claustrophobic tendencies.
Over the years the performance has attracted a lot of mainstream media coverage like the popular German TV show ''
Joko gegen Klaas'' on
Pro7
ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media.
It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...
and the Austrian TV series ''Herr Ostrowski sucht das Glück'' on
ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the g ...
.
Experience the Experience of Being Buried Alive
The first public burials were organized in 2005, 2006 and 2007 as part of a performance tour. People in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
(at
Machine Project
Machine Project was a Los Angeles based not-for-profit arts organization and community event space.
History
Founded by Mark Allen, Machine Project launched in 2003 with its inaugural show, 'Tom Jennings - Story Teller,' an installation produced ...
),
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
and
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
had the opportunity to be buried alive in a real coffin for fifteen minutes. No cell phones, lamps or other devices were allowed inside the coffin. Participants had to sign a damage waiver.
monochrom provided a 45 minute lecture about the history of premature burial and offered a set of different funeral marches and songs about death as "Death Jockeys".
The event was restaged at
Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas, focused on fantasy, horror, sci-fi, action and cult films, the largest genre festival in the United States. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse.
Lisa Dreyer ...
2023 in Austin by Johannes Grenzfurthner, Günther Friesinger, and Jasmin Hagendorfer.
Six Feet Under Club
In 2010, monochrom updated the original concept and created the "Six Feet Under Club". Couples could volunteer to be buried together in a casket beneath the ground. In a press release they explained that the space they occupy is "extremely private and intimate". The coffin "is a reminder of the social norm of exclusive pair bonding 'till death do us part'." However, this intimate scene was corrupted by the presence of a night vision webcam which projects the scene on to an outside wall. The scenario kept the intimacy of a sexual moment intact while moving the private act into public space. monochrom's performance can be seen as an absurd parody of pornographic cinema or an examination of the high value placed on sexual privacy.
The performance was repeated at the Viennese club ''Schwelle 7'' in 2013 and 2014.
Buried Alive (installation)
Since 2011 monochrom offers a constant burial site at ''VSL Lindabrunn'' in Lower Austria.
eSeL.at: "monochrom: Buried Alive Probeliegen"
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References
External links
monochrom project pagemonochrom's Buried Alive project pagemonochrom's "Six Feet Under Club"
{{performance art
Monochrom
Performances