Buried Alive is an art and lecture performance series by art-tech group monochrom. 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. To date, they have buried around 600 people. The series has created controversyToronto Star: "Alarm raised over burial performance"Bild.de: "Im TV-Duell gegen Klaas: Joko lässt sich lebendig begraben", 5 January 2014 in some places it has been staged.
monochrom's founder and conceptualist Johannes Grenzfurthner states that the performance series wants to start a conversation about death, culture, medical and scientific myths and mass media.monochrom's "Experience the Experience of Being Buried Alive" Grenzfurthner says that one of the inspirations for the performance series was the wish to deal with his claustrophobic tendencies.Zebrabutter: "Der Film Glossary of Broken Dreams oder: Im Schlachthaus Zum Goldenen Kalb"; April 25, 2018
Over the years the performance has attracted a lot of mainstream media coverage like the popular German TV show Joko gegen KlaasPro7's Joko gegen Klaas – Das Duell um die Welt: "Joko in Österreich: Jokos Begräbnis" on Pro7 and the Austrian TV series Herr Ostrowski sucht das GlückHerr Ostrowski sucht das Glück: "In der Einsamkeit" on ORF.
Performance
The first public burials were organized in 2005, 2006 and 2007 as part of a performance tour. People in Los Angeles (at Machine Project), San Francisco,Boing Boing: "Monochrom art happenings in San Francisco, July 8-23", 5 July 2005 Vancouver and TorontoToronto Star: "How to be buried alive", Erin Kobayashi, 6 February 2007Torontoist: "Attend your own funeral", Pandora Syperek, 6 February 2007 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 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".sfist.com: "Want to Be Buried Alive With Your S.O. and Make Out With Them While Others Watch Via Webcam?", 2 October 2010 Daily Loaf, CL Tampa Bay: "The Six Feet Under Club offers sex in a buried coffin", 28 September 2010 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."Six Feet Under Club takes Sex To New Depths", in 'Carnal Nation', 2010
The performance was repeated at the Viennese club Schwelle 7 in 2013 and 2014.
Installation
Since 2011 monochrom offers a constant burial site at VSL Lindabrunn in Lower Austria.Mein Bezirk: "Kunstinstallation Buried Alive"OTS: "Das Nahtod-Erfahrungs-Doppelfeature"eSeL.at: "monochrom: Buried Alive Probeliegen"
References
External links monochrom project page monochrom's Buried Alive project page monochrom's "Six Feet Under Club"