…and thanks to all the folks at the San Francisco metblog I’m the new exchange blogging kid on the block.

Usually I live in Vienna, Austria.
I’m writer and artist and founding member of Vienna-based art-tech-philosophy group monochrom. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science and political activism. Or something. You can find some additional info about us on Wikipedia.

My blogging history?
Of course I’m a regular blogger at Vienna Metblog.
I’m also web host for the Austrian alternative-mainstream radio station FM4 (host area: fm4.orf.at/grenzfurthner/).
I was guestblogging for several blogs, e.g. Boing Boing.
And most of the time I post on the monochrom blog.

What about a picture?
Ok.

Why am I visiting San Francisco?
Well.
monochrom is currently on a US/Canada West Coast tour.
Our basecamp in San Francisco will be the glorious Rx Gallery.

The motto of the tour is “Experience the Experience”.

The basic idea:
So-called “experience” is a highly Anglo-American term. Roughly speaking, everything is plugged as “experience”. Whether it is a “dining experience” in a restaurant or the “Disney experience” in Orlando or “experience the sorrow and tragedy of Ground Zero” in New York City… everything has to be made “experiencable” or presented as an “experience”. Yet there is not even a word for it in German. “Experience” is untranslatable. Of course, this is the same as with all cultural ideas: being untranslatable, ergo driving you crazy. Even though we are coming disguised as tourists, we don’t want to always just take. We would also like to give. We bring something with us for North America. And when we leave, we will have gained the experience of how our experience has been experienced. We want to see what that does to us and what the what-it-does-to-us does to North America. We want to convey a total of 7 new “experiences” to the local population in three North American cities (Los Angeles/Vancouver/San Francisco), making them “experiencable” in performances and events.

In San Francisco we offer the following experiences:

* Experience The Experience Of Being Buried Alive (July 8, 7 PM)
* Experience The Experience Of Growing Money (July 14, 8 PM)
* Experience The Experience Of Catapulting Wireless Devices (Workshop: July 9, 6 PM; Event: July 16, 2 PM)
* Experience The Experience Of 1 Baud (Workshop: July 20, 6 PM; Event: July 22, 5 PM)

Looking forward to contributing some entries — but first I have to get on a plane…

Related posts:

1. Catapulting Wireless Devices
2. Goodbye, folks!
3. Hurl, gadget, hurl!
4. Monochrom Returns to San Francisco
5. Growing Money