PHANTASMIC ATTRACTIONS

The Creations and Antics
of Don Paul Swain

ABOUT DON PAUL SWAIN

ART

My background in the arts has been a strange journey. After a short bout of employment in fisheries science, I realized that my Biology degree would provide for an unfulfilling livelihood. I decided to cut my losses and turned towards more creative aspirations. I moved into an art community in San Francisco and was drawn to weird art cults like Laughing Squid and Burning Man. Our warehouse had a tradition of hosting a wide range of events, including industrial art shows, dance performances, theater, and rock shows.

I took to producing my own public spectacles. Most notably were the annual Big Top 23, a combined carnival, circus, and rock show. This event had games, rides, puppets, and featured performers from the San Francisco School of Circus Arts and the local underbelly. A favorite attraction was a pirate boat ride that ferried participants to situationist scenes set up along the shores of the adjoining creek.

From Big Top 23, Circus X was born. Circus X was an underground troupe with a trapeze artist, acrobats, clowns, and other sideshow and cabaret performers. As producer and ringmaster of this world-domination themed circus, I developed a narrative and characters that satirized governmental imperialist tendencies. I also reinterpreted traditional sideshow acts by incorporating them into storytelling performances. Circus X shows were performed at our warehouse, at nightclubs, and festivals. The show was brought to a tragic end in 1999 with the death of my partner and mentor.
The Almost Lucky Sideshow was a more traditional and commercially viable collaboration. In addition to nightclubs, we performed on the street and at corporate parties. We hosted many other performances in the burlesque and cabaret vein. As Master of Blades, I swallowed swords, threw knives, walked the ladder of blades, and chopped a watermelon on the back of my assistant.

At some point I began collaborating with kinetic art groups Cyclecide and Seemen, helping to build mechanically interactive pieces out of bicycles, scrap metal, and salvaged junkyard parts. Cyclecide showcases an eclectic fleet of pedal-powered, rideable art contraptions such as a ferris wheel, a bike carousel, the cyclofuge, and a lawnmower bike. Seemen is a "postindustrial folk art" group that engages audiences with interactive extreme devices that they can control. These machines utilize motors, pneumatic and hydraulic systems, integrated circuitry, and fire. A seed was planted--I began to digest the potential of mechanical performance.

In 2000, I convinced a haunted house operator in Texas to hire me. I designed and built mechanized figures using motors and pneumatics. The scenes were activated by light-sensors rigged to go off when patrons walk by. This job sparked a fascination with the macabre, which led me to study dark performance. Inspired by the French horror theater "Gran Guignol", the turn-of-the-century occult movement, and the campy spook shows of the forties and fifties, I created the Chasm of Spasms Macabaret--a show that brings together stage illusion, special effects, the sideshow, dancers, skits, and mechanized and live monsters.

For the Chasm of Spasms, I developed low-tech special effects. My character, Maxwell Coldpepper, claims to be in control of supernatural forces, but consistently bungles his demonstrations. The show pokes fun at fear, death, and the occult. It is a work in progress.

Currently, I am dabbling in electronics and programming.

EMPLOYMENT

My employment background has continued to feed my artistic directions. As a scenic carpenter and welder for the prop shop "Rocket Science", I’ve built sets and props. As technical director of "Make-a-Circus," a nonprofit traveling circus, I learned rigging and stagecraft. My most inspiring job was at Chiodo Arts, a company that designs, builds, and installs themed environments for amusement attractions around the country. In addition to running the metal shop, I gained some experience in sculpting and mold making by assisting masters in modern media such as fiberglass and polyurethanes. Most important, this job gave me a taste for the conceptual work that goes into the design of fantastic multimedia environments on a large scale. Recently, I've been freelance multimedia sculpting.

ASPIRATIONS

I want to take it to a higher level. I want to create automated, interactive, site-specific spectacles that are popularly accessible. Our culture has been debilitated by the advent of spoon-fed mass media. On the other hand, the general public is alienated by elitist-gallery art. I want to lure a cross section of proletariats away from their screens and into new extraordinary realities. I would build a non-corporate roadside attraction that would employ sophisticated technology, explore culturally relevant themes, and showcase the work of other artists.

Envision: You are walking down a path through a wonderful garden. This is PARADISE. There are mythological creatures that follow you with their gaze. Fountains dance at your presence, flowers bloom as you pass by. The trees are alive; they comment on your clothing choice or your whining youngster. The \ mermaid knows your name. The Scenarios unfold. There are rides, a miniature golf course, food and costumed actors throughout the park.

There is a stark wall with a portal and sign: LIMBO. You pass through--suddenly you are in a disorienting dimension of mirrored effects, visual illusions, and light shows. Rotating tunnels and moving platforms and "pits" that make you feel like your walking in midair. Confused and dizzy you stumble towards the exit.

Ahead you see another realm. Walk through the immense craggy gateway and you'll see a smoking volcano. It's the INFERNO! Abandon all hope as you enter through a cavern. Get in the boat--the dog-headed ferryman navigates you through dangerous waters, where scary creatures come to life and sinners make the best of their eternal damnation.

Behind the scenes, technicians and improvisational actors are monitoring the scenes via cameras. They are remotely operating the movements some of the sculptures and heckling the patrons through hidden speakers. Some of the park's rides and walkthroughs are used carnival rides that have been rethemed. Some of the rides are pedal powered.

My approach to this project is holistic. There are so many elements: technical, narrative, sculptural, architectural, performance, music, lighting, sound... the list goes on. The important thing is that it is founded with a sustainable plan, a community organization fertile enough for growth and sensible enough to be financially stable. It would start small and grow as success accumulates.