Paula Roush describes her proposal to perform simulated evacuation exercises
in cities across the globe in her project SOS:OK (save Our Souls: Zero Killings).
Published on Occasions 8, Austrian Cultural Forum, May 2004 ISBN 0-9520274-9-6
Simulated Safety Nets Paula Roush describes her proposal to perform simulated evacuation exercises in cities across the globe in her project SOS:OK (save Our Souls: Zero Killings)
Paula Roush: Terror Tourism at The Imperial War Museum, 2004
‘SOS:OK’ is a project that takes place in cities scattered along major axes of intercontinental upheaval. In these locations, varied phenomena of transition and mobility are evolving as a result of internal development and external pressures, demanding responses from government and
local authorities and adjusted reactions from local and travelling citizens. From ethnic conflicts to terrorist threats, contemporary cities are learning to adjust their living scenarios to threats of perceived enemies in a desperate attempt to get ready. Such a state of readiness alludes to a new unpredictable
event that could destabilise the fragile order of everyday life. We are now increasingly living under a spell of simulation exercises, a series of fictionalised public performances that are taking place in designated public spaces. These are organised by official agencies dedicated to security and emergency rescue operations and attempt to pre-empt threats of terror attacks. Parallel to the rigorous planning of fictive scenarios, a ‘psychology of resilience’ emerges as a fertile field of investigation which looks at the way people cope with the harshness of reality. The repertoire of feelings and behaviours could be seen as performative acts, not always intended as a spectacle but certainly aware of the media and the political script which seeks to simulate a collective sense of ‘we’re all in this together’. [IMAGE: ‘SOS:OK’ drawing?] It is in this spirit that I will stage a simulated simulation exercise in different cities across the globe. One of these cities is Ljubljana, where Tadej Pogacˇar (P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum) and B+B will be my partners in using Gallery P74 as a platform for the operation. The rescue of Ljubljana as a realtime ‘resilience’ performance involves setting up an emergency operation as a live installation using the emergency plan for London in a detour similar to the strategy of drifting through a city following a map from a foreign location. ‘SOS:OK’ consists of a publicly sited emergency support structure (tent or temporary pavilion), with trained performers on site maintaining an emergency rescue lounge offering emergency rescue support
such as emergency rations, emergency sleeping accommodation, emergency crisis assessment and emergency counselling. An emergency communications centre will monitor the situation in Ljubljana with information being fed in and out via phones, radio and TV, combining pre-recorded footage with live action. An emergency resource centre will be set up, with an archive of rescue projects and an ongoing programme of meetings to discuss rescue projects for cities including artistic, urbanist, emergency rescue and other perspectives on crises in urban landscapes. ‘SOS:OK’ highlights not only the topical issue of ‘resilience’ (a buzzword in official circles), but will allow for testing at ground level, some of the strategies for real scenario rescues. The project will explore the links between real life simulation and real-time performance (where does one end and the other start?), themed environments (the ultimate architectural trend in leisure/shopping) and the new emerging terror tourism industry (according to a recent TV documentary, American tourists are spending their holidays in Israel being trained on terrorist combat techniques which will be imported to fight their own terrorists). The next step will be to rescue Amsterdam using the experience and research accumulated in Ljubljana within the context of The Global Tour, an exhibition about the global state of tourism curated by Amiel Grumberg for W139 Art Centre. Paula Roush (http://www.msdm.org.uk) launched her publication Outsourcing at B+B at Home in March 2003.
