Fairground: Thrill Laboratory--Frisson
Tuesday
24 October 2006
18:30 - 21:45
Thrill and anxiety – how do they relate? Why does the idea of the haunted house crop up so often in popular culture? How can you build your own ghost train? And… what links a fairground ride and a production line?
These are some of the questions we’ll be asking in Fairground: Thrill Laboratory on 24 & 25 October. Each evening will include live experimentation on the Ghost Train – a classic dark ride - and a carnival of food, drink, performance, film, music and discussion, led by a team of scientists, artists, performers, technologists, psychologists, and showmen.
Tickets are £10 which includes:
1 thrill-trip on the ride of the night
Entry into Thrill-Lab-Lotto
Canapés
Soup shots
Fizzy pop
(Canapés and soup shots served before the event between 17.30 and 18.30)
Alcoholic drinks and special event cocktails will also be available… (Not included in ticket price.)
Programme:
Psyche and Soma Bar open from 17.30
Enter Thrill-Lab-Lotto to be part of the experiment…
Be sure you’re in the correct zone by 18.30 to hear the Thrill Experts
20.30 – 21.30 Ride the ride! Talk thrill with the experts.
Speakers (Frisson):
A Brief History of Tonight’s Ride
Dan Howland, Editor, The Journal of Ride Theory, Portland, Oregon, USA
Dan will speak on the history and design of the evening’s ride using original patents and simple models to show the rides’ movements.
Ride Commentary
Dr Alex Taylor, Socio-digital Systems Group, Microsoft Research, Cambridge
Sociologist Alex Taylor will provide a live running commentary from the ride explaining how thrill is experienced, drawing particular attention to ways of seeing, smelling and being – how do these experiences conjure up the sense of thrill?
The Haunted House
Barry Curtis, London Consortium
Explore this archetypal spine-chilling space, and examine representations of the haunted house through history. Examples are drawn from films ranging from early explorations of uncanny spaces in German Expressionism to the latest digitally animated varieties of possessed structures.
Seeing More with Your Eyes Closed
Richard Cadell, Cadells Amusements Ltd
A gory illusionist and experienced scaremonger will take us behind the scenes in the creation of the three-tiered Terror Castle. It employs a different approach in creating fear...
Fear/Thrill/Fear/Thrill/Fear/Thrill...
Michael John Apter, Apter International Ltd
Fear and thrill are opposite ways of experiencing the very same ‘arousal’. With fear, the greater the arousal the worse it feels; with thrill, the better it feels. Find out about the games we play with ourselves to heighten our excitement.
The Roller-Coaster Machine
Helena Csarmann, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Abandon yourself to the machinations of the conveyor belt. Take a look at the Ghost Train as a production line that processes guests. What happens when you are in this machine? How does this relate to your experience of ‘thrill’?
The Ride:
William Belson’s Ghost Train
Ian Trowell, National Fairground Archive
‘Darkness and surprise are simple ingredients for fear. The Ghost Train’s frontage presents a gallery of grotesque art and figures, inside are brief glimpses of horror, shrieks, and things caressing your face... you can’t just close your eyes.’