Recently, you may have spotted an unsettling art performance happening the streets of New York: A man in what appears to be a hazmat suit pushes a personal air conditioning unit around, which is supported by a red Radio Flyer wagon.
The man responsible is Gregory James, the founder of Satisfixation LLC, a corporation/art collective responsible for the Mobile Personal Suburbanification Device (MPSD), as the Mobile Personal Illuminification System (MPIS), among other tech-conscious creations.
The M.P.C.U. 200 (short for the Mobile Personal Climafication Unit) takes the desire for air conditioning to an absurd, socially dysfunctional extreme, retrofitting a classic wagon to cart around a 300-pound AC and generator connected to a full body suit via an exhaust duct.
Satisfixation LLC, Mobile Personal Climafication Unit at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Photo: Satisfixation LLC.
The bizarre device ensures that the user can enjoy the comforts of constant climate control throughout the day. It’s meant as “an abrasive joke on our social dysfunction and over-reliance in technology,” James told Gothamist.
The temperature-controlled performance will be roaming the city streets in both Brooklyn and Manhattan on select weekdays through September 3. James is accompanied by a volunteer handing out leaflets that read “finally, a most practical solution to resist unfathomable climate…Regain your independence and experience the GREAT OUTDOORS!”
Satisfixation LLC, Mobile Personal Climafication Unit.
Photo: Satisfixation LLC.
In addition to keeping James’s body suit at a comfortable temperature, the machine also takes pity on overheated passersby, expelling an Arctic blast of cold air from a vent on the wagon’s front side.
The M.P.C.U. 200 is traveling zip code by zip code, with planned stops this week in 11215 (Gowanus and Park Slope), 10036 (Times Square), and 11221 (Bushwick). James has already hit up Chelsea (10011), making appearances outside Gagosian Gallery and the new Whitney Museum of American Art.
You can follow Satisfixation’s exploits on Instagram, and track James’s location in real time on his website.
Satisfixation LLC, Mobile Personal Climafication Unit at Gagosian Gallery.
Photo: Satisfixation LLC.
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