Sorry, not quite an organization expose as yet. Still in draft.
CHRIS HARDMAN
THE DRAGON CAVE, CONEY ISLAND, 1999
View of the dilapidated remains of the Dragon Cave
about to fall prey to the destructive pursue of that
dreadful monster- Urban Renewal
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1970
My first paid art commision was to refurbish a Coney Island carnival ride – the Dragons Cave. originally built in the 1930 as a titilaing emporium of torture where lifesize automata diaramas portraited elephants crushing screaming papier-mache victims. This iteration of the Cave closed when WW2 opened and the publics fansination with the macabre soured with the news of the the Bataan death march and other inhuman atrocisities. I lived in a former merry-go-round caurosel on Surf Ave just a block or so from Nathan's Hot Dogs and the Cyclone roller coaster. Fireworks every weekend….back to back freak shows and carnival games . Alena – Girl turns into Gorilla , I painted their ballyhoo banner for them –beautiful girl goes ape!!!!!! It was a great side show illusion using the Peppers Ghost phenommenon - > which I was to put to “high art’ use in the Transforming Art exhibition and other productions such as my Euphorium virtual reality helmet. I scupted a godilla replica for a phoney hollywood props side show Christorpher L Hardman
Born June 3rd, 1950 in Seattle Washington. Father – a WWll Marine a milkman, became a Hollywood screenwriter TV–lawman , rawhide – Movie – The Rare Breed with jimmy steward and novelist- 15 Flags . Mother – anti-war activist , another mother for peace. became an Anthropology professor. Early on I knew I wanted to be an Artist Then a theater artist in the experimental world of theater. Short list of …. Dragon cave coney island Co-founded SNAKE Theater, 1972, Founded ANTENNA Theater, 1980, Creator of WALKMANOLOGY,v 1982. First production using Walkmans to guide individual audience members (an audient) through a performance : HIGHschool, on the Sausalito waterfront producing site specific performances on beaches and gas stations. Info later…. ANTENNA The New York Times called ANTENNA’s first production VACUUM, "…a social comedy of a very high order.” ANTENNA tours Europe. Why the name Antenna. -à rabbit ears, an antenna, actually WALKMANOLOGY First production using Walkmans to guide individual audience members (an audient) through a performance : HIGHschool,1982. In "Opening Night in Outer Space," Esquire Magazine asked, "Is Hardman sabotaging the American theater, or is he saving it?" The immersive maze show Etiquette of the Undercaste plays the Smithsonian Institute: The London Times wrote, “One emerges from Etiquette of the Undercaste not only moved, but shaken.”
Starts Antenna Audio, 1984, with the Alcatraz Island Cellhouse Audio Tour. Antenna Audio becomes the largest audio tour company worldwide, with a client list that includes the Tate Museum, Getty Museum, Graceland, Ellis Island and the Vatican and others. The EUPHOR!UM, a virtual reality trip through Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Kubla Khan, plays San Francisco then London for 7 months. Time Magazine writes, “…the hippest legal high on the west coast…” Invents and designs The ECOlogical Calendar, a chart of the natural year, published by Pomegranate, 2005. NBC calls the calendar ”…spectacular…” Premieres SLOTOLOGY slotted furniture as part of the S F Art Furniture show and also the American Craft Council Exhibition as well as a solo show TRAnsforming ART, 2006. 
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