SurvivaBall

The Yes Men (US)

An advanced technology that will keep corporate managers safe even when climate change makes life as we know it impossible. “The SurvivaBall is designed to protect the corporate manager no matter what Mother Nature throws his or her way,” said Fred Wolf, a Halliburton representative. “This technology is the only rational response to abrupt climate change.”

Wolf and a colleague demonstrated three SurvivaBall mockups at the Catastrophic Loss conference held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel on Amelia Island, Florida, in 2006, and described how the units will sustainably protect managers from natural or cultural disturbances of any intensity or duration. The devices include sophisticated communication systems, nutrient gathering capacities, on-board medical facilities, and a daunting defense infrastructure to ensure that the corporate mission will not go unfulfilled even when most human life is rendered impossible by catastrophes or the consequent epidemics and armed conflicts.

“It’s essentially a gated community for one,” said Wolf. “It builds on Halliburton’s reputation as a disaster and conflict industry innovator. Just as the Black Plague led to the Renaissance and the Great Deluge gave Noah a monopoly of the animals, tomorrow’s catastrophes could well lead to good—and industry must be ready to seize that good.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

The Yes Men are a group who use any means necessary to agree their way into the fortified compounds of commerce, and then smuggle out the stories of their undercover escapades to provide a public glimpse at the behind-the-scenes world of big business.