Slopfest #34 · 1960 · Vienna
A Solution Looking for a Problem
The laser was called a solution looking for a problem. We have described every sponsor this way since.
Museum status: Currently touring. Nobody knows where.
- Venue
- Gartenbaukino, in its opening year
- Attendance
- 441
- Guest of honour
- Salvador Dalí (led the chase after the red dot, moustache first)
- Fun fact
- 1 red dot, 441 people chasing it
What happened
The committee acquired a bright red beam with no idea what to do with it. By 9 p.m., 441 guests were following the dot around the Gartenbaukino, led by Salvador Dalí and his moustache. Nobody could explain the appeal and nobody stopped, which the committee now considers its first user-engagement strategy.
Elsewhere in 1960
Theodore Maiman demonstrates the first working laser at Hughes Research Laboratories in California.
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