on the first day of our first personal projects, I sat down in front of the class at the end of the performance period and set to work on the Soda cans that I had asked the class to empty earlier through means of drinking. I engaged them in my performance openly from the start, stating that i needed empty cans, and so they did help me.
And what I did with them was simple, I wrapped my lips about the lip of the first can and inhaled, Crushing the can in but a moment. there were gasps, and chuckles, and I continued, Crushing each can in succession, playing with pacing and repetition. I lined cans up and crushed them rapidly, I crushed a can facing left, a can facing right, and many more jut looking forward at my audience.
My work garnered a Specific reaction from my Audience that struck my fancy: Surprise.
There was surprise at the simple fact that what I just did was possible, There was surprise at the repetition of my action, the speed of it, and the sounds that were made by the crumpling of the metal.
There were recommendations on what to change and what to continue with, Prime among them was their interest in how I had set my self up behind a table, organized the cans and then vacuum crunched them in an orderly way. there were requests to see me move my work towards treating it like a job in the n3ext performance, behind a desk, with nice clothing, in robotic ways. ideas about homogenizing the cans in color and type, and perhaps having designated areas where the cans go before and after that are clearly demarcated.
I was interested in this idea, and plan on undertaking a Business Vacuum Crushing venture, But when walking over to the library to find a place to do this, I had found my self marveling at the quality of the day, and thinking to my self "Well, this would be a perfect day to sit on the grass and drink a soda pop" And so When I got my camera, I set it up in the sunlight and followed my impulse to crush my cans in the daylight, with incidental sound and interaction coming from passersby and the sounds of the music hall in my background.
During th efilming i interacted with who ever interacted with me, and had warned those who were enjoying the sun near by that I would be performing my piece.
My set up, and a friend who stuck around to watch on his way to practice
My residue, the pile of cans and other props. I had decided to make a picnic out of my project rather than a business, a trial or a chore. I crush cans for fun in this piece, for leisure, perhaps even for pleasure. When I revisit this central action of crushing cans, it will be Crushing for Profit, sucking cans for the quota. I am not sure how sitting behind a buisnessy desk with buisnessy clothes will change my vacuum, but look forward to testing it out.
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