JUST CRUSHING
Social Sculpture
In process
Just Crushing: A Demolition Derby—a WorkingGroup collaboration—is a community-led performance work that transforms the devastating hits and growing polarization of American political discourse into a playful scrum of ideological destruction. The project will solicit community input to determine what issues they want to see fight it out in a series of demolition derby heats, from school vouchers to climate change, speed limits, abortion, taxes, or book-banning, just to name a few. These topics will be emblazoned onto vehicles salvaged, painted, and driven by teams of local citizens. Drawing upon the theatrics of Carnivale, the hometown grandiosity of state fairs, and the rich history of destructive art, vehicles will brutalize one another as the crowd cheers and jeers them on in winner-takes-all battles that mirror the hostility of us-versus-them culture. It is our intent to stage the derby in the Summer of 2024 shortly before the next presidential election at a time when we anticipate that political tensions and the need for cathartic destruction will be at their highest.