Performance

Today I continued working on removing staples from the ultility pole I selected yesterday. This particular pole was covered in staples that probably have been accumulated from years gone by. The process of plucking them out was slow, but this one was different...instead of privately working in my studio, this was a performance with people walking down the sidewalk and cars passing by me. I did get several responses today while I was working. One guy commented if I was getting paid by the staple, while another said something like "one million two hundred fifty one, one million two hundred fifty two..." Another man said "that's a day's work"! Total amount of time it took to complete the main section of the pole was four hours. It was grueling, because the staples are a thick gage that were embedded into the wood. I used two tools: pliers and a flat head screwdriver. Some of the wood actually came off with some of the staples. I collected the staples and will make a sculptural form with those. I documented the pole before and after. I haven't come up with a title yet, but my idea is to write a title on a sheet of paper-like a flyer-and post it on the pole. It would be interesting to see if people would comment on it and by so doing, put staples back into the pole. Of course, the pole will eventually be covered with staples again, but for now it is rather unique I would like to think!