Shake it sharp!

Audiovisual sound and video installation, concept piece, sound art, performance

2.0 Stereo Audio, Video

Duration: 1’07” (looped)

World premiere:
IEM Graz
(Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustic)
June 27, 2017

Piece info

A pencil or crayon is sharpened as loudly as possible using a commercially available can sharpener in a theatrical pose. Due to the design of the sharpener (can sharpener), the wooden remains of the pencil, which are planed off by the sharpening process, remain in the can, which is then shaken and used as a shaker, so to speak. The performer decides on the rhythmic design.

Metaphor

A transformation of the context takes place in that a completely everyday and mostly meaningless act – namely that of sharpening a pencil or crayon – is taken out of its triviality and yet necessity – namely the objective of a sharpened pencil or crayon – and transferred into a performative sound and rhythmic scenery. The emphatically serious, straightforward and serious gestures of the performance pull the act almost satirically into the grotesque, comical, which additionally underlines the transformation of the context.