A Methodical Elimination of Drudgery; Crude, but Adequate, 1996, room 1: washing machine, shelf, fluorescent light, audio #1 total running time 3 minutes and 38 seconds, looped; room 2: distillation system, 2 buckets, dirty clothes, shelf, Polaroids, specimen containers, forms, audio #2 total running time 3 minutes and 25 seconds, looped, w 25’ x d 15’ (installation detail)
This exhibition examines a procedure in its entirety. The first room of A Methodical Elimination of Drudgery; Crude, but Adequate contains an abandoned washing machine that has been clinically dismantled piece by piece. The machine is displayed in its sum; each fragment carefully arranged on a shelf running the perimeter of the room. Accompanying each element from the washer is an identifying time-coded placard indicating the moment at which that individual piece was removed from the whole machine. The room is cold and empty, aside from the disassembled parts and a fluorescent light. A poignant country song repeats endlessly at a low volume (Making Plans, from Trio, 1987, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt, written by Johnny Russell/Voni Morrison).
The second room contains an elaborate and theatrical distillation system that extracts dirt from the artist’s clothes worn during the production and upkeep of the exhibition. The results are recorded and cataloged each day. Shelves hold sample jars containing dirty laundry water, the clean water that was generated, residual dirt, and Polaroids of the clothing worn. An exaggerated soundtrack of boiling and bubbling (blowing through a straw into a cup of water) pervades the room. This project is a collaboration with Brian McClave.
Making Plans, total running time 3 minutes and 38 seconds, from Trio, 1987, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt, written by Johnny Russell/Voni Morrison:
You say tomorrow you're going
It's so hard for me to believe
I'm making plans for the heartaches
'Cause you're making plans to leave
The tears for me will be falling
Like a tree shedding its leaves
I'm making plans for the teardrops
'Cause you're making plans to leave
You're making plans to forget me
I'm making plans to miss you
I'm getting ready to grieve
I'm making plans to be lonesome
'Cause you're making plans to leave
I'm making plans to be lonesome
'Cause you're making plans to leave
