The idea of installations was not an eventual one. We found quickly through our research that we preferred the idea of physical things that can be interpreted and interacted with, rather than the two of us doing a performance that was a lot less static and malleable.
Through my research I found some of Susanna Hertrich’s work, and particularly enjoyed the ‘Chrono- Shredder’ :
which was described as “The machine as performer.
Chrono-Shredder (2007-2012, various iterations) is a poetic device with functions similar to those of a calendar and a clock, it continuously shreds every single day—minute after minute, hour after hour. All that time that is irreversibly lost, obtains a tangible existence in the form of shredded paper. As time passes by, the tattered remains of the past pile up under the device.” (http://www.susannahertrich.com/chrono-shredder.php)
This machine does exactly what we wanted to do, in that it takes a remarkable simple and seemingly mundane idea, and draws attention to it in a simple and creative way. This made us have an even more focused mission: to create installations that people wish they’d thought of. Extremely vague, but nonetheless motivational.