First, this project was not easy for me. i don’t like to be the center of attention and I definitely don’t like to be filmed. I struggled even coming up with an idea and I wanted it to mean something. I decided to chose an alcohol related performance art. I don’t drink hardly at all, due to school, and working full time (which is odd because I work at a brewery).
When I first moved to Colorado and got a job at a brewery here in Boulder, I of course, like many people who have a honeymoon phase with a new service industry job, began drinking a lot. It was a quick way to make friends, and in no time Colorado was starting to feel like home.
After a few years of living here, things are continuously, yet gradually, changing. For example, drinking, being back in school, having an apartment that isn’t squalor, etc. p.s. I also now have an interlock in my car for 2 YEARS!! SO It’s not easy to go out and have a drink and go home.
Anyways, with that being said, when you don’t drink frequently your body literally treats alcohol like poison and I suffer awful hangovers because of that and probably because I am so migraine prone as is. Last night when I went out to grab some dinner with my boyfriend, I had a couple drinks, when we came home I decided I would do a performance piece which entailed drinking a beer in a minute (something I haven’t done in forever). That was the plan at least, and unfortunately I could barely even stomach it, so it took a little bit longer (hence the 1.40 length). It didn’t feel right clipping it, so I didn’t. I guess this project ended up meaning a little bit more to me than I anticipated. The American flag serves, obviously, as both an association with a cultural identity and also just the extreme acceptability and pressure towards alcohol in the first place!
All in all, last night I was up for about four hours after that beer with a horrible headache, and couldn’t sleep. I thought it was suiting.
