p!g th!ng recap
i'll say this right up front: there are pictures of a whole pig being cooked over an open fire. if you're squeamish, stop at the end of the text.among the things that happened in july was P!G TH!NG. roughly, this was an event where a 154lb pig was slow-cooked over 16 hours, and there were artistic gestures accompanying every step of this process. please click here to read the previous entry describing the event and my part in it in more detail.i had written a piece called 'starch wreck' to be performed after the cooking was completed. it was to be buried with the pig in it's underground oven, and whatever damage the score sustained would be acknowledged in its performance. due to inclement weather and ovenry, the pig was cooked above ground. my friend the organizer brendan carn buried two copies of the score at different depths and locations relative to the pig. as i knew might happen, and indeed thought would happen with this above-ground oven, there was 'not even any evidence that something had been buried.' this fire was hot. like, melt-the-chain-link-fence-being-used-as-a-grill hot. here's a short photo essay, entirely lacking in sounds and taste (and probably taste), to give the gist of the thing:
i wasn't there, and i've never been present for the prepping, cooking, and eating of a whole animal anywhere near that large, but i reckon being present as it changes from animal to meat changes the way you relate to your food. saying any more than that would be unfair and uneducated guess-work.here's a note brendan sent out a few days later:
P!G TH!NG was an amazing and unexpected experience. I am so grateful for all of the people that helped make it happen. I want to start by mentioning Colin Woodford (Los Angeles), Matt Barbier (Los Angeles), Daniel Corral (Los Angeles), John Hastings (New York), and Naomi Oliver (Sydney), two of which do not eat meat, who contributed sound work to my installation. It sounded fantastic, and alternatively soothed my soul and scared the shit out of me at just the right moments in the middle of the night. I want to thank Arteles and the crew (Pekka, Inga, Teemu, Kaisa) for letting me do this and working so hard to make it actually happen, and all of the wonderful artists here (Naomi, Liam, Kelly, Helene, Shari, Paris, Tacky, Trevor, and Katie) for contributing time, effort, art, support, and cash to make this happen. Thank you to everyone who played on my piece (and everyone who listened to it). Thank you to Emilia, a vegetarian, for helping me pull apart a giant pile of meat with her bare hands. Thanks to Mason, for taking fantastic (and scary) photos. Thank you Alanna, for telling me that my weird idea was also a good idea. Special thanks to Naomi, for hanging out with me at four in the morning during what we will call "the crazy time".Most importantly, and I cannot stress this enough, I want to thank the Pig. I'm glad that the music worked out, I'm glad people had fun, and I'm glad everything tasted good, but I hope more than anything that I did right by the Pig.Thank You, P!G TH!NG,Brendan
there's tentative plans to have a usa p!g th!ng soon, and i'm looking forward to participating. brendan has decided on a new rule: if you want to eat any, you must be present for the entire cooking process. life energy gives life energy.