Monday, May 28, 2012


The transformation or reformation of domestic cans into activated objects will be thoroughly documented, catalogued and recorded as an investigation into the potency of objects.  Through this project I will question the notion that society has become dissociated from the objects that it uses and that human intervention has an ability to recharge the qualities of the materials used.
I will forge - using a hammer and fire to stretch metal - steel cans to the point of disintegration in order to change the character of the industrially made steel can. The cylindrical form of a can is very hand friendly though impersonal, used as a commodity or a necessity, for practical reasons rendering the substance used to make it unimportant.  This has the potential to create a loss of knowledge and respect for the material that is used.  Forging the cans will reveal the attributes of steel, an alloy of iron and carbon, produced for its malleability and strength.
With every new can I will begin a process of documentation:
  • what the can was bought for. 
  • the date, company etc on the label from when it was packed; 
  • photographing the can’s existing form and the transformation process; 
  • can’s pre-existence, manufacture, cost etc; 
  • the sound of the hammering; 
  • writing about the process - my thoughts about - reactions of the body as it used to form the new object; 
  • filming the processes; 
  • collect the residue eg paper labels, scale from the forging etc;
  • calculating the cost of the transformation in time and consumables etc;