I haven't thought much about this work in quiet a couple years, but as my work addresses community participation again and again, I think it's important to see where it stemmed from. I did a performance in 2006 in which I went door to door asking for cups of sugar from my neighbors. A small gesture developed to build re pore. In Los Angeles we don't really speak to our neighbors, many of the people I met I had never seen before though they lived two doors down. They were curiously surprised by me. I was asked numerous question, who are you? What do you want the sugar for? Most people thought I was joking, a practical joke, since the gesture seemed too absurd. I remember one man in his mid thirties saying, "I though it was something they only did in 50s TV shows." But most people obliged and were actually quiet generous, I would receive sugar packets, containers of artificial sugars, and sugar cubes.
I didn't explain to my donors why I wanted it. With my bags of sugar I created gallons of lemonade. I setup a table and chair on my street corner and for a full day handed out free lemonade. Again I received mixed opinions and responses. I explained it was a way to do something nice for the community. Which was true, but it was also about social exchange, I became the mediator that organized a community together to create this products. Neighbors both fed and gave to each other without knowing it. The work depended upon social kindness and trust to occur. Little social change occurred, but through the action a few people got out of their cars and houses and soke with their neighbors.
Sugar
