Rat Party City
2014The strangely gleeful but violent act of cracking open a pinata highlights the longstanding and complicated relationship between rats and people, particularly in cities. Audience members participated in destroying the pinatas, leaving behind the detritus of a labor-day party, and the eerie remains of the rats. Rats, who thrive in human garbage, become a focal point for thinking about disposable consumer culture, housing inequality, sanitation work, and labor itself.
Eleven rat pinatas (newspaper, tissue paper, paint), color-coordinated party supplies from Party City retail store (paper plates, cups, napkins, balloons, candy wrappers, streamers, bows), color-coordinated candy, broom