Distraction Roleplay
Distraction Roleplay
Performance and writing
2019
A series of prompts, illustrated and animated in real time on an overhead projector, to help people learn to embrace distraction. It was presented as part of the release of Careful Material, ed. Robin Hustle, a publication that celebrates and engages Thomas Kong’s art practice and convenience store, Kim’s Corner Food. More information about the Careful Material book release event is at thomaskong.biz.
Text from Distraction Roleplay:
Whenever I’m working and trying to be productive, it's certain that at some point I will be distracted by any or all of the following impulses:
To eat sweet snacks.
To check if someone has paid attention to me on the internet.
To look up job openings.
To indulge in fiercely ambivalent thoughts about a previous partner.
Maybe you can relate to those distractions. Want to relieve yourself of those thoughts and desires that prevent you from being a productive human? If yes, let’s roleplay:
First, focus on grounding yourself:
Sweet snacks contain sugar.
Most sugar we eat is derived from sugarcane that often involves the abuse of many people.
Most sugarcane is grown in Brazil, India, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Colombia, and Mexico.
The sugarcane is grown in the ground.
The plants need minerals found in rocks.
You are stepping on rocks.
Internet exists because of metals and oils that involve the abuse of many people.
Petroleum used for devices which hold the internet are pumped from the ground all over the world.
Metals used for devices which hold the internet are mined from the ground all over the world.
The petroleum and metals are found in and among rocks.
You are stepping on rocks.
Money is necessary in a capitalist society.
Capitalism requires that there are people who are taken advantage of.
Being taken advantage of feels like shit.
Shit becomes soil.
Soil also comes from rocks.
You are stepping on rocks.
Fiercely ambivalent thoughts about a previous partner involve feeling comparable amounts of attraction and repulsion.
Magnets contain a comparable amount of attraction and repulsion in relation to each other.
Magnets come from rocks.
You are stepping on rocks.
How to simulate a sweet snack distraction:
Imagine your left hand is the top of your mouth, your right the bottom of your mouth.
Approach a rock.
Imagine that the void inside your mouth is the same shape and size as the rock.
Imagine the rock's sweetness.
Is it chocolatey? Fruity? Pastry-like?
Imagine the texture of the rock.
Is it crunchy?
Is it smooth?
Lightly touch the rock with your fingertips.
Allow this initial interaction to prepare your hands ready to fully appreciate the rock's sweetness.
Gradually "bite" the rock:
Press your hands against it, observing every sensation.
Imagine the rock-shaped void in your mouth is holding and absorbing the rock.
Continue savoring the rock, until you feel the void resurface.
How to simulate distraction on social media:
Go to a space with many rocks.
Pick one rock.
Imagine it is glowing.
Leave it on the ground.
Walk away. Go look at a tree, eat a sandwich, etc.
When the rock enters your mind, return to it.
Has anything changed?
Look at neighboring rocks.
Compare them to your rock.
Is there more activity on them?
Are they covered in more ants or moss than yours?
Check your rock again.
Drag your eyes left to right.
Scroll the ground with your fingers.
Lightly touch surfaces.
Compare your rock with other rocks, again.
How do you feel?
How much is your identity and sense of purpose expressed in the rock?
Is that expression supported and amplified by the presence of other rocks?
Is your rock supporting and amplifying the presence of other rocks?
How to simulate looking for job openings:
Survey what you have in the fridge.
How much food do you have?
Go outside and collect many rocks, no smaller than your fists.
Fill the empty spaces in your fridge with the rocks.
Once all voids have been filled, retrieve the rocks and place them in grocery bags.
Walk to a grocery store, carrying the rocks.
Stand outside, evaluating which food items from inside you would want and need to last one month.
Hold that amount in your mind.
Carry the rocks with you to a mall or street with many businesses around.
Never let the rocks rest on the floor.
Try to memorize the names of all the businesses around you.
Go home.
Lay the rocks out in front of you.
Tell the rocks all the ways you would be a perfect employee at each of the businesses.
Tell them about how much you value each business, how capable you are at the skills necessary for each business, and how much you are a team player.
Keep talking to the rocks until you get sleepy.
Bring the rocks into bed with you.
Fall asleep.
How to simulate fiercely ambivalent thoughts about a previous partner:
Imagine a magnet inside yourself.
Think about a rock from your past, from a different location.
Imagine that there is a magnetism equivalent to your own inside that rock.
Wander around, looking for the rock.
Imagine you are watching yourself.
Perceive your movements as a pattern which has been performed by generations of ancestors before you.
Look behind buildings, under bridges, around trees, all the while aware that you won’t find the rock.
Feel relief for not having to confront the rock;
Visit other rocks, and feel disappointment that they are not the rock you are looking for.
Imagine all the rocks in your immediate vicinity.
Imagine all the rocks at a global scale.
How many rocks are being attracted to and repulsed by one other across vast distances?
In conclusion:
Distraction is considered negative because it goes against a belief that we should stay focused and productive.
Anxiety around distraction is a symptom of inhumane systems of production.
Humans have learned ways to harness the power of rocks by turning them into resources which fuel those inhumane systems of production.
Rocks can also become tools of embracing distraction, as evidenced here.
Heal from capitalism by harnessing the power of rocks to embrace distraction.
Heal from the anxiety of distraction.
References:
www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-sugarca…
www.asm-recycling.co.uk/blog/where-do-m…
sugaralliance.org/u-n-report-foreign-su…
www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-mer…
www.supermagnete.de/eng/faq/Is-the-attr…