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don't ever let go from star5 on Vimeo.

5 of us were hanging out playing games for no-pants-day. we brought up the idea of tasking.. but what to do? star5 mentioned wanting to do this task, but how to make it more impressive than just her and oliver which wouldn't be too hard? well.. 5 PEOPLE TOUCHING FOR 24 HOURS would be impressive!

we immediately linked hands.. before we were even sure if we could do it. we agreed that we'd have to be touching the group in some configuration. we could change how we were touching and who we were touching as long as we all remained a part of the group.

what did we have to do for the next 24 hours?

star5 had feed her cats and give them shots a couple times. then she had to go grocery shopping. she also had to help a friend move with a moving truck that was in her name as the driver and return the van. could we all fit in the cab of the truck?

inky had to work! it was an art gallery opening and she was the person in charge of making everything go. could we do this with her? what would people at her work say?

oliver had to clean up his house for a meeting the following day.

luckily rock candy and celina didn't have too much planned and were able to just go with the flow..

still not knowing if we could accomplish all of these things, we decided to go for it.

we started off the evening with a trip to star5's house to feed cats. then back to oliver's to make popcorn and watch a movie. then we moved two futons together to sleep. we tied our legs together with nylon socks. eventually most of us ended up just cuddling when the tied feet got too uncomfortable. we woke early, none of us having slept very well. we made pancakes, did dishes and cleaned the kitchen.

on to rock candy's place to get her dressed for the day. a stop at the grocery store. stop at star5's again for lunch and a quick puppy pile nap.

on to the moving! amazingly we all fit in the cab.. not very comfortably, but luckily it wasn't a long drive. we drove it to the storage place and helped unload. with feet touching, hands were free to pass stuff down the line. when the truck was empty we filled up gas and returned it.

a quick stop at inkys. a coffee shop for some energy. then on to inky's work. she works at a photo gallery which was having an opening that night. we hung out and did crosswords and exquisite corpse type stories while she was at her desk. we followed her around while she organized everything, helped hang a photo and got everything just right. then when the opening began, we followed her around. we mingled. we drank wine. we had fun. we got a few curious people asking about us. we told people we were doing a performance art type thing. they all seemed to enjoy it. all went well.

then with about an hour left, we walked down the street to a bar and watched a show.

when it was time to part, we went outside to have a moment. it was more difficult to let go than we thought!


personal stories:

star5: i wasn't sure how it was going to work. i did get a little stressed a couple times, but overall it was fun. i was most worried about fitting us all in the truck.. but it all worked out. and at one point in the middle of the night i did have a moment of panic and just wanted to get up and go to the bathroom on my own and leave the group.. but i resisted and then it was okay. there were times when i just wished someone else would give up because things seemed too complicated and in my sleepy mind i just sort of wished it to be done, but didn't want to be the one that ended it. in the end i'm really glad we call stuck together and went through with it. i had more bathroom stops than anyone. good thing i'm not shy! we would hold a hand or foot out the door or in some cases everyone just turn around and talk amongst themselves. and the art gallery was the funnest part. we were worried her co-workers were going to not like it, but everyone was just kind of amused. my favorite was the guy who came up to us in the gallery and said he admired our solidarity.

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inky: I was hella nervous that either I'd get in trouble at work for antics when I ought to be in charge, a responsible adult, or that my friends would get annoyed or frustrated with having to stand around in a gallery for hours and hours. So my moments of doubt were in relation to that. I don't do well on not enough sleep, but the power nap at star5's fixed that for me. Going to the grocery store was excellent, the staff at the deli noticed, and pulled each other out to watch us snake back and forth, and a friend of mine who works the juice bar could not stifle his giggling. It really set the tone for the whole day- everyone seemed more amused than annoyed or confused. The truck rental people, my roommates, the folks in the art gallery. It later occurred to me just how perfect my job was for these sort of antics. One of the artists showing work introduced herself and asked us about our performance art piece, and lots of artists and art appreciators approached us as well. One of my coworkers was so excited that she wanted my amoebic posse to come to work with me on Monday.
One of the strange things we noticed was how it changed our psychological state- we began trying to freak each other out- let go with a hand after having subtly touched feet or some other body part. We felt bad for people who weren't touching, and we gasped at people who had been touching and let go for some reason or another. At the end of the night, we went to my friend Dietr's show at a bar up the street from my work- and after we separated... star5, r0ckc4ndy, and I held hands again, because... well... we missed touching. I sent Celina a text message later, saying "separation anxiety!", and she left me a voicemail the next day, talking about how good it was to have some privacy, but that yes- somehow going back to normal life was a little lonely.

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r0ck c4ndy: This had to be a spontaneous task.
If I sat down and thought about it I would never have time, or the thought of never being able to use the bathroom alone would make me decide NO WAY! But in the moment, it was easy to say "OK, this is what I am doing". I think I got a little snappy a couple of times, and I was much dirtier than I wanted to be. (I didn't shower as I wanted to, not because of the logistics which we would have managed but simply because we didn't have time). It didn't feel hard or frustrating once we began. In fact, it wasn't until afterwards that I was like…"dude, that's totally crazy!"
One interesting thing is that in my memory, although we were always touching it's not a constant group. I have distinct memories of doing the cross-word puzzle with Star Five, looking at art with Celina and other individual events. It was also fun to "be" another person for a little while. Like we weren't a group of people at Inky's work, we were all Ink Tea, doing whatever she had to do, going where she needed to go.

In the whole 24 hours I found the only major irritant to be two of Inky's co-workers. Everyone else was totally normal (read not overwhelmed) but those two just kept asking about it in an annoying way and saying things like "do you really go number 2 together?" It was just irksome. But considering all the things that could have been annoying, that was pretty minor!

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celina: The 24-hours could have gone much differently. The task was spontaneously suggested, intoxicatedly agreed upon, unplanned and unprepared. Five people with uncoordinated schedules and unavoidable prior commitments. But what if we actually pulled it off! It had to be attempted.

My initial agreement in doing this task was a bit of a dare; I didn't believe everybody would go with the idea and once the wine had run its course, I was certain somebody would give up, maybe even myself. After a few other recent disappointments, I had it in my mind not to care too much so if someone did decide to give up after investing a lot of time, I wouldn't be let down; I was expecting it.

I started out not feeling well. (I blame the popcorn and alcohol.) None of us slept well and I woke up feeling dizzy. All of us seemed to have our various complaints but I did my best to keep my discomfort to myself. I felt more solid after breakfast and took a deep breath and just decided- I am going to do this. I am not going to be the one who gives up.

Everything takes much longer than you think it should when you are connected to four other people. I started feeling like we had to think with a bit of a hive-mind, taking in consideration what duties were the most immediately important and whose needs were the ones to most urgently address. You just accept the people looking at you with curiosity, impatience and confusion. It began to feel natural to snake around each-other, corners, down paths and hallways. We moved around in our own bubble of reality, fingers twisted around each-other, a part of my mind dedicated to staying aware to how we were presently connected and anticipating our next movements. The most difficult part for me was waiting at Inky's work for the opening to start. We were sitting in her work area on the floor while she worked on her computer. It felt too natural to be sitting around with my friends, reading newspapers, doing the crossword, drawing pictures. I caught myself curling up into a non-touching position at least twice! Thankfully someone caught me each time before it was too late. For others who may attempt this task, be careful! An idle mind is forgetful.

I had been dreading the art opening. Trailing behind my friend as she directed people and made small talk for several hours didn't seem very exciting. I shut off my brain and became an Inky shadow for awhile. At some point people started noticing us and came to investigate. We had some wine, our picture was taken and I started having fun! It was the perfect ending to our day.

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oliver x wrote no words, but does admit he had a good time.