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Demolition Derby: An American invention and cultural phenomena.
Rules: About a dozen cars in an arena crash into each other until the last car moving is declared the winner. Equipment:  One car stripped of all its glass, chrome and plastic. The doors & trunk are welded shut to prevent them from popping open when they are hit. The battery is usually strapped on the passenger seat to prevent its displacement when front-end collisions occur. The car is ready, but now the drivers wait for their turn. Sometimes having to wait up to two hours when around 100 cars are participating.

This project came about because a fellow artist who used the facility to have steel pieces fabricated for him told me about this place. It was a place that I went to explore for a couple of years whenever I did not have any commercial assignments.

Founded in 1918, Jersey City Welding specializes in custom steel fabrication roll work. They have outlived their competitors, many of whom folded during sagging economic or post-modern expansion. They survive on unique, custom piece work for the architectural and steel fabrication industry.

I would come in and look and stare. Some days I could find quite a few things to photograph and other days hardly anything at all. In my second year of visiting the facility I realized that it was all about my state of mind at the moment rather then the subjects that were available to me.

One day while I was photographing a piece of machinery, one of the workers who I had known for awhile came over to me and asked, "Is this what you call art?" I was taken aback by the question and said, “Some people might consider this art.” “Do you make a living doing this?” he continued. “No, not yet.” I replied.

Dan Nelken, June 2010