scanyourcan.com presents itself as a meditation app, which leads to the hypothetical purchase of a can in a supermarket, and this can is supposed to represent a potential improved self.

I wanted to find a way of getting someone to go and buy a can in the supermarket, and then give it to someone else. This simple gesture seemed to me to contain a potential for questioning consumption, possession, and generosity.

Guided meditations are in themselves “scores” that you follow to reach a certain mental state. I’m fascinated by the injunctions of personal development and the links that these practices have with capitalism. The underlying idea is often to be more productive, better able to cope with stress, more focused… in order to work better.

I tested some meditation apps and was struck by the fact that they contained meditations on money. This also gave me the language register to enrich my script.

I was also inspired by the use of AI in everyday life. I’ve had many conversations with my friends about their use of Chatgpt. Many people use it as a shrink, or even as a relationship counsellor. Others have fun trolling it.

The text is peppered with absurdities and critical anti-consumerist winks, oscillating between naivety, mawkishness and sarcasm. There are also references to the world of the Internet: pornographic consumption, trolls, Hikikomori, video games, BDSM role-playing games.

I also really enjoyed playing with words and their sound similarities, such as: self, shelf, shell, s-hell-f. Can (to be able to) and can – the can. Cart and card. This also refers to potential misunderstandings that AIs develop by not fully understanding human prompts or situations.

During summer 2025 I followed an online course from the University of Göteborg (Sweden) focused on the relation in between game and visual art given by Ewa Einhorn. Scanyourcan.com was created in this context.