HYDRAULIC PRESS GIRL
“FROM TIKTOK TO FINE ART GALLERY”
“Conscious of the glut of content on social media, and with a keen awareness of the slippery definition of art, Smac McCreanor has curated an online presence that straddles performance art and content creation. Accumulating more than one billion views since the series launched online in late 2020, Hydraulic press girl is familiar to many, although not everyone may recognise it as art when first viewed on social media.
The Brisbane-born and Los Angeles–based artist has embraced social media as both a platform and medium for her performance art, creating work that flips expectations while staying true to the nuanced ways people communicate online. Hydraulic press girlspecifically takes inspiration from the trend of reaction videos to various objects being compressed by a hydraulic press. Smac’s training and ongoing work as a professional dancer and comedian is apparent, as she convincingly interprets the destruction of each object through movement – the illusion of chaos conjured through total control of her body.” - National Gallery of Victoria
FAQs
How did you think of this?
There's no profound answer as to how but as a trained dancer from childhood, I've learnt to see the movement quality in things. Anything that has movement can translate to dance, but the things that shouldn't or wouldn't be translated to dance is what amuses me most. It's a simple case of See the thing Dance the thing. and in this scenario the first time I saw a video from the infamous @Hydraulic Press Channel I immediately mimicked it with choreography and uploaded to social media within minutes. It was amusing to me, which is generally why I create most of my videos, specifically this was an ironic take on performance art and contemporary dance. That same day I filmed a handful of episodes to store in my content bank, working in bulk is my specialty and I liked this idea enough to milk it before seeing any results.
How many episodes have you made?
To date I (think) I've done 166. Over the years there may have been a few that have slipped through my camera roll and forgotten or accidentally deleted so the actual number is a mystery. I also RE-FILMED approx. 22 of my original videos, to be displayed at the National Gallery of Victoria (cause the tiktok quality was too low!)
WHERE HAS HPG BEEN FEATURED?
Hydraulic Press Girl has officially been featured at National Gallery of Victoria, TED TALKS 2022 as a video performance. Good Mythical Morning, Adult Swim Off The Air, Buzzfeed, Art for Silliness's Sake exhibit at UL, Netflix social media campaigns, Taller Marmo clothing campaign, The Morning Show Channel 7, Adweek Top 100, Australian ABC 7:30 report, JOY Fm and more.
Unofficially it's been featured/viral on Reddit, Cheddar, Unilad, LADbible, 9gag, The Kids Should See This, Laughing Squid, PopSugar, Tyler, Dank.memes, GirlRewind, DanceOn and other random meme pages and even business pages that tend to jack it for their sponsored ads.
Does it hurt?
It doesn't, but that's because I have full control on which videos to make so I'm not selecting videos that I know I can't physically pull off - these are all movements my body has done for the last 25 years. There are so many amazing Hydraulic videos out there that I imagine would be amazing imitation performances but as I watch them I'm like, yeah that would require a backflip so nah...Although these do inspire me to create loopholes; like instead of training to fly off the ground I can turn to my nifty freeze frame and key frame editing. I've only had one injury from one press video - a pulled back muscle from being a horse.
Why did you do it?
Cause it made me laugh. It’s not that deep.
WAIT, you have your own Hydraulic Press Machine?
YES I do, most of my episodes (post 2021) are made with my own hydraulic press machine. This was always somewhat of an inside joke with my niche audience and as the series continued I realized I had to be able to produce my own “squishing” for artistic reason and business reasons. Of course I didn't splurge on getting an industrial grade one machine, cause I mean Google those prices. But I found a great mid one that works for when I have to make custom squishes! It’s also super fun to squish things when friends comer over.
“THIS SHOULD BE IN A GALLERY”…
…is one of my most received comments. And it is with GREAT excitement that I get to confirm that IT IS in fact IN A GALLERY. But it's not just any gallery, and I still can't wrap my head around the seriousness of this all, it’s in the National Gallery of Victoria for their world renowned contemporary art exhibit, The Triennial (Dec 2023-April 2024). Like, guys....I can't express how crazy this is. This is the biggest gallery in the southern hemisphere. It's a leader in the contemporary art world. I used to take field trips there as a kid. I've been shedding tears and pinching myself for the last few months as this whole experience has been unfolding. Thanks to you all, this little tiktok video idea has become a monumental career highlight for me, the internet took it by storm and now the inside joke we laughed at together came true. Thanks for riding this journey with me.
Will you ever give it up?
yeah nah. Not anytime soon.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR HYDRAULIC PRESS GIRL?
I've had a blast filming every single video so far and have been blown away at the overall response. But I don't feel a need to plan ahead, I'll just go with the flow! Maybe it’s a possibility she’ll pop up in some more amazing galleries!
When did it start?
The first Hydraulic Press Girl episode was posted to my TikTok in December 2020. I saw a Hydraulic Press Channel crushing video of a play-doh sculptured "2020". The movement was a fast oozy squash and given the year we had with the Pandemic I thought it was a brilliant and humorous send off to squashing away 2020.
When did it go viral?
I think it was the second compilation episode I made, posted to my tiktok in the first week of Jan 2021 that went mega viral within hours. I was waiting for a manicure and had a quick glance at the upload - which hit 2million views soon after posting…I was low-key blown away and wasn’t convinced that was accurate but my hands were then preoccupied. After the manicure the video had hit 5million views, 40mill a few days later. From that, the original first episode picked up traction and since I had footage prepped in my content bank, I was able to post again immediately riding that algorithm wave. I would say this is one of those oddly-addictive series that seems to get picked up with the algorithms across all platforms. To date I've accumulated over 1 billion views. The videos often circle around on different websites and accounts. It goes even more viral when others post it!
How do you create the actual videos, what part comes first?
If you've watched a handful of these videos you've probably noted I have an unnecessary amount of wardrobe. I ain't a fashion guru in any sense but I absolutely love styling and so the wardrobe aspect actually comes first, sort of. If sourcing the Hydraulic Press video from the infamous channels, I select the videos based on what I can wear to color match, same when I need to choose an object to squish with my own machine. i.e: "oh yes, I have a silver jumpsuit that matches that exploding CD" etc. I will note that I've only bought two clothing items deliberately for HPG use, everything else is sourced and repurposed from my random, every-growing costume collection, that includes my boyfriends wardrobe. THEN, I pack my bag with the costumes for at least 10 videos cause I love filming in bulk and once I'm at the studio ready to film I watch the Hydraulic object video 3-5 times to grasp the timing of the squish choreography (as a dancer this is just like watching a dance and visually learning the moves), then I film 1-3 takes of my performance, then I edit on my phone. The low-fi approach is strategic and the essence of the whole project. As a life-long trained dancer I don’t necessarily rehearse the movements, I can just think about them while setting up the shot, then I hit record and use my front facing camera as my mirror to check i’m in frame, then just go for it!