On the evening of November 3, as voters across the United States cast ballots, a parking lot at 145 Hooper Street in San Francisco will host a different kind of civic event: a demolition derby for remote-controlled cars, staged by California College of the Arts. The event, titled Just Crushing: Election Night, runs from 5 to 6.30pm and is free and open to the public.

More than 40 participants have built the cars, drawing on students from Gateway High School and Youth Art Exchange alongside CCA students. Each vehicle is a small artwork in its own right, designed around a political or social concern its maker chose to confront: artificial intelligence, the cost of living, immigration, overconsumption and climate justice are among the themes the cars will carry into the arena before they are smashed apart.

The derby is led by CCA alumni Allison Rowe and Nancy Nowacek, who work together as the Working Working Group. Their practice has long used playful, participatory formats to open up serious public questions, and the derby extends that approach to election night itself, turning an evening usually spent watching results into a hands-on, collective act.

Just Crushing is part of Fans of Democracy, an exhibition in CCA's Novack Gallery that runs through November 20. The show frames art-making as a form of democratic participation, and the derby is its most literal expression: a crowd gathered to watch carefully built objects be destroyed, and to talk about what should be built in their place.