Public Domestic is a life size game that creates a meeting point for the negotiation of difference.
Developed over a one year residency with Radar, the work is the result of a collaborative investigation into the domestic environments of university life as a space of exchange and knowledge production, with Social Sciences Researcher Kerstin Leder Mackley (Loughborough University, UK) and Anthropologist Sarah Pink (R.M.I.T., Australia).
Working with a core group of students over the year, we co-ordinated a series of evening classes called Lessons on Living that explored routines and behaviours within domestic spaces at Loughborough University including a halls’ kitchen, laundry, common room and canteen.
Public Domestic evolved in response to discussions during these events and provides a mechanism to counteract the pressure to de-individualise when inhabiting university halls. Public Domestic plays with our perceptions and understanding of social constructs and the nature of the individual as they are assimilated into a collective way of living.
Modeled on the aesthetics of kitchen floor tiles, the giant board game creates a framework for people to meet one another based on acknowledging individual differences rather than seeking commonality.
The work was performed at Radar in May 2013 and again in September 2013 as part of freshers week.
A limited edition of prints accompanies this work.
For more information on this project please visit RADAR.
The artist would like to thank Lucy Whitehall, Florence Edwards, John Heathcote, Natasha Laing, Domonique Maynard, Craig Parr, Ben Nichol, Han Zong Tan, Andrea Burris, Carolina Escobar Tello and Jo Mardell.