Superhouse (2005). With my project at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Residency Program I explored the issue of security. I was interested in a series of questions such as when are we ever really safe and why does it seem that our leaders seem more intent on making us feel more afraid, more insecure, instead of safer? It seems as though government (and corporations) have learned that a frightened electorate is a submissive one. I’m not necessarily interested in creating a directly political art though, what I’m thinking about instead is retreat.
As children my brother and I used to take sofa cushions, pillows, blankets, and any piece of furniture in the living room and pile it all together to make a fort. Inside we’d hide out from the world and invent (though we didn’t know the word at the time) a Utopia. What I created for LMCC was a large-scale version of one of these forts that I call Super House, built in the workspace at 120 Broadway using the furniture from a one-bedroom apartment including: sheets, pillows, a television, tables, etc. These were stacked and nailed together, holes will be drilled through pieces to create tunnels, and other adjustments will be made where necessary.