My House

Abstract

In the beginning I was researching how social media and reality meets in a performative space, and my practice was about inviting people to follow me to my house where I was displaying myself and my privacy. One of my main interests is how the tension between private and public spaces is vibrant today in terms of our online presence. Also, what kind of space is created when you take social behavior a little further into reality? In what kind of position does the person who is displaying him/herself, put those who are following him/her? A few months into the program my research shifted and grounded more into real issues I was dealing with. I connected my work into the situation of the housing market today and started to think about how it was possible to sustain oneself in our system and surroundings as an artist. My main questions for this project are: How do I sustain my artistic practice in this precarious living situation?How could I use my artistic practice to survive my own situation?My main practice is grounded in autobiographical performance, where I use my own life experiences and my everyday life as a source and construct into poetic forms. I am interested in how we stage ourselves in everyday life and how the construction unfolds into representation of the self. My main artistic strategies are bound in the concept of “oversharing” by displaying my life where I draw inspiration from, such as Instagram and other media. I’m interested in how people share their everyday life and make a spectacle out of ordinary things. Examples of ordinary things turned into spectacle are taking a bath, drinking a nice cup of coffee or motivating other followers to grow into a healthier lifestyle. This year I have been exploring different strategies of oversharing, curious about the idea that it is necessary to have a witness, a spectator to take in the information that I am giving away. Then there is an important question which is active in my work and that is: Who holds the responsibility of the space when information is floating around? And then, is it possible for the spectator/witness to relate to the space? Is oversharing our new way to reach potential consumers? Is our privacy for sale? Is that the way to survive?I use the technique of constructing myself into a persona where I take elements that I am interested in and stretch them as far as possible. For this particular project I made myself rules to work with, and forms to follow. For example, I use a microphone, I talk in English, and I perform the action of displaying myself and my house.What I realized when I was developing my work is that I do not only have one performative self to work from; me as Hrefna Lind the artist is also performing in my life. So I could say that I am performing myself and the representation of my self and the shifts between those selves, (the self that is performed and the performing self) so it can be complicated for the spectator to grasp on a fixed identity throughout the performance. But I believe that it is a strategy to create this unknown space of what is real and what is fiction which supports tragicomical elements. I’m interested in that gap where they are questioning if I am performing well or badly, where sincerity and fake authenticity are intertwined around the space. I could say that this particular gap of the unknown is a strategy that I use when I am making work because I feel that is a space where the spectator is motivated to ask himself active questions about the subject of the piece. I sense it is an invitation to take responsibility of his own reaction in relation to what is experienced. It creates the sense that we are all in this together and we will survive if we yield to the circumstances.As an artist it is necessary to find a balance between fantasy and reality. It is my job to test the boundaries of what is possible, to stretch the limits in our situations. My work is grounded in a reality but it reaches to a fantasy of what could be possible to imagine and create the yet to be lived. My House is a 40 day multi-platform performance where Hrefna Lind uses her artistic practice to survive her own situation on the Real estate market in Reykjavik.Come to her open house where you will experience a live music Video EP lounge.Different platforms.1. Karolina Fund. On this website it is possible for spectators to support Hrefna´s lifestyle 2. Soundcloud where the EP record will be released3. EP Vinyl Record.4. House fashion photo series5. Youtube channel for music videos7. Open house, a performance where Hrefna is performing live music videos from the EP record.