HOME AND OPEN HOUSE: A Collaborative, participatory Installation on the Meaning of Home
HOME is an interactive, public art installation on the universal meaning of home, the tragedy of homelessness and the need for affordable housing in our towns and cities. HOME was conceived by Susan Hoffman Fishman and fellow artist, Elena Kalman, in 2015, in partnership with New Neighborhoods, Inc. and Pacific House, two non-profit, housing institutions in Stamford, CT.
The topic of homelessness and the need for affordable housing are not easy ones to discuss in a town that prides itself on its high standard of living and economic stronghold. Recognizing the power of art to engage the heart and the senses around big issues as well as start conversations and spark creativity in a way that words, statistics and facts cannot, the artists and their partners engaged the Stamford community in a highly visible, public art project calling attention to this very real and critical community need.
During the fall of 2015 through 2016, participants from all segments of society, including members of the homeless community and beneficiaries of affordable housing, attended a series of 7 HOME-Making Events, at which they depicted in words and images their own personal meaning of 'home' and 'homelessness' on pieces of corrugated cardboard. In November of 2016, the corrugated 'box boards' were attached by the artists onto the framework of a physical building structure, consisting of 2 x 4 lengths of lumber, and installed in the atrium of the Stamford, CT Government Center to represent the community's response to the fundamental need for and importance of home. As part of the project's overall goal of educating the public, the artists and their partner organizations held a press conference in the Government Center, at which representatives of local and state government and advocacy groups spoke eloquently on the topic.
The images shown here are of the finished HOME structure as well as well as sample photographs of the hundreds of participants who completed 'box boards' for the project.
Open House: Hartford
In December of 2016, Susan Hoffman Fishman and Elena Kalman installed a version of HOME, entitled, Open House: Hartford, at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, CT. The installation was comprised of: (1) lengths of black and red parachute cord that 'shot' from the ceiling, corners, walls, and floor of the gallery, suggesting the outlines of a building structure; and (2) the same 'box boards' that were previously part of the original HOME installation, but were hung here as an integral part of the complex cord configuration and served as randomly placed 'walls,' 'floor' and 'ceiling' of the abstract structure. Open House served as a powerful metaphor for the fragmentation or deconstruction of every aspect of one's life without the grounding of a home.
