Episode 1

Edition of 3 + 2 AP

Dimensions: 204cm x 108cm
Transparency in light-box, custom bronze glass panel with cutouts, window frame

EPISODE SYNOPSIS

Around the world, workers find themselves sitting in small confined spaces all day. While isolated from their environment, they operate in a bright spotlight, for the outside world to see. Disconnected, watching the world look back at them. Vivarium, Episode 1, Pilot, is Vivarium’s first character study, created around both the protagonist as well as the objects we surround ourselves with on a daily basis.

VIVARIUM

Vivarium is an ongoing series of constructed dioramas, called Episodes. In the creation of these worlds Hardy fuses his imagination, personal memories and true events into ‘purposeful fiction’. Together, Vivarium’s Episodes explore the coherence and complexity of our zeitgeist.

For each Episode, Hardy designs, builds and photographs a new world in his studio. His photomontages are shown life-size - one-to-one - in a lightbox with a window frame, resulting in hyper-realistic works that spark a direct encounter between the viewer and the subject. 

As Hardy places one or more characters in a meticulously arranged setting, he merges ambivalent, melancholic scenes of private moments in the public, with social issues such as conspiracy thinking, racial profiling, and pre-defined gender identities. By addressing a different topic in each Episode while applying a consistent working method, Vivarium is an expanding multiverse of portals where life takes place.

Each constructed tableau takes 3 to 4 months to complete. Vivarium is an ongoing project that Hardy started in 2018.