Episode 11

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Dimensions: 223,5cm x 102,0cm
Transparency in light-box, window frame

EPISODE SYNOPSIS

A Flat Earth logo and compass adorn Red Pill Roy's combat vest. This online missionary seems convinced that battle is coming. The red light illuminating his broadcasting bunker suggest sooner rather than later.

Episode 11 is a fusion of three individual subjects: neotribalism, the echo chamber (which may increase social and political polarisation and even extremism) and fatherhood - which was on the horizon for Hardy while working on this Episode. In an increasingly complex and post-truth world, individuals crave meaning and purpose. Accompanied by like-minded souls we find online, we adopt a simplified, singular, and sometimes radical, belief system that helps navigate through everyday turmoil.

Belief systems are passed down from generation to generation. But if you let it, a child can (re-)shape your worldview. Out of his father's sight, a 5-year-old dinosaur fan fills a new galaxy with bubbles. As he observes this wondrous spectacle, he playfully debunks his father’s Flat Earth ideology and offers the viewer a sign of hope: after all, the laws of physics that determine the perfect spherical shape of a bubble also determine the shape of planets and stars.

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.