Episode 6

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Dimensions: 150cm x 90cm
Transparency in light-box, custom bronze glass panels, window frame

EPISODE SYNOPSIS

On November 11 2018, 26-year-old African American security guard Jemel Roberson was on duty at a bar in Robbins, Illinois, U.S., when four people were shot. After Roberson subdued and pinned the shooter to the ground, he himself was shot and killed by a white police officer arriving at the scene, wrongly mistaking Roberson for the shooter.

Vivarium, Episode 6, On Guard depicts an alternative history in which the protagonist - Canadian philosophy student by day, On Guard by night - survives, and is empowered to question the everyday realities of our Social Contract; how can we initiate change?

Episode 6 exists in-between fiction and reality: Upon scanning the QR-code on the guard’s badge, we are confronted with the internet’s search result on Jemel Roberson’s death.

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.