Episode 8

Edition of 3 + 2 AP

Dimensions: 196,0cm x 136,5cm
Transparency in light-box, custom glass panel, window frame, brass letters

EPISODE SYNOPSIS

Episode 8, The Wheel, is set in Liverpool starring a 65-year-old chain-smoking couple. To take a ride in their carousel is to hop on life’s merry-go-round; to encounter the passage of time from which no one can escape. Although time defines our lives, we are unable to see, hear, or touch it, let alone stop it. Every year, while blowing out the candles on our birthday cake, we are reminded of our own mortality. Time will tell how many orbits we get to waltz around the sun. Meanwhile, the carousel turns and we keep the seat warm for the next in line.

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.