Echo Chamber

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 is an ongoing series of constructed dioramas, called Episodes. With his socially engaged tableaux Hardy studies the complexity and coherence of today’s pressing issues. In the creation of these worlds Hardy fuses his imagination, observations, personal memories and true events. Every Episode has its own topic, such as conspiracy thinking (Episode 11), modern working conditions (Episode 9, Free Delivery), racial profiling (Episode 6, On Guard) and gender roles (Episode 4 and 5, Cinema Il Sogno).

Vivarium is an ongoing project, started in 2018. Every world you see once existed in Hardy’s studio. For each Episode, he meticulously designs, builds and photographs a new world. Hardy creates meaningful narratives through the use of characters, objects and their composition. The final works are full of detail and displayed life-size - one-to-one - in a window frame, sparking a direct encounter between the viewer and subject. 

It takes 3 to 4 months to complete a tableau. 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.

In addition, Vivarium Self-Portraits provide a glimpse into Hardy’s constructed worlds and working-method. They are rooted in his urge to understand and empathize with his characters.