My House is Too Small

MY HOUSE IS TOO SMALL is a 6-month curatorial project run by Julia Powles from her apartment in West Melbourne, Australia. Six artists have been invited to undertake individual 6-day residencies, each culminating in an event that will be open to the public.

Framed around the concept of the houseguest, the artists are offered a fold out couch to sleep on and given the keys to the apartment, to use, as they will. Temporarily joining the household each resident artist will be in a unique position to observe and possibly commentate on the daily rituals, routines and interactions of the occupants. Purposefully choosing a domestic environment as the location for this residency MY HOUSE IS TOO SMALL puts forward the proposition that art can exist in any context and that art may possibly be the conduit that links all aspects of life.

In a dialogue of trust the artists who undertake the residency will be given permission to access the belongings of the household, possibly reconfiguring the apartment or appropriating the roles of the family members throughout their residency. In this sense the apartment, its furniture, history and inhabitants become the raw materials with which to make art. In MY HOUSE IS TOO SMALL art is placed within a context where it may perhaps become a seamless event, merging with the everyday, yet nevertheless remarkable for its unique and distinct position. In this context art may be an activity, action or concept of displacement.

MY HOUSE IS TOO SMALL examines the capacity for art to be rupture. Briefly an artist houseguest joins a family living in a small inner-city apartment. The artist fulfils the function of interloper, an outsider introduced into a common unit, sharing certain characteristics, yet fundamentally foreign. What type of influence can the artist and the household exert on each other? Utilising chance, awkwardness, and risk MY HOUSE IS TOO SMALL considers the relationships that are formed and roles played by individuals living within a family unit, as well as questioning concepts of public and private personas and spaces.

Central to MY HOUSE IS TOO SMALL is the concept of the familiar, as the curator posits the simple question: how does an unfamiliar surrounding affect an artist and consequently the art that they develop?

Residency Participants: Carolyn Barnes, Matthew Berka, Jessie Bullivant, CJ Conway,
Carolyn Eskdale, Russell Grigg, Hannah Mathews, Andrew McQualter,
Alastair Phillips, Dunja Rmandic, Simone Slee, Peter Westwood.

Curated by Julia Powles