Episode 1

Edition of 3 + 2 AP

Dimensions: 204cm x 108cm
Archival pigment print, custom bronze glass panel with cutouts, window frame

EPISODE SYNOPSIS

Around the world, workers find themselves sitting in small confined spaces all day. While isolated from their environment, they operate in a bright spotlight, for the outside world to see. Disconnected, watching the world look back at them. Vivarium, Episode 1, Pilot, is Vivarium’s first character study, created around both the protagonist as well as the objects we surround ourselves with on a daily basis.

VIVARIUM

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.