Episode 6

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Dimensions: 150cm x 90cm
Archival pigment print, 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. 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.