Vivarium
Episode 8
The Wheel
2021
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
Dimensions: 196,0cm x 136,5cm
Archival pigment print, 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. 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.
Installation view
