Build your dream house for free with Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home is coming to Vancouver! For those of you who haven’t heard, it’s a totally free, installation-style presentation where you get the chance to build the home of your dreams – in miniature! Home Sweet Home is brought to you all the way from the UK by Abigail Conway and Lucy Hayhoe and their artistic company Subject to_change. Home Sweet Home has already traveled the globe to places like Japan, the United States and throughout Europe and now they’re finally coming to Vancouver. We caught up with creator Lucy Hayhoe to find out more about this exciting, one-of-a-kind experience.

Creators Lucy Hayhoe and Abigail Conway. Photo by Michael Owen Baker*

Home Sweet Home is a theatrical experience quite different from your typical theatre-going performance. Can you start by explaining Home Sweet Home, and where the idea came from for the project?

Home Sweet Home is a durational spectator-led installation. It is a miniature flat-packed cardboard town, created by those who wish to build it. The boundaries of the town are laid out in advance with key environmental and geographical features as well as infrastructure and land plots for home dwellings. Flat-packed cardboard buildings are prepared and placed on the canvas ready for purchase (no money is actually exchanged, however) by the participants in the building of the new community. Participants choose a plot, buy a house and decorate it as they wish. Some plots will allow for garden space, which can also be individualised by house owners. When the buildings are all sold and the community is built, the street party heralds the end of this transient, miniature world of cardboard buildings. The community is dismantled but residents can take away their house and so carry with them a trace of the community that was, and their role within it.

The idea came from an exploration into individual and collective space. We wanted to create a piece in which people participated directly, and that what they had made as individuals contributed to a generative and collective outcome. We were also conscious about giving people room and space to be creative whilst providing the necessary framework to inspire the audience. We believe the project works so well as it has achieved a balance of these two principles, and also because it’s fun!

The Local FM Radio Station

Home Sweet Home has a local FM radio station, a postal service, a community notice board and a local city council to help residents settle in. Can you talk a little about these services, how they work and what they do for the community?

The communication devices are vital in allowing participants to role play. The notice board allows for advertisements of local businesses. The postal service allows residents to communicate with one another, and the town councillor is there to guide and oversee all proceedings. The local radio station not only entertains but also facilitates communication between the residents and the district members of the County [City] Council and gives airtime to local issues. The cardboard town soon becomes a living, thriving community.

People are allowed to let their imaginations go wild to create the house of their dreams. What’s the most outlandish, extravagant and/or memorable house you’ve seen?

There have been so many memorable houses! It’s really great to see just how creative people can be; every event brings a surprise. Some of my favourites include the more abstract designs, where the houses have been transformed into rockets, robots and monsters. We have also had some great shops created by residents including, ‘Muffin Tops Bakery’, ‘Francis Bacon’s Butchers’ and ‘Whale for Sale’.

A creative design in Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home has been everywhere from Europe to Japan to the USA and Canada. What are some of the differences that you notice in the formation of a community from place to place?

We definitely see a difference between events in small towns in the UK as opposed to cities. Cities tend to produce a lot more controversy! Internationally, we found the US audiences saw it as an opportunity to build the ‘ideal’ and troublemakers were very much in the minority. In Japan the audience focused again on creating a very cohesive community, and in terms of design there was a great attention to detail. In our previous visit to Canada to Kitchener-Waterloo, there was more of a focus on creating separate neighbourhoods, each with their own identity, the most memorable being the ‘Nu Berlin District’. We are really excited to see what the people of Vancouver will produce!

The show has seen a lot of success over the years. How does it feel to be a part of something that has such a positive effect on the people who participate in it?

It has been a great couple of years for the project and we feel very thankful to all of those who have shared our vision and helped bring the project to so many communities. We always get excited about every show, and love the unpredictable nature of the show. Each show really does belong to those who participate. We are just very happy to help facilitate that experience.

Creator Lucy Hayhoe. Photo by Michael Owen Baker*

What do you hope that viewers and participants of Home Sweet Home in Vancouver will take away from the experience?

We would just hope that each participant has a great time and enjoys the fact that for just a few hours they have been able to play in a way they might have as children. We hope that in taking ownership of their own creativity, they feel invigorated. Hopefully in forming this temporary community it will make them think differently about their own communities.

How would you like to see Home Sweet Home develop in the future?

The project is constantly evolving, whether it be in a theatrical, educational or architectural context. We hope to continue this exploration into what the project can be and how it can both entertain and serve a community, and look forward to sharing it with future audiences.

Don’t miss out on this free, one of a kind experience! Home Sweet Home is on in the Historic Theatre at The Cultch from June 6-11, 2011, Monday to Friday 1 – 8pm and Saturday 12 to 6pm. For more information visit www.thecultch.com.

*Photos of Lucy Hayhoe and Abigail Conway taken by Michael Owen Baker with permission by the Los Angeles Daily News