STABILITY GIVES ME PEACE / BEING TOGETHER MAKES ME LAUGH
PROVISIONALITY STRESSES ME / BEING ALONE MAKES ME SAD
STABILITY SCARES ME / BEING TOGETHER ANNOYS ME
PROVISIONALITY GIVES ME NOVELTY / BEING ALONE MAKES ME BREATH
The financial crisis of what some would call the present-day creative class stems from both the precarity of working conditions and from housing being treated as a commodity rather than a basic human need. Many young creatives in big cities seem to be stuck in a prolonged adolescence, with instability in terms of location, career, and relationships only being exacerbated by economic pressures.
Also following the pursuit of self-realization might mean for many people being in a state of constant movement and growth, even in their full adulthood. Moreover, what represented a goal for previous generations — the stability of a home, a stable job, and a nuclear family — might not look appealing for nowadays young workers.
As a result of these conditions, shared housing, though generally undesirable, has become all the more ubiquitous for people in their twenties and thirties. However, if we look at the history of the household, we can clearly see how the nuclear family was a product of industrialization and urbanization, while communal living has been used for centuries as a way to create communities, share reproductive labor, and address economic issues. Even if nowadays shared households can be seen as direct consequences of problems like precarity and the housing crisis, could we find in them the seed for another way of living? This question pushes us to inquire what indications it may have for a new way of life.
In a shared flat, we can experience concepts such as common goods, shared work, domestic solidarity, and the importance of relying on each other. The kinship that can exist in a shared house is a special one; It is a necessary relationship, a forced one, but it’s not related to blood ties, friendship, partnership, or common ideals. Usually, the shared experience is only one of living, of domesticity, and not less importantly of class and generational distress. This is the condition of a group of people who want to be independent and autonomous but who must rely on interdependency. This togetherness comes almost always with some sort of queerness and of anarchy. The administration of this kind of household demands trust, care, commitment, time, and energy, making living not a passive action but a political one.
“The Southern Thruway” is a video installation which addresses the living situations of young urban creative workers in a neoliberal context. The shared house, protagonist of the narrative, serves as an entry point to tackle topics such as the housing crisis, individualism and self-actualization, while also hinting to other possible ways of living. The installation tries to frame this complexity with a narrative made of personal voices, ideas, and data, attempting to hint at a revolutionary and unconventional love that can be found in the most mundane spaces.