New art residency explores what Home means now since the advent of Covid-19

As Steve Ali eloquently states, the pandemic ‘has made us all refugees in our homes’ with them becoming the site for everything in our lives (office, studio, social space, school, maker space, cafe, restaurant, theatre, dance studio, gym, cinema and much more).

The second project as part of Janine’s PhD in New Media and Curation at Sunderland University this residency, expands on the repetition of the word ‘home’ featuring in the participatory aspects of the Seeding Art Currency project, which was the final project at The Art Hostel on Kirkgate.

As a member of the Worldpackers network the Art Hostel provided a local/global community, in which to invite residents to co-create an installation in the Art Hostel. By posting responses to an online map The World of Forms, a (painted-mural of an abstract world-map) by Bobbi Rae (above) subtly changed over the duration of six weeks, with the gradual addition of real seeds (in the mural) and map pins (online).   

Home now resonates with many because of the C-19 crisis, as it’s become the site for everything. The next project will ask people to reflect on what ‘Home’ means in the post pandemic world. We will be asking participants to respond on social media throughout the residency using the hashtag #WhatDoesHomeMeanNow