Following on from the Gingerbread house experiments I’ve looked again at the concept. Firstly, why gingerbread? originally it was because i had a gingerbread house kit as my ready-made starting point, and i found the idea of it as a symbol of luxury to the point of fault, and the longing for something better regardless of it’s lack of practicality (like Cinderellas glass slippers) rather pleasing. I didn’t have much luck with the ready made, and even less luck with my own attempts, so I started thinking of other ways to express the idea.

This led me onto dolls houses, and the power of Rachel Whitereads Place (village)

This also reminded me of the oddness when you walk down a dark street where the curtains are open on the houses, and the compulsion to stare into these strangers living rooms and watch their TVs. Sometimes you can follow popular programs all the way down the street, and it’s an irresistible feeling of voyeurism – you know you shouldn’t, but it’s compelling.

After looking at dolls houses i began looking at model railway kits, finding some scale models for creating streets. I decided on a mock-tudor gabled semi detached kit, as that was the closest to the type of house i grew up in (in fact it was the same type of house as in the ‘nice’ area of where i lived) plus the floorplan was the same size as the screen of the dvd player:

There was still something troublingly unfinished about it though – the idea is not so much too straightforward, but too unrefined. The content of the dvd player is now paramount to the success of the piece, as I discovered when i tried the installation with ‘Shrek’ and ‘Kids’. ‘Kids’ was a lot more powerful:

So now I’m extending the idea into the semi-detached cinema, and thinking of features to present within the house. The list currently includes Kids, Freaks, The Seventh Continent and 50 years of Coronation Street greats! Check back for future developments.

Vix