The interaction between personal space and personalty.
The work challenges the viewer to explore the personality of living spaces.
In the installation “Private Space”, Hendrix suggests that one’s personal space can become a window into one’s identity, and the identity of a space causes us to personify the room itself. It was important that the space reflect the character of a specific individual as much as possible in order to keep the integrity of the piece. It could not be an imagined space of an invented individual, so Hendrix constructed a room inspired by the stories and images of Joe Franklin's notorious hollywood office. Mr Franklin was a man of considerable character and his cluttered office was iconic of his eccentric personality. Mr Franklin was chosen as the inspiration for the space in part for the amazing richness of images of his office from which she would create a true representation. The other reason for her choice of spaces to emulate was because the viewers would not likely recognize the the specific connection to franklin as they might if she had selected someone more familiar such as Marilyn Monroe. It was a struggle to select someone who would not add unintended content to the piece.
The work challenges the viewer to explore the specific qualities persona communicated through the cluttered little space. Markers were left around the installation for the full duration of it's mounting; this was an effort to allow the public to interact with the space behind glass and in so doing become part of the piece. Hendrix called this part of the work “Collaboration with strangers”. This secondary element was added as a way to further reinforce the viewer’s internal desire to personify the little room. Not only did it have a personality, you could speak to it, influence it and as the contributers scrolled their messages on the glass over the months the piece could grow as well.
In Malcolm Gladwell's book ,he makes reference to an experiment which touches on the overall thesis behind “Private Space”. It turns out that college students who spend 15 minutes in another student's dorm room give more accurate personality ratings of that student's conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience than that student's close friends. Gladwell uses the experiment to discuss thin-slicing, how ever for Hendrix it’s an wonderful parallel to effect she was able to create with her piece.
”An environment is more than the space around us” says Hendrix “It’s every detail coming together, giving a space its final identity. A gut feeling about the people who might live there. That is what we mean when we say environment”
December 5th, 2008
It took 12 hours to properly document 122 quotes, comments and drawing. Taking care to read and appreciate each message and attempting to unravel the web of unique thoughts and personalities that had now become part of the piece.
The cluttered feeling of the space inside had exploded onto the glass which surrounded it. Marker messages and finger prints obscured the view of the original work inside and brought to mind the many structures I’d seen covered in commentary and artwork by random anonymous individuals; our local subways, the downtown alleys in Vancouver, the sections of the Berlin Wall I’d seen when I was in Nova Scotia. I realized that my work had taken on new and unexpected properties, and I allowed myself to take it all in.
