ABSTRACT
The form of domestic architecture is a palette for cultural interpretation. Artists have a keen awareness of the house as a cultural symbol and an energetic appreciation of its capacity to both express and conceal the lived experience of its inhabitants. In the artist’s hands, the house is malleable, its materiality sculptural, intriguing in its normalcy, and available for interpretation. The engagement between artists and communities extends this, enabling commentary, critique, and the exploration of a textured understanding of home. This chapter considers art projects that respond politically and culturally to housing form as an expression of a particular relationship to the notion of home. The artworks describe relationships directed by place, locality, and demographics yet available for sabotage, humor, dissent, and sometimes a publicly expressed sadness and loss.
