A reluctant, lazy and indecisive video story about
getting along with someone you can't move away from.
Dear Roommates is a film meant to be
watched alone, in the dark. When the artist was a young child,
hir* parents would take hir to the supermarket, to be bored. The only entertainment was a small ‘box
cinema’,
(a top class invention compared to the mechanical animals or ‘space
ships’ that usually inhabit the entrances of Swedish supermarkets)
which si* would squeeze hirself into, draw the curtain
and then watch five minutes cartoons. The bliss of watching something without being watched
hirself is something that si would like to offer
to the spectator, thus the film is shown in the gallery's smallest
space.
There is hopefully nothing claustrophobic
about this environment -it contains a lamp and a cosy chair
(well slightly more comfortable than a regular chair anyway,
or at least it's meant to be -it’s the thought that counts!) Naturally,
it's impossible for the artist to stop visitors from invading
the space in groups of two or three, however uncomfortable
that may seem. The benefits of this would be to not have to
wait, which would be the equivalent of a cheaper rent. So,
there! It's up to you. Uncomfortable company or (relatively)
cosy solitude - what do you choose?
*si and hir = gender neutral pronouns(actually the wikipedia version is "sie" but I prefer to skip the "e")