I was supposed to be working on something completely different. When that didn’t work out, the idea for this project came from totally behind a tree, as we say in Finland. To be completely honest, I can’t think of almost anything more exiting and rewarding than travelling in a strange environment, meeting new people and learning about how they have organised their lives.
I am drawn to exploring alternative ways of creating one’s life. I have been fascinated by human communities for years on a personal and professional level. Living as a part of a larger pack or herd was reality for most humans (and animals) for thousands of years. For a long time human communities were prerequisite for survival; they offered shelter and resources otherwise inaccessible to an individual. Although we don’t really need communities for practical reasons anymore, a substantial number of people still choose to share their everyday life with several other, non-related people. They live for example in a kibbutz, monastery, ashram, some sort of commune or eco-village.
The aims were:
1. To find out what makes a person share his or her everyday life with several, originally unknown people.
2. To find out what is it like to live in a community and if it is possible to detect an universal thread though personal experiences in various communities.
3. To operate as a connective agent, to transmit information about communities to anyone interested and from one community to another.
4. To produce a work of art that could generate discussion, inspire people and disperse possible prejudices.