The perfect home. An extension of self. An expression to another. The pursuit of an ideal. Living the dream or perhaps the illusion. Whether we have it or not, we are all under the influence of dominant ideals, economic realities, and desirable post codes.

Discord is a 40 minute multi sensory experience for 3 people at a time exploring the discord between home as a vessel for memories and dreams, and home as a financial instrument for capital gain.

Moving through an embodied soundscape, participants are invited to reflect on the power structures that shape Britain’s relationship with the notion of home ownership. Who is really setting the agenda of domestic and economic perfection? Are you living the dream or the Discord?

I was commissioned by the artist Caitlin Shepherd to work closely with her, music producer Typesun and interaction specialist Tarim, to create a multi-room interactive set that would house the real stories of different people’s experiences of “home”. We took the route of docu-fiction, trying to truthfully represent three very different types of homes, and using the environment to question whether one person’s experience of home is any more valuable than the other. The rooms are accessed via a dark disorientating corridor, which contains audio facts about the economic policies that have shaped the British housing market in the last fifty years.

The project was conceived by Caitlin Shepherd, social policy researcher James Wood and Director of Sound and Music  Victoria Johnson and built by Dan Halahan and Ben Dusserres-Robinson.

The installation was commissioned by Kings Cultural Institute for Utopia 2016 and funded by the Arts Council. Discord was exhibited for 6 weeks as part of the Paths to Utopia Exhibition Kings College London, September 2016.