home sweet home is a unique and communal art exhibit that is the creative collaboration of Lucy Hayhoe and Abigail Conway, two women who met at Goldsmiths College in Drama and Theatre Arts in London and together founded the British theater company Subject to_change. Visitors are encouraged not just to marvel at the intricate and complex designs others have made but also to think outside the box themselves and design and build their own structure, be it a coffee shop, dry cleaners, day care center or home on a small scale.

home sweet home is a micro level of regular city planning without the hassle of building permits and codes, and it also boasts the same conveniences most small cities have with a town hall, a radio station and a local city council that invites those within the community to interact with each other. Guests to this installation are given creative license to help start a city in which the streets and basic utilities are already in place; the only missing pieces are structures and citizens. Guests are encouraged to create dwellings and public buildings that help give the fledgling city shape. A communal effort is needed to achieve harmony within this quasi-dollhouse community. On Sept. 30, there is a Town Hall to provide a forum to discuss neighborhood issues and help guide the local town council.

After the exhibit ends, the creator/neighbor is allowed to take their structure home as a trophy of sorts. A videographer will film the progression of the development, and the footage will be shown at the closing night’s block party on Oct. 3.



Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. For more information, visit skirball.org.