HomeBase’s objectives are to seek out buildings in neighbourhoods undergoing changes and integrate contemporary art into the everyday local experience, opening up the role of art as an educational tool for cross-cultural dialog, social integration, and community cultivation. The topic of “home” as the basis of this inquiry is a universal theme that engages all populations – artists, local residents of all ages, ethnicity’s, social and cultural background and social status, and is explored through a diverse array of lenses. Through this process walls of alienation melt down and a new cultural and human understanding of ‘other’ is enabled. The HomeBase template consists of the following three phases:
- Residency & Research – Artists and HomeBase team members participate in an Artist-in Residency program that includes group dinners and education workshops with invited guest lecturers that are intended to stimulate the exploration of home in relation to the site, addressing issues related to the history of the neighborhood, the architecture of the building, and cultural notions of home. During the residency, the artists are assigned their own room in which to create their individual work of art;
- Public Program – After the residency HomeBase opens it’s doors free to the public. Viewers are invited to view numerous art rooms, as well as experience a full range of interactive cultural programming including lectures, workshops, performances, events, parties, game playing and open mic sessions around the notion of home, featuring guest artists, neighbors and partnering organizations.
- Documentation – The process of building the HomeBase project is documented from start to finish and includes collaborative efforts and logistics of the artistic team, group dynamics, the individual creative processes of the artists, and the interaction with the neighborhood, art community and public.
