Inside. Stavanger — Owen Pratt

Kunsthall Stavanger is proud to present Bleak House, the first exhibition in Norway by artist-duo Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings. Featuring an installation of 15 found dollhouses and a multi-channel sound piece, as well as a selection of original etchings and a video work, the exhibition highlights the relationship between architecture and the construction of identity, power dynamics and societal norms.

Photo credits: Erik Sæter Jørgensen and David Stjernholm.

Bleak House centers around the installation Inside, which consists of 15 found dollhouses, displayed on metal plinths like sculptures or museum relics. Over a century of British domestic architecture is reflected in the design of the dollhouses, with a focus on the Victorian era. Dollhouses emerged from Northern Europe in the 17th century as markers of social class. Rather than objects of imagination and play, they were originally intended for display and pedagogy. Dollhouses, or “miniature houses'', were often replicas of the owner’s own home and showcased their wealth while simultaneously instructing young girls on the upkeep of a household, including its servants. During the Industrial Revolution, mass-produced dollhouses entered the toy market, but the ideals of class, gender, and society in which the original dollhouses were rooted remained. Artist and anthropologist Louise Krasniewicz reframes dollhouses, stating that they are not just down-sized objects, but world-makers. In Miniature Manifesto, she writes that dollhouses are “not an escape from the real world but a way to engage, confront, question, critique, or consider it.”

In Inside, Quinlan & Hastings challenge the domestic ideal of the wealthy, white, western, heteronormative, single-family home. The empty dollhouses have become eerie rather than playful – a miniature ghost town – while a soundtrack animates the barren structures. Within each dollhouse, a speaker emits a looping 50-minute sound piece of found and original material by composer Owen Pratt. The sounds, at times synchronous, at times disjointed, allude to the infinite psychological potential of a house. The installation confronts our earliest indoctrinations into domestic life, and critically considers how the built environment can reinforce or re-imagine our societal expectations. Inside is accompanied by a commissioned text by artist and writer Huw Lemmey on the role of the British suburban house and its impact on feminist and queer life, and a poem by artist Rene Matić.

The exhibition at Kunsthall Stavanger reveals how societal ideals are embedded in our physical and political structures. Within the context of Stavanger, with its ongoing debates around economy, housing, historic preservation, new construction, and the increase of conservative politics, the artworks in Bleak House ask us to consider what family structures, societal goals, and political ideologies are mixed into the mortar of our surrounding architecture. The exhibition tells a history of norms and fantasies about family life, gender, power, and sexuality, and points towards joyful ways we can individually and collectively imagine an alternative future.

Curators: Hanne Mugaas and Heather Jones
Exhibition text: Heather Jones
Exhibition technicians: Matt Bryans, Owen Pratt, Leif Ole Stampa
Sound design: Owen Pratt