Concierge
For this project, a collaboration with CC Strombeek, a foldable housing unit was attached to the back of a public Clearchannel billboard. The space had a bed and a kitchenette and for about four months, Mia, a homeless woman with an educational background, lived in this simple living quarter. By simply tilting the upright flat façade of the billboard, Philips created a real physical space behind the fictional advertisement. The choice of location also shed some light on the broader concept of real estate and the attribution of economic value to land. In Philips’ future projects, formulating some sort of practical hypothesis based on an interaction between reality and fiction will become a fundamental principle. Partly due to the media attention for this project, Mia was admitted for social housing but moved out three months later.
Homeless Shelter, site-specific installation, mixed media, Strombeek Bever, BE / Berlin, DE