4me4you recently had the pleasure of stepping into a uniquely immersive exhibition at Hope 93 Gallery, where artist Emily Gillbanks invites viewers into Haus: Everything is a Short-Lived Experience—a poignant and deeply personal exploration of memory, identity, and the evolving meaning of “home.”
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"The way I use paint sensitizes and desensitizes economies of detail; asking how we can paint from life today when screens have become representative and vernacular accounts of vision."
At the heart of the exhibition is Haus, a suspended 3D construct reminiscent of a Puppenhaus (dollhouse), modelled after Gillbanks’ childhood home. Far more than a sculptural object, this installation transforms the viewer into a participant—a puppet within a meticulously recreated domestic stage. Built originally by her father, the house becomes both a tribute and a site of reflection, offering a rare glimpse into the artist’s working-class upbringing.
Haus straddles the old and the new, the tangible and the virtual. It reflects Gillbanks’ ambition to explore an augmented reality that feels simultaneously nostalgic and futuristic.
The exhibition delves into the contradictions embedded in the concept of “home”—the push and pull between private and public, light and dark, stability and transformation. These tensions are reminiscent of Heidegger’s idea of the “house of being,” in which the home acts as both sanctuary and stage, a place of grounding and of vulnerability.
Artist: Emily Gillbanks
