Esther Kokmeijer

AT HOME ANYWHERE
A project by Esther Kokmeijer and Henrik Jan Haarink
 
The goal of this project is to explore what the concept of ‘home’ means to people from all countries of the European Union. It will be interesting to note the diversity and similarities, especially now that Europe is fast on its way of becoming a unified whole. We will do so by visiting the people living at the exact center of each country. The project “At home anywhere” is a way to link the countries of the European Union and to give people an idea of how their fellow-European citizens live. With this project we will illustrate ‘the feeling of home in Europe.’ We want a broad audience to reflect on the “dwell-rituals” and habits of people in other countries, to establish a better mutual understanding of each other’s culture and tradition.
By visiting the people, living closest to the exact center, the heart of these countries and putting their stories together we connect them to each other. By ‘giving’ people the center of gravity they become unique in their country and form a connection to other countries. We create unity through uniqueness and, since the way of living of people in all countries will be different, through diversity.

The centers of gravity of the EU-member-states are calculated by Het Kadaster, the land measuring authority in The Netherlands. The geographical center is the average XY coordinate of a country. So these points are, on average, the furthest away from the borders of a country. Therefore we state that this spot is least affected by foreign influences, the most pure, the heartbeat of that culture.
The book and exhibitions in several countries that we will produce about this project will contain a combination of expression of experiences, analysis of the culture of dwelling and an insight in the life of 30 European families. The book will be finished in December 2009 with the exhibitions starting at the beginning of 2010.
The project is well under way and our trip will be finished at the end of July 2009. During this trip we travel with our own mobile home, a Fiat 238 camper van, built in 1975.
 
For more information about the project, please visit www.athomeanywhere.eu and leave your email address to stay up to date. For questions, suggestions or comments please contact us at: esther@daarzijn.nl or overalthuis@haajee.com