Watertight

Over the past 50 years, the number of people in the average household has fallen drastically. For the first time in the history of the Western world, the one-person household has become the dominant mode of living. In Manhattan, New York City’s most densely populated borough, more than half of all homes have a single occupant. For their installation Watertight, artists Ziv Schneider and Caitlin Robinson selected 12 New Yorkers who live alone for different reasons, and documented them and their home interiors with a portable 3D scanner. They then used the Skanect software’s "watertight" function and a 3D printer to create a series of miniature portraits—egg-shaped sculptures the size of a hand. They show the homes as capsules that reflect the identity of their inhabitants, and are also reminiscent of the protective shells of hermit crabs. The series of portraits offers a cross-section of a contemporary demographic phenomenon—a form of present-day archeology.