Roommates
The idea of several people sharing an apartment for financial reasons has existed since the 19th century. Then, in the 1960s, there was a big upsurge in shared apartments and communes – especially in the student milieu. This has not changed until today. With increasing rents in European cities, shared flats are more popular than ever. That’s not only for lifestyle reasons, but mainly because shared living is the only affordable option for people in their 20s. But what is it that we actually share?
Shared or communal living doesn't just mean sharing the same rooms. You shower in the same shower, look in the same mirror, sit on the same toilet and drink from the same tap. Of course, there is a "yours" and a "mine", but all too often the boundaries disappear. And most of the time, shared housing is what follows after living with parents.
Out of the parental home, which, let's be honest, was not only ‘hotel mum and dad’, but an arena for intergenerational arguments, noisy justifications and irrational outbursts of rage – into independent adulthood. Since our ideas of adulthood are as diverse as the different styles of upbringing we enjoyed in our parents' homes, it quickly becomes clear that living together with quasi-strangers is likely to bring one or two challenges. Starting with individual cleanliness, to the volume of music, to the furnishing of the rooms used in common (to name only the most obvious points here). If you want, you can find potential for conflict everywhere.
After all, a shared flat is one thing for everyone involved: home.
And shouldn’t home be all that you want it to be? The place where you can be loud late into the night…? - "Can you please turn it down a bit, I'd like to sleep"; where you can drop everything because you could only make it to bed with difficulty…?- "Dude, I just tidied up yesterday!"; the place where you can just be, sit in your ugliest clothes, unshowered and full of…? "My parents are coming to visit soon." – Haha, forget it! Shared housing equals compromise and communication. But also control: of the cleaning schedule, of the sound volume, of the integrity of the property.
Living with people you didn't grow up with is just as challenging as living with people you did grow up with. This is because every single person brings their own personal ideas, expectations and wishes with them. If you can live with that, a shared flat can become a true paradise and feel like home. That’s because there will almost always be someone around, because you can always ask for help, because you can spend the nights together being noisy and the only obstacle is the neighbour, because someone cares when you don't come home and because you have the unique opportunity to get to know people as their most intimate and private selves. And in the best possible case, it can even feel like a family.
In 2017 the artist Sophie Allerding took portraits of roommates in their shared apartments. In the majority of the pictures, the people portrayed look directly into the camera, like in traditional family portraits. The photographs look staged and in each image, the subjects seem to have been interrupted during their daily routine. As every person has a very specific position, the viewer immediately begins to discern possible relationships and hierarchies between them. The objects seem to not only interact with each other but also with their surroundings.
