This is my border this is my space

Authors: Liza Koch and Lou Muuse

Consider how many doors do you have to pass from the street till you get to your bedroom? Every door is an opening to a different space; it’s one step closer to your most private area: your bed.

During our project in the minor Cultural Diversity, we have visualized the territorial behaviour from the front yard till the bunk bed. We came up with six different income categories by defining their private border. Most of the time the size of your private space is associated with affluence. The less financial resources you have, the less space you have. The space you have is divided into different zones leading to the ultimate private spot: the bed.

The need for privacy is universal yet individually diverse. And over the years much has changed in how people interact with space. Today, in western culture, the bathroom and toilet are an intimate place, but this wasn’t always the case. Also in other cultures these spaces can be experienced as less intimate. In contradiction to the toilet and bathroom; the sleeping area has never changed in terms of intimacy. The sexual meaning has always been the same and therefore this space is always shielded, visible or invisible. The most effective way to create some kind of privacy is to obscure the view. Visibility can be deprived with very primitive means, for example pulling a blanket over your head or hang a cloth, curtain. For this project we've been breaking through (different amounts of) boundaries and photographed the individuals in the most intimate place of their residence, the bed.