Sensible Housing Unit (SHU)
SENSIBLE HOUSING UNIT
On-going \ Started on 06.2008
The Sensible Housing Unit (SHU) is a portable prototype unit to function as an object for tactical self-expression and participatory actions as well as an educational tool to address Solitary Confinement as is implemented by the USA Prison Bureau under the Judicial System. This project can be lend to but not limited to families, friends, activist and organizations who have witnessed the psychological and physical violence inflicted upon them or their loved ones in super maximum security prisons.
[Photograph displays the Sensible housing Unit and its brochure. (A fabric bag measuring 18 in. length and 7 in. diameter and the inside containing a fabric prototype replica of a Prison Cell of 6ft x 8 Ft.; Full color brochure of 8.5” x 11” inches.)]
|————–> Chronology from Most Recent Versions of the SHU:
03.30.09 – SHU v.4 @ the University of San Francisco
02.20.09-03.27.09 – SHU v.3 @ Future Landscapes Designed by Women / Mission Cultural Center for the Latino Art, San Francisco – CA
Through stories, and rendering the space as a store, the (SHU) Sensible Housing Unit, is a fabric replica of a prison cell and a project that explores literal and abstract stories about prison’s “segregation housing units”, “control units” or “supermax”. Much like a product display, the society merges facts with a visual language to engage audiences with the Sensible Housing Unit and share an understanding about solitary confinement. Also, during the opening and through the length of the exhibition, the society performed a series of actions responding to the issue at hand.
02.24.09 - Here are few details from the intallation at MCCLA – photos by Mark McBeth taken during the opening reception:
02.20.2009 – The Sensible Housing Unit – 1st installation will be inaugurated at the Solo Mujeres.
>> CLICK HERE to access announcement and address of the event
01.20.09 - Axel Herrera (sound artist) and Fiona Glas (support artist) joins with Mabel to help develop the installation at MCCLA.
01.15.2009 – Proposal to create an installation containing the SHU was accepted by the Solo Mujeres Exhibition: Future Landscapes Designed by Women .
>> CLICK HERE TO SEE PDF – Proposal for MCCLA from TCNS – 01.2009
12.2008 – Designed the Brochure for the SHU.
08.04.2008 – The society organizes the public event “Subliminal Sketches of a SHU” as part of the Mission Arts and Performance Project, San Francisco. Production team: Mabel Negrete, Alli Spector, Victoria Reslter, and Marguerite Davenport.
07.2008 – I tried the SHU at the Golden Gate Park:
05.2008-07.2008 – During these months I built the prototype of the Sensible Housing Unit.