Nah’msayin

Invasion Art

OpinionsElysha del Giusto-Enos — Published April 9, 2013

Have you ever wondered how 20-something girls live? Care to come down the rabbit hole? Explore seven-and-a-half rooms of girly things sprawled out without care in an impromptu living-art performance, titled My Landlord is Selling the Apartment, now in its third month.

Several days a week, four young students receive ambiguously-worded texts indicating when new visits are scheduled, and often, their only warning is the ring of the doorbell before the real estate agent, followed by a group of strangers, enters their living space.

Come be amazed at how messy and un-domestic today’s young women are!

“I can’t take my shoes off in this!” said one recent visitor.

The landlords add another interesting layer to the ongoing exhibition. The audience might even come to wonder if they are protagonists or antagonists in this living artwork.

On the one hand, they offer to replace the laundry machine when it breaks, despite it not being included in the lease. But on the other, they throw out the tenants’ personal belongings by accident, and enter unannounced with half a dozen strangers in tow.

The French roommate asks, “Have you seen the green garbage?” following the recent disappearance of a recycling bin she likes to throw her cigarettes in.
No, of course not. What belongs to the tenants? What belongs to the world?

On special occasions the landlord is known to contribute his own performances. A light switch will never look the same.

“This way is ‘on.’ But if you want it off? Look… there,” he explains to one uncomfortable 20-something. “Just flick it the other way. ‘On.’ ‘Off.’ ‘On.’ ‘Off.’ Okay?”

Bravo.

No, I’m not renewing my lease.

—Elysha del Giusto-Enos