14 DAY TRIAL // Two New York City artists have initiated an unusual project which sees them living on a giant hamster wheel in Brooklyn for ten days.
Ward Shelley, 63, and Alex Schweder, 43, are currently living in a circular residence complete with bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom, installed inside a Brooklyn gallery as part of their performance titled “In Orbit.”
Apparently, the 25-foot (7.62-meter) tall wheel gives them the necessary comfort to live, eat and sleep there, as it is equipped with all they need: beds, chairs, desks, lamp, kitchen, fridge and toilet. All the furniture is fastened to the wheel.
The aim of this experiment is to show people's interdependence and prove that human cooperation is very important in our daily routine.
As explained by the Gothamist, the pair has to coordinate their every movement while living on this huge wooden hamster wheel and they are walking in opposite directions at a slow, measured pace for safety reasons. One wrong move would cause a disequilibrium and they could be thrown off.
The two artists sit at opposite ends of the wheel, 180 degrees from each other, and when one moves, the other has to move too, but in the opposite direction.
Mr. Shelley is living on the top of the wheel, while Mr. Schweder is living inside of its curve. Their new “homes” have been set up in alignment, and they have to carefully match and balance their movements to remain safe. This is an incredible experience which will certainly strengthen their nearly ten-year friendship.
“It's really an exploration of what it means to collaborate. It's an exploration of trust between two people,” Schweder said from the inside of the wheel, according to Yahoo News.
“Sleeping is a kind of refuge,” Shelley added. “There's psychological pressure here being in this thing so when you get to sleep it's easy to stay there.”
The giant steel-and-wood structure has been built by the artists themselves and shows Mr. Schweder’s abilities as a trained architect. The three-story hamster wheel is 60 feet (18,28 meters) in circumference and took four weeks to construct.
Their live performance runs through Sunday at Williamsburg's The Boiler gallery and it's an interactive one. Gallery-goers can admire their work and ask them questions. They also seem eager to show their audience the wheel in motion, but only for a few seconds at a time.
Ward Shelley and Alex Schweder met at the American Academy of Rome in 2005 and have become friends. They have worked together ever since, and now they are part of a small performance-based collective that includes four other artists.