Dirk Hardy

In a secluded, moonlit grotto, a microcosm unfolds. Light prickles the damp darkness as nascent stars descend. Here, in this world of celestial wonder, we witness the genesis of a life. Yet, this constructed Eden in Echo Down the Passage, born in Dirk Hardy's studio, is a pervasive illusion. Every leaf, every tendril, every seemingly organic detail is crafted from plastic. Beneath the surface of our individual experiences, a cosmic rhythm beats. Vivarium Episode 12 and 13 stand as counterparts, visual testaments to the eternal dance of energy—never created nor destroyed, but merely transformed. In a way, we are all cosmic heirs, carriers of stardust.

Within a green sanctuary where life flourishes, a child gently drifts into a peaceful dream. This wondrous world, Echo Down the Passage (part 2), stands as a testament to the invisible bonds connecting generations. Overflowing with a father's love, Hardy captured his newborn son in a verdant cradle of green, simultaneously marking the age at which his own older brother had passed away. Beneath the surface of our individual experiences, a cosmic rhythm beats. Vivarium Episode 12 and 13 stand as counterparts, visual testaments to the eternal dance of energy—never created nor destroyed, but merely transformed. In a way, we are all cosmic heirs, carriers of stardust.

Installation view Noorderlicht International Photo Festival, Groningen, 2023

Installation view, UNSEEN Art and Photography Fair, Amsterdam, 2023

A Flat Earth logo and compass adorn Red Pill Roy's combat vest. This online missionary seems convinced that battle is coming. The red light illuminating his broadcasting bunker suggest sooner rather than later. Episode 11 is a fusion of three individual subjects: neotribalism, the echo chamber (which may increase social and political polarisation and even extremism) and fatherhood - which was on the horizon for Hardy while working on this Episode. In an increasingly complex and post-truth world, individuals crave meaning and purpose. Accompanied by like-minded souls we find online, we adopt a simplified, singular, and sometimes radical, belief system that helps navigate through everyday turmoil. Belief systems are passed down from generation to generation. But if you let it, a child can (re)shape your worldview. Out of his father's sight, a 5-year-old dinosaur fan fills a new galaxy with bubbles. As he observes this wondrous spectacle, he playfully debunks his father’s Flat Earth ideology and offers the viewer a sign of hope: after all, the laws of physics that determine the perfect spherical shape of a bubble also determine the shape of planets and stars.

She was raised online, nurtured by social networks, and when the time was right she irreversibly popped into offline existence with an explosion of colours and flavours. After countless waves of battles against oppressing forces, The Bubble Queen unchained herself to reclaim her bodily autonomy and right of self-determination. Or so the legend goes…

Buy a bag, rent a bike, and download the app. Welcome to Speat. Now you can earn quick cash by delivering the fresh food orders that people crave - all while cruising around your favourite town. Grab your bike and clock in whenever you want - for an hour, a weekend, or throughout the week. You are now your own boss. Between picking up and dropping off deliveries, it’s just you and the road. So, bump your music, enjoy the outdoors, and deliver with Speat! While some self-employed delivery riders enjoy the freedom this job offers, many others are stuck in system that lacks a safety net. In between deliveries they are waiting. Unpaid. Either for a new order, or for a meal to be prepared. Like ants, they race to drop off their ‘free-delivery’ meals on time. But what’s the actual take-away?

The Vivarium Self-portraits give the viewer a glimpse into Dirk Hardy’s meticulously constructed worlds and into his working method. They are rooted in Hardy's urge to put himself in the subject's shoes - to understand and empathize with his characters.

Artikel NRC. 29 november 2022. By Rianne van Dijck.

October 2022 - January 2023 Konstanz, Germany.

Episode 8, The Wheel, is set in Liverpool starring a 65-year-old chain-smoking couple. To take a ride in their carousel is to hop on life’s merry-go-round; to encounter the passage of time from which no one can escape. Although time defines our lives, we are unable to see, hear, or touch it, let alone stop it. Every year, while blowing out the candles on our birthday cake, we are reminded of our own mortality. Time will tell how many orbits we get to waltz around the sun. Meanwhile, the carousel turns and we keep the seat warm for the next in line.

The Vivarium Self-portraits give the viewer a glimpse into Dirk Hardy’s meticulously constructed worlds and into his working method. They are rooted in Hardy's urge to put himself in the subject's shoes - to understand and empathize with his characters.

More real than reality: Dirk Hardy’s hyperrealism. By Jeroen Bos. 21 October 2021.

More real than reality: Dirk Hardy’s hyperrealism. By Jeroen Bos. 21 October 2021.

More real than reality: Dirk Hardy’s hyperrealism. By Jeroen Bos. 21 October 2021.

The Vivarium Self-portraits give the viewer a glimpse into Dirk Hardy’s meticulously constructed worlds and into his working method. They are rooted in Hardy's urge to put himself in the subject's shoes - to understand and empathize with his characters.

In 2020, when the world went into lockdown, human life came to an overwhelming halt. In this self-portrait Hardy is homebound to his space capsule - accompanied by a snail. Floating through a vacuum where time and space are warped, compressed and stretched. Craving for a dot on the horizon while the days pass by on the other side of the window. Destination unknown. Intermission commemorates the trauma we collectively share, but had to endure alone.

On November 11 2018, 26-year-old African American security guard Jemel Roberson was on duty at a bar in Robbins, Illinois, U.S., when four people were shot. After Roberson subdued and pinned the shooter to the ground, he himself was shot and killed by a white police officer arriving at the scene, wrongly mistaking Roberson for the shooter. Vivarium, Episode 6, On Guard depicts an alternative history in which the protagonist - Canadian philosophy student by day, On Guard by night - survives, and is empowered to question the everyday realities of our Social Contract; how can we initiate change? Episode 6 exists in-between fiction and reality: Upon scanning the QR-code on the guard’s badge, we are confronted with the internet’s search result on Jemel Roberson’s death.

The Vivarium Self-portraits give the viewer a glimpse into Dirk Hardy’s meticulously constructed worlds and into his working method. They are rooted in Hardy's urge to put himself in the subject's shoes - to understand and empathize with his characters.

The Vivarium Self-portraits give the viewer a glimpse into Dirk Hardy’s meticulously constructed worlds and into his working method. They are rooted in Hardy's urge to put himself in the subject's shoes - to understand and empathize with his characters.

Vivarium is the collective name for terrariums, aquariums and other recreated ecosystems in which animals are kept for observation. In Hardy's Vivarium, an ongoing project that he started in 2018, it is precisely people who, lost in thought, are on display. Each tableau, or Episode, has its own theme and is like a cryptogram that shows its true nature when you decipher the code. For example, Episode 3 confronts us with the glorification of the Dutch colonial past by means of a ticket office for the VOC Swing Ship 'De Achilles'. Vivarium is nominated for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2021 and will be launched at the York Art Gallery, UK. The exhibition will run from May 28 through September 5 2021.

Vivarium is the collective name for terrariums, aquariums and other recreated ecosystems in which animals are kept for observation. In Hardy's Vivarium, an ongoing project that he started in 2018, it is precisely people who, lost in thought, are on display. Each tableau, or Episode, has its own theme and is like a cryptogram that shows its true nature when you decipher the code. For example, Episode 3 confronts us with the glorification of the Dutch colonial past by means of a ticket office for the VOC Swing Ship 'De Achilles'. Vivarium is nominated for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2021 and will be launched at the York Art Gallery, UK. The exhibition will run from May 28 through September 5 2021.

The Vivarium Self-portraits give the viewer a glimpse into Dirk Hardy’s meticulously constructed worlds and into his working method. They are rooted in Hardy's urge to put himself in the subject's shoes - to understand and empathize with his characters.

Photo Basel New York City counts sixty thousand elevators. Together, these elevators make eleven billion trips a year, which comes down to thirty million trips a day. At this moment, over twenty thousand invisible moments are about to be lost in time and space.

A study in the aesthetics of power and leadership through time revealed a submerged pattern of interchangeable similarities, techniques and visual elements used to convey an ideology. By deconstructing this language, Clay exposes its artificial nature.

A study in the aesthetics of power and leadership through time revealed a submerged pattern of interchangeable similarities, techniques and visual elements used to convey an ideology. By deconstructing this language, Clay exposes its artificial nature.

A study in the aesthetics of power and leadership through time revealed a submerged pattern of interchangeable similarities, techniques and visual elements used to convey an ideology. By deconstructing this language, Clay exposes its artificial nature.

A study in the aesthetics of power and leadership through time revealed a submerged pattern of interchangeable similarities, techniques and visual elements used to convey an ideology. By deconstructing this language, Clay exposes its artificial nature.

A study in the aesthetics of power and leadership through time revealed a submerged pattern of interchangeable similarities, techniques and visual elements used to convey an ideology. By deconstructing this language, Clay exposes its artificial nature.

A study in the aesthetics of power and leadership through time revealed a submerged pattern of interchangeable similarities, techniques and visual elements used to convey an ideology. By deconstructing this language, Clay exposes its artificial nature.