Real Estate: the Rent Stress Survey

Abstract

'Real Estate: the Rent Stress Survey' is a spoken essay that takes the form of a telephone survey. The work in the gallery is installed as a working telephone, a digital video that promotes the survey, and a flyer for distributing information about the phone survey. This work builds on previous research into the amount of rent paid by art institutions and cultural workers, which we pursued through an online Real Estate Survey. Building on one finding, that 82% of individual respondents were living with housing stress, this edition of the survey moves from web to telephone in order to probe callers for more about their individual experience with stress and how it might be collectivised. A video animation detourns online real estate listings and websites of cultural institutions to promote the survey and raise awareness about rental stress.