AT HOME ANYWHERE
A project by Henrik Jan Haarink and Esther Kokmeijer
A journey to the 27 countries of the European Union.
Looking for the definition of 'Home' at the centre of gravity,
the exact heart of each country.



THE JOURNEY
Last year we made a journey to all 27 countries of the European Union for the project At home Anywhere. The name of the project in Dutch is Overal Thuis. There is no proper English translation for ‘Thuis' or ‘Heim’ in German. Which has a more specific meaning than the word home. It refers more to the feeling of home than to, the physical building itself. It’s what makes the house a home.
In each country we visited the residents of the house closest to the geographical centre, the heart of each country. There we collected information and interviewed the residents. During our stay we documented things like the favorite place in the house, how people have made their own house their home and how the architectural design influences the feeling of home.
We welcomed the fact that we were able to determine which houses we would visit beforehand because this makes the project a much less arbitrary enterprise, as we weren’t exploring a random location but the heart of each country, the heartbeat of the culture. These peolple are unique in their country and form a connection to other countries.

CALCULATION
The geographical centres of the EU Member States have been carefully calculated by het Kadaster in the Netherlands. The geographical centre is determined by calculating the average of all XY coordinates of a country. If you cut out for example France and put the flat surface on a pencil, there is just one point on which the country stays totally horizontal, the balancing point.



This project was not intended as a general study of the concept of home, but to illustrate what "home" means to people, in an interesting conceptual way in which each country of the European Union plays a role.
We wanted to know in what way the feeling of home is influenced by the location, area, street, neighborhood, city or country and culture.
By collecting the stories of the people living closest to the center of each country, we connect them to eachother. They are unique in their country and form a connection to other countries. We create unity through uniqueness and because the way of living is different in each countries, through diversity.

BOOK AND EXHIBITION
We documented the lives of the people we visited by making articles, photographs, drawings, maps and diagrams. The information we collected will be published in a book. The book will give a colorful view of the way different people in different countries of the European Union live. In addition to the book there will be an exhibition held in every country of the European Union, with an exhibition in the European Parliament being one of them.
The book and the exhibitions will contain a combination of experiences and expression of an insight into the lives of 27 European families seen through the eyes of an artist and an architect. In addition to that, the book will contain general information about all countries of the European Union. It will give people in the European Union a better idea of how their fellow European citizens in other countries live and give an insight in their culture. With the intention to create a better mutual understanding of each other's habits and rituals.

For sugestions and questions, mail to: esther@daarzijn.nl of info@haajee.com