A House with a Voice: Young Artists Use Performance and Sculpture to Promote Safe drinking

If walls could talk, they would likely speak of untended cracks and crooked picture frames. But if a house were to talk, what might it discuss?

In "House Confessions," a new safe drinking initiative aimed at college drinking and partying, we hear from Homie the Talking House who seeks to solve his issues with alcohol consumption by asking college students for advice. By providing Homie with tips on how to refrain from consuming one too many drinks, the college students are urged to consider their own drinking choices.

"House Confessions" is a sculptural installation and performance by Chris Bradley, a recent graduate from the University of Michigan, where he originated the project this past April. To create Homie, Bradley applies a montage of video and lights to an actual house, giving it a set of eyes, a mouth, and a voice. The house is chosen from college neighborhoods that commonly host off-campus parties. On weekend nights, Bradley performs as Homie and reaches out for advice from students and young adults traveling to off-campus house parties. Listening to the students speak through a microphone set in front of the house, Bradley responds and creates the mouth and voice of Homie.

In November 2005, Bradley and his team of assistants, Homie's Homies, are planning a tour of "House Confessions" that will visit such Michigan college towns as Kalamazoo (Nov. 5th), East Lansing (Nov. 10th), and Ann Arbor (Nov. 12th).

According to Bradley, "House Confessions" is designed to encourage partygoers to contemplate their own partying and drinking habits without necessarily having to share them, placing the focus on Homie as the one who needs assistance. It is hoped this contemplation will result in conscious behavior and responsibility. "House Confessions" also provides aid, which may include water, food, and information on local organizations concerning the issues of partying and drinking.

"We hope that the project won't be seen as another authoritative figure preaching the rights and wrongs of social drinking and party-going, but rather to engage the party population from their perspective on how to handle a night of partying—and perhaps many nights of partying," Bradley said. "We believe this assertion on safe partying and drinking can be made through a student-to-student relationship, from one young adult to another."

"House Confessions" has been performed twice in Ann Arbor, with much success. Homie was able to reach out to hundreds of students during both performances. Students gave such advice as setting a limit to the amount one drinks, eating and drinking water before and while drinking alcohol, find alternate non-alcohol related activities, and try to have fun while being sober. Many students responded positively to their experience talking and listening to Homie, and continued their night a bit more alcohol conscious.