Describing Housepitality in full is an impossible task. Officially, it was a department of Elsewhere, the artist residency and “living museum” in Greensboro, North Carolina.⁶ Theoretically, Housepitality was a small-scale utopian project straddling the line of art and labor. In practice, it catalyzed virtually all social organization and interaction at Elsewhere.⁷

Housepitality comprised the maintenance of Elsewhere’s living systems. Coordinated by a “Curator,” it outlined responsibilities for housekeeping and homesteading, encompassing the kitchen, garden, residential quarters, and general spaces spanning the three-story building, which had been a mixed-thrift store in its prior life. As the name suggests, Housepitality took on both housework and hospitality work, designating the Curator as the indisputable host of visiting artists and other guests from the community, including neighbors struggling with homelessness. Like the manager of a boarding house, bed & breakfast, or hostel, the Curator of Housepitality became the centermost figure in Elsewhere’s day-to-day and night-to-night operations, from washing linens and scrubbing sinks to orchestrating public meals and skill-building workshops.

Visiting artists were not merely serviced but were expected to actively participate in their own maintenance. Each was treated as kin rather than an outsider on temporary contract, thus even the wealthiest had to cook and clean. Housepitality arranged these activities rhythmically, reserving an hour a week for collective power-cleans of the building and assigning rotating crews of residents and staff to take on weekday lunch preparation.

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[6] Elsewhere is referred to as a “museum” in order to give the visiting public a point of reference for  what they walk into. It is based in a three-story building on the south end of downtown Greensboro,  formerly the location of a mixed-thrift store, a furniture reupholstery, and military surplus outlet, among  other past businesses. The apartments on its upper floors once housed families, but as an artist residency,  they have been used as studios and sleeping quarters for visiting artists. In its earliest years—the  beginning of the twentieth century—it was also the address of a boarding house. As a “museum,”  Elsewhere classifies anything remaining from these past businesses to be of its “collection.” 

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[7] Housepitality is impossible to describe in full, because what will later be called “unvalued” labor was  most of the labor. Few images of Housepitality itself “in action” exist, as it did not often lend itself to  documentation like visual art and even classifiable social practice do—like other maintenance and care  work, much of it was “invisible,” and it was always in action. It did have moments of vivid exhibition in staged events and some short videos, but these were far and few between when compared to its everyday  activities. The images we can see reveal little to nothing of the day-to-day happenings that the stories describe.

Housepitality called regular group meetings, where residents and staff not only had chores determined but were able to discuss ideas and concerns face-to-face. Individuals had the opportunity to weigh in on community activities or address difficulties with Elsewhere’s leadership. While the institution was primarily represented here by the Curator of Housepitality, these meetings nonetheless fostered a degree of dialogue between residents and staff that simulated a dual-power politic. In its best moments, Housepitality structured a potential domestic democracy, where living systems could be directly impacted by the building’s occupants.⁸

Through a sense of shared responsibility and interdependence, maintenance labor gained a playful flavor. Post-meal cleanup became less a slog and more of a celebration, a time for singing, dancing, and discussion as well as washing dishes and mopping floors. The context of the arts space turned everyday work into an ongoing performance. Solitary meals spontaneously became collective cooking parties. A spirit of collaboration transformed individual activities into group efforts, and for a time, this seemed to permeate the social fabric in and around Elsewhere. The work of maintaining life in the building shifted from undesirable necessity to a playful thread of art and labor that informed every installation, every project, every action.

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[8] Housepitality was not a true direct democracy, but it simulated such a system. Residents had direct  impact on day-to-day happenings, from working hands-on with the “collection” and helping to maintain  the building’s living systems to participating in the forum of regular meetings, but this direct impact did  not extend to Elsewhere’s administration, which remains highly exclusive and bureaucratic. The point is  that Housepitality, with all its limitations, at least modeled how a ground-level direct democracy could function.

Fig. 8: Emily Ensminger, Thirty flavors of infused vodka, 2012 [still from “Spirit. As you like it.”]

Inasmuch as people lived there, Elsewhere acted as a temporary commune. Each visiting artist and new staff member had to acclimate to life in a century-old building with a motley crew from widely ranging backgrounds. Fresh batches of residents replaced an outgoing group on a monthly basis. Learning to live with a bunch of strangers was a recurring demand.

We could imagine Elsewhere “functioning” like a student punk house in earlier years—the desire for an alternative lifestyle was more an act of self-righteousness than revolution. Housepitality pulled away from the parochial lifestylism, instead designing a set of pedagogical community guidelines. Elsewhere the playhouse was reformed as Elsewhere the kibbutz, the civic center, the utopian experiment.⁹ Housepitality presented a practical methodology, a precise toolkit for others to use in organizing communal projects beyond the walls of Elsewhere.


Fig. 9: Emily Ensminger’s collection of fabric scraps from Elsewhere, 2012