A PROJECT BY JACK WAGHORN

How can the genre of horror depict the realities of the imbalance between the social and private housing market?

Psychic Medium Performs Exorcism on Visible Hand is a short film that uses the genre of horror to depict a story of social housing haunted by the free-market. The project translates a body of research into the current state of social housing and uses horror as a methodology to interpret that research. The stories told in horror can be allegorical and can tap into a truth in their subject matter, containing within them metaphor and symbolism of a neurosis or even a contemporary feeling or social issue. Right now Europe has a housing crisis and Jack Waghorn believes that this needs to be addressed. His film centres around the context of the Dutch housing market, where housing associations are meant to carry out state operations social benefit. Although the Dutch social housing sector appears relatively healthy, housing policy in the Netherlands is failing to provide a portion of mid-income households affordable housing. The imbalance in the social and private markets, negatively affects social mobility and are direct causes of inequality. At the centre of this horror story is a household that is made to confront this market instability and are being haunted by its consequences. The internal horrors of the characters are manifested through psychological conflicts caused by the anxieties of social stagnation. And the explicit physical horrors are played out through a poltergeist that acts as a metaphor for the free-market forces. The clashing of this research with the chosen genre of horror, allows for hyper-stylised art direction, uncanny symbolism, real characters and a spooky soundtrack. The aim being to communicate a body of research to policy makers and politicians, and to provide reflection and new insights to the conversation on social housing reform.

View the short film here!