Two dwellings, one home? Immersion in the experiences of children in shared physical custody

https://visite-virtuelle.uclouvain.be/expos/deux_maisons-un_chez_soi

MobileKids is a project funded by the European Research Council and carried out by a team of sociologists from the Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur les Familles et les Sexualités (Cirfase, UCLouvain) under the direction of prof. Laura Merla. The project aims to understand the experiences of children growing up in separated and/or divorced families in the EU who have opted for a shared physical custody arrangement (SPC).

The exhibition draws on the section of this research devoted to the sense of ‘home’ of children in SPC in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. The findings were presented to interior architecture students from La Cambre, who used them to create a series of installations. These installations allow visitors, whether children, parents, scientists or professionals, to experience the everyday lives of children who alternate between two dwellings, by immersing themselves in visual and sensory experiences inspired by the children’s stories. More broadly, the exhibition raises questions about the meaning of ‘home’ for children in the context of contemporary family structures, including nuclear, divorced, reconstituted, and transnational forms.

The online exhibition is available in 5 languages.