Man and beast in time and space

Today I met with El to discuss the possible restaging of Self Contained Spaces.  We talked a bit about funding and further development, but then the conversation shifted to how we live in spaces.  When El first concieved this project, she came at it from the perspective of design led performance.  It is an interesting concept, and one I probably don't really have my head around, but within in my limited understanding, it started me thinking about our relationships to space as human beings in general.

In theatre, the general approach is to develop a concept, start rehearsals, refine the ideas and then come up with an integrated performance whole (or that is the aim, at least).  Is that really what the human experience is though?  Except for the privileged few, do we really get to create and/or adapt the spaces in which we live our lives in any significant way?  I am thinking about school, work, the places we live and play and visit.  Or is it more true to say that we arrive in those spaces and adapt to them, and possibly just manage some small inroads into making them a bit more comfortable - stick up some pictures, hang curtains, paint a wall for example?

Self Contained Spaces was inspired by a story which came out of the USA.  A woman chose to live in her bathroom for two years, and eventually her skin moulded around the toilet seat.  We explored what the experience of choosing to do that is, and what it is to grow into your environment - and somehow OUT of being human.  This is a level of commitment that we generally don't choose to make.  Or do we have the choice?  Our lives are more like a determined negotiation between life tasks, personal aesthetics, and spatial practicalities - all overwritten by fiscal potential.  Perhaps that is the line we draw in the sand?  We will go so far to fit into the finite potential of the space, but to do this we must adapt the environment to comfort ourselves into thinking this is good enough, or close enough for now.

In some ways I find this quite an inspiring idea.  We are evidently a practical species with an unstoppable urge to express an aesthetic.  People often ponder what distinguishes man from beast and the arguments are long and tedious.  Perhaps the answer is as simple as that we need aesthetics to get through life?