An artist has moved into a converted skip as a statement against the rising cost of living in London.
Harrison Marshall, an artist and co-founder of Caukin Studio, moved into his converted skip in Bermondsey, south-east London, in January, intending to live in it for a year.
For Marshall, who is 28, the move is intended to get people talking about the cost of living crisis, acting as a form of installation or performance art.
“With the cost of living at an all-time high and no end in sight, this project is about living for less in one of the most expensive cities in the world,” wrote Marshall on his Instagram for the skip. “Living in a skip isn’t the solution, but rather an exploration and a statement.”
Speaking about the project to the PA news agency, Marshall stressed that he did not intend for people to follow suit.
“I don’t expect other people to pursue this or replicate it... Really, it’s more of a statement and something which tackles or talks about the issue in a light-hearted way and highlights just how crazy it is to live in central London.
“For me to live in this area, this was the only option for me to do that, which is just mad.”
The Skip House is part of SKIP Gallery, a public art initiative intended to create space and opportunity for emerging artists, which Marshall has worked with on a number of projects.
Marshall’s new home is comprised of a standard 8-yard skip with an insulated timber frame and a barrel roof – the artist also has access to a portaloo, while he will mostly shower at work or the gym.
The skip has been provided for a nominal rate of £50 a month, while the initial build-cost of the ‘property’ was £4,000.
Marshall said whenever he worked on a SKIP Gallery project he wondered if it was possible to live in a skip – it was when he returned from a working trip abroad and started looking for a room in 2022 that the idea became more appealing.
“When I came back to London I started the hunt for a room, and, obviously, within that timeframe, the prices had gone kind of crazy,” he said.
“People were getting hundreds of messages for a single room… it was at the point where if you weren’t willing to put your deposit down the same day as viewing it, you didn’t really stand a chance.
“And so that’s when I started picking up the idea again, about is it actually possible to live in a skip?”
He ended up sofa-surfing towards the end of the year, before getting confirmation that the skip home could go ahead.
After around three weeks of construction in challenging cold weather, Marshall moved in at the start of 2023.
“I’ve had friends come over already, everyone wants to come and see the new place,” he said.
“All the neighbours are incredibly friendly. If I’m outside for five minutes I’ll have at least one or two people from the area come up to me and ask what I’m doing and how I am.”
Marshall has decorated his new home with friends’ artwork and gifts from his family, and soon hopes to be connected to a power source which will enable him to use a heater and a cooker.
However, the artist is adamant that the project, which required support from a number of different organisations to become workable, is not meant to be aspirational.
“No-one should have to live in a skip,” he said. “That’s definitely not the way that I want this project to go. It’s more of a statement.”
