There's living in a fish bowl and then there's this: living in an artwork located in the sculpture garden of the National Gallery of Australia.
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On Thursday morning artist Charlie Sofo was inspecting his new home for the next few days.
The temporary structure, no bigger than a child's cubby house, has been created by internationally renowned US artist Andrea Zittel.
In a case of art imitating life, the work is reminiscent of last year's ''teepee man'' saga when university student William Woodbridge built a raft and lived in a tent on Lake Ginninderra for three months to protest high student accom-modation costs.
The artwork explores the boundaries of what a person needs to survive and, like the teepee, it is missing a shower and fridge but other basics of life are there - a chemical toilet, a cooktop and bed.
Zittel said the work, titled the A-Z Homestead Unit, had been designed to explore themes of freedom.
''A lot of my work is to do with experimental living spaces,'' she said.
''I'm really interested in the notion of freedom. One of the reasons I moved to the desert [Joshua Tree National Park, California] was to see how people live there.
''What I noticed was that one way people are free now in a society with a lot of bureaucracy and regulations is they actually become smaller.
''They find ways to shrink down and slip between the cracks.''
Zittel said she begun experimenting with temporary homes that were small enough to not need government building approval.
''In the past I have been my own guinea pig and lived in them but this is about collaborating authors, so other people will start inhabiting it and changing it,'' she said.
Sofo will live in the structure from March 7 to 10 and again from March 19 to 24, but he is not obliged to be there at all times.
It is a bold step for Sofo, who once tried to sleep overnight in a Canberra shop front window during his final year of study at the ANU in 2005.
He found the experience ''traumatic'' and left after about eight or nine hours.
''It was in the old Centre Cinema complex opposite Essen cafe,'' he said. ''It created a lot of attention.
''I got out and yelled at people because I was offended by it [the behaviour of the crowd]. People were banging on the windows,'' he said.
''But I consider this a lot different to that. I am not a living exhibit. It's not a free-for-all. Interaction with the public will be done by invitation and discussion.''
The National Gallery's curator of international painting and sculpture, Lucina Ward, said the unit had been commissioned for the gallery.
''During his (Sofo's) inhabitation the artist will record his experience and conduct a range of activities inspired by the work,'' she said.
''We ask people to please respect his privacy while he is in the unit. ''The artist's door is open from 11am to 1pm each day. At other times, or when the door is shut, he prefers not to be disturbed.''
