The chairs project began with Anne Schülke’s invitation to the exhibition series „Stille Projektionen“ at Quartier 18, Cologne in 2024. The concept of the exhibition is to deal with the theme of body and space within the framework of three projections and a text wall. I then came across Bruce Nauman’s sculpture „Cast of the space under my chair“, which he made 1965 – 68.
Nauman made the sculpture based on a quote from de Kooning that goes something like: „When you paint a chair, you paint the space between the rugs“.
I remembered a third artist who used the metaphor of a chair to describe his concept of art. It was Matisse who wrote in a statement in 1908 that his art should be like a comfortable armchair that could accommodate the viewer and give him relief.
Matisse was laughed at for his art concept and decried as a designer.
For me, the chair and the „empty“ space beneath it became a symbol for opposing art concepts and I started the „chairs“ art and design project.
The project will be launched on a separate website and will be shown at Quartier 18 in Cologne, Germany in December 2024.