Chairs to Share

These chairs are designed to encourage sharing, but the artist has already split them up herself. Dorothee Golz created this work for the temporary project Tatort Paderborn – Phänomen Fußgängerzone. Curated by Florian Matzner, the project took place in 2014 and included artists from Germany and neighboring countries. At the end of the exhibition period, this work was purchased by the city of Paderborn and its pros and cons were debated among the residents.

The sculpture is reminiscent of a series of plastic armchairs that might be found in public waiting areas, such as those in airports or doctors’ offices. In bright red, yellow, orange, pink, and turquoise, the seats are mounted on grey metal bars, forming a long row of 12 modules. However, a module is not a seat with armrests on the sides, as one might expect; instead, the armrests are located in the middle of each module. The familiar and functional seating options only emerge when the individual elements are arranged in a row. Two empty spaces interrupt the row of seats, leaving one of the modules isolated, making clear that the basic form is not functional but sculptural. At either end of the row there are “halved” chairs, which suggest a potential continuation of the chain. Furthermore, the seats are all split in terms of color. Nonetheless, the chairs can also be used for their traditional purpose. By using them, observers become an active part of the installation and shape its appearance. As people come and go, a lively image emerges among the colorful seats in front of the grey wall of the Franziskanerkloster.