32 ARCHDIGEST.COM
A
ustrian artist Franz West never cared much
for works that simply hung on walls. For his
Passstücke, or “Adaptives,” developed in the
1970s, he coated found objects in plaster and
encouraged viewers to pick them up or
put them on. What came next was equally
interactive: seating.
His first chairs—made in collaboration with Mathis
Esterhazy in the late 1980s—were welded together from scrap
metal. At his 1989 solo show at MoMA PS1, to soften the
perch and encourage conversation, West laid the seats with
the day’s newspaper. At the Kunsthistorisches Museum
in Vienna, he placed them in front of masterpieces, nudging
visitors to consider certain works, and at the 1990 Venice
Biennale they were installed waterfront.
There was one critique: They were uncomfortable. But by
the 1990s West had added upholstery with foam linings. Curator
Eva Badura-Triska explains, “More comfortable than their
predecessors, the sofas made people
feel much more at ease, permitting
what West called lingering, a stance or
attitude he found particularly condu-
cive to the experiencing of certain
situations.” For a later edition named
Uncle, dining chairs were covered
with straps of colorful industrial fabric.
“I’ve lived with basically every
furniture type Franz produced—chairs,
couches, divans, tables,” says art dealer
David Zwirner, who represents the
artist’s estate and is having an online sale
of West’s furniture this month. “And
I think his dining chairs are among the
most comfortable that I’ve come across.”
Tastemakers from AD100 talent India
Mahdavi to fashion legend Diane von
Furstenberg agree, gathering them
round their own tables, encouraging
just what West intended: lingering.davidzwirner.com (^) —HANNAH MARTIN
object lesson