THE CHAIR PROJECT – AN EXPERIMENT IN OPEN SPACE
Photography and pencil drawing on paper, 2011/12

22cm x 32cm and 40cm x 50cm

The work is a kind of sociological study based on empirical findings. It is a performance spontaneously performed by four friends of the artist. The aim was to observe the development of group dynamics, actions, movements and the conquest of space. The insights gained can be equated to the five stages of group development. These are: 1. the orientation phase (forming), 2. the confrontation phase (storming), 3. the cooperation phase (norming), 4. the growth phase (performing) and 5. the dissolution phase (adjourning). By extending the photograph through the pencil drawing, the series also represents an attempt to dissolve the square or rectangle as a photographic product. Sissa Michelis says: "I have long wanted to break this formal requirement, since our field of perception is not square or rectangular, but rather corresponds to that of an ellipse."
Lucas Cuturi