How Franz West’s array of art-chairs engaged his audience, then and now
Austrian 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 conducive 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.