A joint project with performance artist Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich, Antifurniture is a collection of furniture sculptures. These objects maintain the illusion of furniture when viewed from a distance, but any semblance of practicality fades away upon closer look.
The rules of human’s behavior are shaped when a person first encounters the outer space. The first image of an outer structure is often furniture — cradle, chair, table, etc.
There go the phrases ‘Don’t put your elbows on the table’, ‘Don’t sit on your chair with your feet up’, ‘Don’t lean on doors’ — they regulate our behavior from the early childhood. The movement is limited with the table height, bed’s headboard, and chair’s armrests.
The furniture doesn’t allow extra action after it is produced: this is when the criteria of commodity are determined. Antifurniture soothes the future user with its sturdiness and it can be comfortable in the common understanding of the term. Just like mass-produced furniture it has some rules of use. The divisive static of these pieces are compensated with the movement of their users. Visitors are welcome and encouraged to submit their bodies to the circumstances that the Antifurniture creates: objects that immediately transform into sculptures on first contact with the human body, testing its limits.
Antifurniture series consists of three pieces. ‘Centipede’ is the ladder for three people; ‘Procrustes’ is a rocking chair that makes one bend over instead of reclining back and ‘Lord Of The Fishes’ is the armchair that makes one twist the spine. The aim of these sculptural pieces is to envelop the visitor’s body and relieve them of their fears.
The visitors just have to relax and repeat a simple mantra while they interact with Antifurniture: ‘All my fears remain in the past’.
Antifurniture is exhibited at The 13th Bienal Do Mercosul until November, 20, 2022.