A silly proposal: what if everyone moved around in art exhibitions on rollie chair, with bells ringing at their every movement?

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People often have a certain way of looking at art in an exhibition: a polite distance away, a thoughtful look, and silence. (Or at least that is the upheld ideal.) Rollie chairs, on the other hand, are symbols of dignity at office meetings. But the act of wheeling around in one can be contained in the idea of office chair races: silly, and absolutely undignified. This proposal was my initial investigation into the question of movement within the gallery.

 

In this case, chairs were provided in a designated corner. Most users (when they chose to participate), would sit in a chair for a while, moving it around a little bit amusedly, then stand up and walk away. My friends, who knew it was my work, eventually began playing a game of war of shooting rubber bands (another work within the exhibition, a pile of rubber bands for visitors to shoot at each other) whilst hiding behind, and moving with, the chairs. Their level of comfort, and known acceptable use of my work allowed them to be more active in their use of the chairs compared to other visitors.

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What if the chairs were given out at the entrance of the exhibition? What if everyone needed to use them? What if people were seated on a conveyor belt, with 5 minutes to look at each artwork?