A Sitting Score.

"Constructions Sensibles" MA group exhibition June 2015 Sierre, Switzerland.

As a commission to work in the public space of sierre from the Art in Public Sphere program at ECAV I took the opportunity to work with two things that attract my attention very much in our society.

One is the way space is dictated by urban planning and how city "furniture" is integrated differently today then before. Who is deciding where you can sit in a city and where you can not and for how long?

My other question was on people, in a city how much are we aware of this control?

How much are we aware of what we do in public space?

How often do we observe what our own body is doing?

Do we question or impose anything ourselves? In this particular installation for Sierre I was quite surprised by the location of some of the older city benches who are all located on the outskirts of the city and I decided to work with them.

I used the language of engraving as one would do for a memorial and wrote a "sitting score" for these almost obsolete benches. The score is made up of 5 sentences each one engraved on a brass plaque and mounted on 5 benches out of the many in the outskirts.

Each phrase is about how one could use their body in this space or suggesting a better way to use public space in general, inviting to try a new way to sit or use the bench. Inviting you take time for yourself, To dare you to stay for a moment longer then you would allow yourself. All in hope to install a corporal and spacial awareness or thought with no serious agenda besides this, just something new to carry with you and maybe allow you to leave some other thought behind.