seats in braddock.

collaborator: Mike Kontopoulos

 

For the event FLUX, we were positioned in the First Presbytarian Church
in Braddock. Because this defunct church was to now serve as a concert venue,
we thought it would be interesting to do a project that was formal, but still
spoke back to the notion of the church as a symbolic and sacred place.

We fashioned the chairs in front of a window to beam a skyward light when
sat upon. Formally, this is interesting because it lays bare
the politics of space usage in a concert scenario. Because FLUX was a one night
event, our aim was to focus on and "illuminate" the spectacle of a one-night event,
by visualizing the space usage. Any any point in the room you can look to see where
people are sitting/resting vs. standing. The space usage is also visible from
outdoors.
Conceptually, the notion of using lights harkens back to visual themes of candle
lighting for prayer. Also, the illumination of the window around the sitters heads
is remeniscent of halos.

 

 

Technique:

We used a relay circuit to control an AC outlet. The lamps were simply plugged into this outlet.
The trigger than engaged the relay circuit was hidden between boards under the cushion of the chairs.