Street Chairs of Cologne

A street, an old metal chair, a wooden plank, few bits of wood, the exercise is clear, the same words, everyone can construct a sentence. Through making we can open a dialogue, everyone can speak, the object allows to anchor things, to make them palpable. To create objects is to create a relationship.

A striking thing when you walk in the streets of Tunis are these chairs, tinkered with, patched up, arranged with the small techniques of everyday life. It is an art of living, as Michel de Certeau says. The invention of everyday life, the way in which we divert objects but also the city on a larger scale. This organic relationship, with the means at hand that we have with the space we inhabit is a form of expression, almost always in the economy of means which makes it particularly poetic.

Once I was walking in Bab el Khadra, I found a chair on the side of the street, the seat and back of the chair were completely shattered, but the structure was still there. there was a stack of cardboard on the seat. The cardboard was sunken and over time had taken the shape of the person's buttocks. I stopped, it sparked a lot of imagination. I took a picture of it, the man who was there said, why are you taking this picture? it's smart I said, he smiled back at me.

It's a whole language, the materials, their origin, the weight of the body, it's like a painting or a portrait of the person who not only made this object but also uses it daily. The person expresses himself, just out of need, without luxury. Everyone on the street knows it's Mr. x's chair.

A massive thanks to our colleagues in cologne and especially @nikki.leon for putting it together. A playful collaboration inspired by the “Tunis street chairs” the models made in cologne will be exhibited as part of ökoRausch at MAKK - Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln in September. With dream team @Nikkideleon @hellotabea @octavio_pablo @doesnotmattar and @bumannundsohn for their hospitality