One of my ongoing interests is the relationship between exhibition spaces and seats and sitting. I have posted about this before...but felt like sharing a few images from my archive here. The physical experience of going to exhibitions is something that rarely gets a look into, most of the effort being focused on what exhibitions show, mean or say. The title of this post, 'Ways if Sitting', is a take on John Berger's famous book of 1972 'Ways of Seeing' which opened up the act of looking at art to reflect contexts and histories. How we see art or in what condition we encounter exhibitions has tended to be neglected as a topic for serious study - the question of seats and sitting in exhibitions is one area within this very broad field (which could include such topics as altered states of consciousness and viewing exhibitions), and one that is actually rather fun. Just watching the ways in which people 'pose' or 'root' themselves in front of works makes for a highly amusing afternoon out.
A few samples from recent exhibitions I have visited.....
Kanazawa C21st Museum
Whitechapel Art Gallery, take your own seat...
Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo..on the floor.
AIT Hour Museum, Super Deluxe Tokyo 2004.
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