There are 19,884 benches in Vienna‘s parks. The city’s streets and public transit stops offer numerous additional opportunities for sitting. They seem like the perfect expression of Viennese Gemütlichkeit: an invitation to rest, linger, and observe.
But benches are also instruments of social order. They structure public space, especially through the increasing presence of „hostile design“ – an approach to urban planning that seeks to prevent undesirable uses such as spending entire nights on park benches.
For the exhibition „Have a Seat! The Park Bench as Social Sculpture,“ artists were invited to explore Vienna‘s street furniture.
The park bench becomes a photo motif, an installation object, and a chance for visitors to have a seat themselves. The results are interventions in an urgent debate: who owns and controls public space?
Curators Alina Strmljan, Vincent Elias Weisl
Artists Aurianne Chevandier & Gerd Sulzenbacher, Iklim Doğan, mirabella paidamwoyo* dziruni, Anna Jermolaewa, Leopold Kessler, Moritz Matschke, Anastasiya Yarovenko
