Anti Chair Movement

2019 | series of objects | short film (4 min.)

Anti Chair Movement is part of the graduation work of Tosca Schift. The series of objects are made from discarded chairs that were taken apart and reassembled with moveable elements. Among others, the work has been presented at Dutch Design Week and Prague International Design Festival.

The Anti Chair Movement strives to liberate the object of its proposed function. It is a protest directed towards the current design workfield and shows an opposing perspective on the traditional method of designing chairs and the way designers define its purpose and function. Chairs seem to be sitting objects, but they are used in many ways and for different purposes. Many examples can be found within popular culture where people use chairs as balancing tools, as building bricks for towers, as a drum kit, as vehicles to hold office chair races, and many more.

The Anti Chair Movement is particularly inspired by an ice-skater who dances with chairs. During the dance the chair becomes a partner, therefore the function becomes fluid and the meaning of the object changes. Human and object engage into a more reciprocal relationship.

The protest resulted in an experimental film that shows a dance with six transformable chairs. Each chair is adjusted to create a specific movement.