“Chair5: Perspectives on Form, Function and Innovation,” a highly interactive and experimental furniture exhibition co-produced by the Chipstone Foundation and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), opens October 20 in MIAD’s Brooks Stevens Gallery. The exhibit’s Opening Reception is Friday, October 20, 5 – 9 p.m. during Fall Gallery Night in the Historic Third Ward.
This exhibition introduces myriad ways to think about chairs, “chairness” and the physical act of sitting. Five distinctive exhibit spaces showcase historic, reproduction and contemporary seating furniture forms.
“Chipstone is excited to work with MIAD on this exhibit,” said Jon Prown, executive director and chief curator at the Chipstone Foundation. Prown co-curates the show with MIAD’s Eric Vogel, professor of Interior Architecture and Design, and Brent Budsberg.
The exhibition offers opportunities for physical interaction and considerations of each chair’s function, design and concept. Highlights include:
- an opportunity to sit in a series of seating forms to explore how posture has evolved.
- a period room where chairs hang on the wall as they did in Shaker times, and where visitors can take a seat off the wall—literally—to try it out.
- chairs by contemporary furniture designers and builders—including Mike Jarvi, Peter Opsvik, Herman Miller, Gustav Stickley, Gerritt Rietveldt and Jennifer Anderson—who take the concept of the chair beyond form and function.
This multidimensional approach to thinking about chairs is integral to MIAD’s new Furniture Design program, including an innovative furniture design class taught by Chair5 primary exhibit designer Brent Budsberg.
Chair5 is on view October 20, 2017 – March 3, 2018.
MIAD’s galleries are free and open to the public, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Free gallery tours are available.
