Inaugural lectures
Wednesday 18th April, 2012 at 5pm – Lecture Theatre SMB.0.14 (Stewart Mason Building)
The chair: just somewhere to sit?
Professor Clive Edwards, School of the Arts
We take for granted the idea that chairs are somewhere to sit, however there is much more to them than you may think. For example, chairs are designed for institutional use, for domestic use, for travel, for ceremonial occasions and they also offer a form for artistic expression. Many designers are fascinated by chairs.
Architects suggest that the chair is small-scale architecture; industrial designers consider the possibilities of manufacture, modern materials and technologies, whilst curators of museums and galleries collect chairs as examples of changing cultural expression.
Beyond this, the chair, as a prime example of both popular and elite material culture, offers us a number of insights into how we live with and use chairs.
In this lecture Professor Clive Edwards will explore our relationship with the chair and consider themes related to authority, identity and distinction, discipline and domination, and of course comfort and relaxation.
Finally, Professor Edwards will consider how artists have used chair as a means of expression, comment and observation when the chair is no longer an artifact but an artwork.