Chairs/Broken things, 2021

Invervention in the local interior design studio, 5 chairs — an ordinary chair, a chair sawn in two, a chair sawn in four, a chair sawn in 16, wood sawdust; a children’s wooden chair sawn in two, metal staples, various stickers.

Initially, old chairs appeared in the studio space, methodically sawn and connected with staples — five states ending in a heap of sawdust. The installation is a kind of exploration of the watershed between design and the field of contemporary art, an ironic question about price and value. At some point, a children’s chair appeared in the studio, with excessive decoration stickers, which seemed to be trying to divert attention from the breakdown.

Marina Pugina: “A thing consistently loses its function, through the traumatic experience of sawing and reassembling, its image is gradually freed from function, becoming an object of contemplation and reflection. <…> With her intervention, she [Elena Slobtseva] breaks down the ideal project life. Her installation ‘hurts the eye’ against the background of the ‘parade of things’ of a salon, where the value of a piece of furniture is determined by its functionality and ability to please. ” translated from Russian