FOREST - BODY - CHAIR, 2021

Mildred's Lane, co-led with Sara Smith

The relational dynamics between the forest, the human body, and the wooden chair provided an entry point for exploring the mutuality and false duality of nature and culture in this three-week participatory session at Mildred's Lane, co-led with Sara Smith. When a tree becomes a chair, it enters our lives as an intimate partner. In the domestic environment, chairs are places of rest for the body, social facilitators, and symbolic cultural forms. Chairs as we know them can also be poorly designed for the human body, causing a variety of physical problems.

In this session, we immersed ourselves in the forests of Mildred’s Lane, conducting somatic, ergonomic, and hands-on research that actively considered the forest, the body, and the domestic sphere. Multi-modal investigations of the forest, human anatomy, green woodworking, and vernacular American furniture design in relation to concepts of enlivenment and sustainability formed the basis of our explorations in the landscape.

Participants and contributing artists: Julia Orquera Bianco, Francis Cape, Hope Ginsburg, Kate Hawes, Joe Lerro, Laura Mays, Bernadine Mellis, Rumpelstiltskin Anne Morgan, Chris Nassise, J. Morgan Puett, Raechel Schmoker, Laura Silverman, Ainsley Steeves, Samiha Tasnim, Leila Gordon, Ruby Waldo, Lotte Walworth, Amy Yoes