Chairs Returned by Franck Bragigand
For Chairs Returned, Franck Bragigand gave 60 secondhand chairs from across New York a colourful detour before returning them to city life. Working with volunteers, he repainted the chairs for Pioneers of Change, a festival conceived and curated by Droog co-founder Renny Ramakers on Governors Island, held on 11–13 and 18–20 September 2009, and brought in over 25.000 visitors.
Eleven former Commanding Officer houses were transformed by Dutch architects, designers, artists working together with New York-based designers, students, the elderly, the Native American bead master, to name a few. For one of the houses, we asked Franck Bragigand to paint and furnish the inside in preparation for the Open Talks that were to take place on the opening day. Franck has a great capacity to transform the world using only a coat of paint.
Once the festival ended, the chairs left the island and reappeared around New York: on front porches, outside the Guggenheim, and beside public telephones, reaching neighbourhoods as far as the Bronx. Anyone who found one could sit down or take it home, and was invited to share a photograph.
Rather than making new furniture, Bragigand worked with what the city already had. A coat of paint and a collective effort gave these everyday objects another chapter, carrying the project beyond the exhibition and into people’s homes and streets.
Submit your photos
If you were one of the lucky ones who found a chair and sat on it, or took it home, send us a photo to [email protected] for publication.
