We see plenty of upcycling and repurposing projects in the past, but those humble materials that find new life as furniture, lighting and other household objects are rarely of notable provenance, so to speak. Conversely, the museum setting—the rarefied domain of pure aesthetic experience—is typically considered to be exempt from sustainability, housing exhibitions that are duly spectacular and often labor- or material-intensive.
Thus, Johanna Dehio's latest project, "Furniture - Improvisation," offers metacommentary on multiple levels: her two-month residency at quartier21 of Museums Quartier Wien culminated with a one-day workshop, in which the general public was invited to build furniture from plywood from previous museum installations.
For last month's Vienna Open Studio Night, "the set up of the gallery was made by pre-cut pieces of reused wood sheets coming from former installations or art pieces of the museum, [which offered] a mix of various shapes, surfaces and colors." Visitors selected "pieces they personally like," combining them with cable ties to create their own furniture.
