Peter Ablinger (b. 1959, Austria)
Sitzen und hören, 1996/2010, 2012

“The sculpture is not the material and also not that which might be there to hear. The sculpture is the listening process itself” (P Albinger)

I may not necessarily be able to understand why he would want to position a process as a sculpture, but so be it. However, I have no issues with the formal qualities of the work or its conceptual load. I like the economy of the gesture – simply placing a few chairs on a platform. I like the focal element of the work (listening) being invisible and detached from its visible framing by at least two degrees (firstly it suggests that someone might sit down there; and only if someone who is able to listen sits there, listening can take place) – that activates thinking.

This relates a lot to many of my projects where I am just pointing at something hoping that someone would look, become curious and find a way to make sense of it.