NOTICE:
In light of Mr. Obrist's snack suggestion, S/Z is enlisting friends and acquaintances,
traveling from Paris to London, to import petits fours from Carette, 4 place du Trocadero, Paris,
to be made available at 176 Prince of Wales Road, London. This will begin as soon as possible and
go on for an indefinite period.
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (All the Benches in Storage at 176 Have Been Brought
Into the Gallery), 2011
benches
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (Hans Ulrich Obrist Has Been Invited to Curate a Snack), 2011
three A4 b/w prints, pastries
Dear Hans Ulrich Obrist,
We are writing to ask you to curate a snack, to be included in a commission we've been invited
to realize for Testing Ground: Time Scale, an annual curatorial project that the RCA and
Goldsmith's curation courses organize at The Zabludowicz Collection, 176 Prince of Wales Road,
London. The exhibition will take place 28 - 30 January 2011.
For this exhibition at 176, Katie Guggenheim, a student in the RCA curation course, has invited
us to contribute work which considers the overall curatorial premise of the exhibition of
'artists as viewers of art.'
In addition to providing a supply of this snack that we'd like for you recommend, we have
arranged for all of the benches in storage at 176 - roughly 25 - to be brought into the
exhibition space and made available to use as seating.
We have been working together on a variety of projects as S/Z since 2007, and this project
stems from an ongoing interest of ours in which ways exhibition contexts orient a viewer
physically in an exhibition. Benches and snacks are, of course, local to many public exhibition
contexts, but they are usually discreet. Our interest in this theatrical positioning of benches
and snacks in an exhibition context, putting them into the fore of the exhibition, is in
considering them explicitly as active agents in framing the experience of an exhibition. Asking
you, someone who is so distinctly associated with curating, to curate a snack, we feel will
contribute an essential emphasizes on this positioning.
As we have a limited time to organize our contribution, we'd greatly appreciate a reply soon -
considering that you're very busy, we can only hope that you'll find the time to respond soon
enough! (This could be simply a suggestion of a snack - like "snickers bars".)
We would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have pertaining the project. It
would be an honor to talk about snacks with you.
Looking forward to corresponding with you soon, Happy New Year,
S/Z
S/Z Sarah Elliott and Zayne Armstrong
+1 312 363 8521 624
Myrtle Ave 3R Brooklyn NY 11205
+44 (0) 7814 525 486
Unit 22, 3-5 Shelford Place London N16 9HS
sz@itemsandissues.org
www.itemsandissues.org
27 January 2011
From Hans Ulrich Obrist - to Katie & sz
Dear Katie
Many thanks for your email. Here is the snack I suggest.
As homage to Felix Gonzalex Torres: Petit fours, small mini cakes from Carette in Paris (Trocadero) – Felix’s favourite sweets.
All best
Hans Ulrich
Hans Ulrich Obrist
Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes,
Director of International Projects
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (Furnished Space), 2011
wood, screws, jam
Made for Tamsin Clark's exhibiton space Furnished Space, London on the occastion of the
exhibition Needed by Things, February, 2011.
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (Next Visit, London), 2011
wood, screws
Made for Natalia Stachon's exhibiton space Next Visit, Berlin on the occastion of the
exhibition No Soul For Sale in The Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London, May 2010.
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (Next Visit, New York), 2011
wood, screws
Made for Natalia Stachon's exhibiton space Next Visit, Berlin on the occastion of the
exhibition No Soul For Sale at X Initiative, New York, June 2009.
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (Panda Malin-Head), 2009
wood, screws, 1x A3 ink-jet print
Made for Amanda Dennis and James Lewis's exhibiton 'Panda Malin-Head', at Auto Italia South East
June-July 2009.
Craigslist Advertisement:
Benches Built in Exchange for Something
Do you need / want a bench? We will build one for you - out of found materials - in exchange for something that is worth a bench to you.
Our terms are:
THE BENCH - is built based on the attached pictures, but if you have specific needs we will try to tailor our bench to these needs.
WORTH A BENCH - we will finalize the agreement based on your written description of the proposed exchange.
Please contact us if you are interested: sz@itemsandissues.org
Location: Chicago
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (Victor & Kik), 2011
wood, screws
13 March 2009
Dear Institute,
We have really appreciated the process of building these benches and table.
Thank you for your invitation to build them.
We would like to take the opportunity of this letter to formally bequeath these
articles of furniture to you.
As part of our bequest we would like to invite you to write the letter of
introduction for the table and benches for the wall of invitations in the Sullivan Gallery space.
Would you please include in your letter the following items:
-that the benches and table have been build entirely out of refuse wood, and that they have been
built almost entirely without the use of electric tools
-a special thanks to the folks at the Sullivan Gallery, especially Jim Barry for his help and advice
-that this is part of an ongoing project called: S/Z Builds Benches on Request
-our contact information (sz@itemsandissues.org)
Something something something, you are beautiful, you are wonderful, you are
the world, you are the children, it's true we make brighter day just you and me
Respectfully yours,
S/Z
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (Institute), 2011
wood, screws
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (FormContent London), 2008
wood, screws
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (KEN), 2008
wood, screws
S/Z Builds Benches On Request (Next Visit Berlin), 2008
wood, screws
