Gebr. Silvestri
Gebr. Silvestri
gebr-silvestri-Christian-Philipp-Mueller-Portrait-of-the-museum-as-a-chairs-clouse

BAWAG Foundation (Vienna, Austria)
Christian Philipp Müller
‘Portrait of the museum as a chair: Typology of all 54 chairs in use at the National Museum of Art, Osaka’

2006
Artist’s book

To create this site-specific work at Japan’s National Museum of Art in Osaka, Swiss conceptual artist Christian Philipp Müller first tracked down all 54 different types of chair then present in the museum. He subsequently arranged them in chronological order (by their date of design) on a colourful, stair-step platform to create a typology of usage. In connection with this unique work, we were asked to design a book with texts in English, German and Japanese. It was to serve as an inventory of the differences in status among the different chairs.

The artist’s book we designed includes photographs of all 54 chairs in their various functions, along with simple product descriptions and storage conditions. The installation serves as a fine commentary on the current fetish of the chair as a design object and on our nostalgia for these familiar shapes, some of which have become high-class consumer goods.

The square, 128-page book is printed in full colour and bound in a full-colour hardcover printed on silver foiled paper including an extra glossy spot UV. To make the content more accessible through the design, we used the same colour scheme on the fore-edge of the book block that Müller used in his installation. For the end leaves we used iridescent Conqueror paper.

Publisher: Christiane Kintisch, BAWAG Foundation Edition
Text: Christian Philipp Müller, Hiroyuki Nakanishi, Christian Witt-Döring, Bennett Simson
Printer: Druckerei Rema Print Littera (Vienna)

gebr-silvestri-Christian Philipp Müller-Portrait of the museum as a chairs-1
gebr-silvestri-Christian Philipp Müller-Portrait of the museum as a chairs-3
gebr-silvestri-Christian Philipp Müller-Portrait of the museum as a chairs-2

see also:
Kunstmuseum Basel – Museum für Gegenwartskunst: ‘Christian Philipp Müller’
Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Christian Philipp Müller ‘The spirit of the Haus: 20 years of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 1989–2009’
Haus der Kunst: Christian Philipp Müller ‘Histories in conflict: Haus der Kunst and the ideological uses of art, 1937–1955’ 
Tangente St.Pölten: Christian Philipp Müller ‘Ein Bad für Florian’ 

gebr-silvestri-Christian-Philipp-Mueller-Portrait-of-the-museum-as-a-chairs-clouse

BAWAG Foundation (Vienna, Austria)
Christian Philipp Müller
‘Portrait of the museum as a chair: Typology of all 54 chairs in use at the National Museum of Art, Osaka’

2006
Artist’s book

To create this site-specific work at Japan’s National Museum of Art in Osaka, Swiss conceptual artist Christian Philipp Müller first tracked down all 54 different types of chair then present in the museum. He subsequently arranged them in chronological order (by their date of design) on a colourful, stair-step platform to create a typology of usage. In connection with this unique work, we were asked to design a book with texts in English, German and Japanese. It was to serve as an inventory of the differences in status among the different chairs.

The artist’s book we designed includes photographs of all 54 chairs in their various functions, along with simple product descriptions and storage conditions. The installation serves as a fine commentary on the current fetish of the chair as a design object and on our nostalgia for these familiar shapes, some of which have become high-class consumer goods.

The square, 128-page book is printed in full colour and bound in a full-colour hardcover printed on silver foiled paper including an extra glossy spot UV. To make the content more accessible through the design, we used the same colour scheme on the fore-edge of the book block that Müller used in his installation. For the end leaves we used iridescent Conqueror paper.

Publisher: Christiane Kintisch, BAWAG Foundation Edition
Text: Christian Philipp Müller, Hiroyuki Nakanishi, Christian Witt-Döring, Bennett Simson
Printer: Druckerei Rema Print Littera (Vienna)

gebr-silvestri-Christian Philipp Müller-Portrait of the museum as a chairs-1
gebr-silvestri-Christian Philipp Müller-Portrait of the museum as a chairs-3
gebr-silvestri-Christian Philipp Müller-Portrait of the museum as a chairs-2

see also:
Kunstmuseum Basel – Museum für Gegenwartskunst: ‘Christian Philipp Müller’
Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Christian Philipp Müller ‘The spirit of the Haus: 20 years of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 1989–2009’
Haus der Kunst: Christian Philipp Müller ‘Histories in conflict: Haus der Kunst and the ideological uses of art, 1937–1955’ 
Tangente St.Pölten: Christian Philipp Müller ‘Ein Bad für Florian’