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13 Things 2008
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
[email protected]
Posted at Oct 02/2008 05:04PM:
chris witmore: Hi Alexander, The first thing that comes to mind here is Galen Cranz's book, The Chair. It is design studies and might prove to be a fruitful way into the topic.
- patpaul: I think of the social aspects of a chair, how we stand when a woman enters the room, push in her chair, how we offer the most comfortable lazy boy to our elder, etc.. Archie Bunker personifies this most effectively.
Posted at Oct 25/2008 12:01PM:
caroline: As I write this, I am draped sideways over an armchair...not the way one is "supposed" to sit in a chair. I don't know if it would go anywhere, but you could look at different constructions of chairs, and different ways that one sits, or could sit, in them. When are certain sitting positions acceptable? When are they unacceptable?
Alexandra: How does our mindset change when we are sitting? It seems specific functions are linked to the seated position, like eating or working. Sitting seems to imply a focus and specific goal-- does this limit us in certain ways? Also, the way our body is cut and stuck: how does this change bloodflow, energy etc?
Posted at Oct 26/2008 08:55PM:
Emma Whitford: Think about how chairs are positioned strategically in museum exhibits. Why is it that museum goers want so desperately to sit after fifteen minutes? When is taking a seat a relief, and when are we just itching to jump up? When does the sitting position become uncomfortable and tiresome?
Posted at Oct 26/2008 10:32PM:
Harrison Stark: You might want to talk about how chairs exemplify power relationships - - the throne for instance? Also worth a look is the etymology of the word President, which comes from the latin praesidere, which literally means 'to sit before'.
Posted at Oct 26/2008 11:12PM:
mark: Its amazing how an adjustment of the height of a standard office chair impacts one's emotional relation to 'things'.
Posted at Oct 26/2008 11:38PM:
Ana Escobedo: I was thinking about how we need different chairs for different purposes. They've designed special chairs to improve the sitter's posture. Also, airplane chairs and the differences in design between a domestic flight and an international flight (ot even the difference between economy, business and first class chairs).
Posted at Oct 28/2008 12:20AM:
Lindsay: Take a look at "1000 Chairs" by Charlotte & Peter Fiell (a Taschen book). Besides having tons of interesting, colorful, and informative pictures of chairs, the intro is really interesting and probably applicable (it's called "The Chair: Design Diversity and the Nature of Connections")
Posted at Oct 29/2008 11:31AM:
gareth: When I saw "The Chair," I immediately thought about the electric chair (i.e. "he's getting the chair"). I did a project on this in elementary school (Crime themed...) and recall that, during society's search for a more humane method of execution, both Thomas Edison and Nikolai Tesla were contacted about incorporating their systems of current (both declined).
I doubt this is helpful, but it's what came to mind...
Posted at Dec 17/2008 02:43PM:
chris witmore: Excellent use of the wiki. Solid presentation. Nice comparative angle. A fundamentally sound project. Congratulations Alexander.