The context of the furniture fair, the scenography of our performance, and the communication related to this piece all work together to provoke the participation of visitors to the International Contemporary Furniture Fair by inviting them to wear a couch. Through the performance of stripping the couch we will create a series of parts, wearable pins made out of the "icing" of the couch.
For most visitors, the items at a trade fair are looked at and appreciated, but are not fully experienced. "Icing or Cake" will take place in two separate storefront windows; one uptown and one downtown. In the uptown window, the chashama gallery at 112 W.44th Street, found furniture (couches) from the streets of New York will be stripped of their surfaces and the aftermath displayed in a systematic testimony to its construction and made into wearable badges. Later, in the downtown window (The Apartment, at 101 Crosby Street), a designer sofa donated by Moooi is being stripped of its surface and reappropriated as wearable badges. Visitors and passersby will be given this memento.
This installation aims to contextualize and activate the Fair by involving two very different parts of New York City. "Icing or Cake" invites the visitors into an initiative, independent of industrial demands.This installation creates a situation to explore the relationships between design, designer, producer, shopkeeper and customer. Visitors will take with them an object as well as an experience.