(Vienna 1947–2012)
‘Doku’ Chair (Doku-Stuhl), 1997, documenta X, Kassel 1997, open edition, steel, wood, foam, linen, cotton (African fabric), c. 85 x 46 x 53 cm

Registered:
Franz West Privatstiftung Archive

Provenance:
Private Collection, Vienna

Heimo Zobernig invited Franz West to documenta X, curated by Catherine David (21 June – 28 September 1997). Zobernig had been commissioned to handle the setting of the “100 Tage-100 Gäste” series of events. Franz West filled the presentation space designed by Zobernig with 300 ‘doku’ chairs. These were an enhanced version of a steel chair made in 1994, featuring an upholstered seat and back which were covered with colourful African cotton fabric. They were produced for this purpose in Italy, in line with the artist’s requirements…
Andrea Überbacher-Kloiber in: Franz West, Autotheater, DuMont 2009

Franz West: So, in case you don’t know who I am, I’m Franz West, and I’d say that I’m a sculptor. Recently, I’ve been teaching in grim old Frankfurt. I make seats on the side, from time to time. Because we’re looking at positions (for art), here today: the simplest form of position would involve creating seats which make you assume a position (namely, a seated position) time and again. And as a seat is a form of negative life-drawing, it is just as much about proportions as life-drawing is. When all’s said and done, we had (life) photography, and genuinely good life-drawings en masse. An enthusiast, in the sense of someone who collects stamps, might continue to create life-drawings today: after all, traditional life-drawing was more or less pushed to one side for a long time. In any case, I’ve thought that I use the negative form of proportions, which is where sculpture comes from, in fact – from proportions. Wait a minute, maybe you should ask what’s truly at stake: what do you do with proportions, as a sculptor?...
From: Franz West and Johannes Gachnang. Eine kleine Schweinerei, Vienna 1996, Franz West gesammelte Gespräche und Interviews, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2005