PERIOD OF REFLECION
intervention in public space, Graz 2015

artistic assistance: Hannes Anderle
thanks to: Cristoph Schwarz

Sculptures as deliberate statements in public space not only possess artistic meaning, references and relations within the system. They also provide recognisability, the designation of what is urban. It is therefore no suprise that the advertising industry flirts with art-like objects. And while the artist Marina Abramobic is developing a 15-metre high chair for Salzburg intended to evoke contemplation and meditation, in Austria and Germany chairs of up to 25 meters in height have long since achieved uniformity and mass production: as highly visible „lighthouses“ for the discount furniture store of superlatives, which is also using them to seek a place in the book of records.
It is this overlap between art and commerce, between sense and nonsense, noble subtexts and crude slogans that inspired Michail Michailov's intervention. The artist enters into a dialogue with the huge red chair in Graz by raising himself up to the same height in order to reflectup there: from the roof of the building opposite, which he reinterprets as a monumental seat, he looks at an imaginary counterpart. A small white figure and a red giant. And an unequal trial of strength. (Eva Pichler)