Lifelike: Installing Robert Therrien's Giant Folding Table and Chairs
By Paul Schmelzer
Curator Siri Engberg and assistant registrar Jessica Rolland beside Therrian’s table and chair. Photo: Paul Schmelzer
Monday saw the arrival of what surely must be one of the world’s largest card tables. In anticipation of the February 24 preview of the exhibition Lifelike, Robert Therrien’s sculptural table — measuring just under nine feet in height — arrived via semi-trailer with four folding chairs, all crated. Made from metal and fabric, the 2007 work was loaded in through the Walker’s Hennepin entrance and installed in the Cargill Lounge. Here’s some photos of the process.
It took five workers to open each functional folding chair. Photo: Cameron Wittig
Each chair is the height of 3.5 standard folding chairs. Photo: Paul Schmelzer
The table is an accurate and working replica, down to the folding legs. Photo: Cameron Wittig
Photo: Cameron Wittig
Photo: Cameron Wittig
Like any church basement chair, each one is stenciled with identifying letters. Photo: Cameron Wittig
By dusk, the installation was complete. Photo: Paul Schmelzer
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Lifelike, works based on everyday objects invoked a dreamlike world, such as Charles Ray’s Bath (1989)—a liquid-filled sculpture embedded in the wall that elicits a feeling of hovering above it."
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Lifelike
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