Continuing our fortnightly series, we look at the enduring power of Doris Salcedo’s pile of 1,500 chairs, which seems only to gain in relevance with each new era and fresh conflict
Photograph: Sergio ClavijoPhotograph: Sergio Clavijon 2003, between the months of September and November, 1,500 chairs were slotted and shoved into a giant stack that filled the gap between two buildings in Istanbul. This installation, which seemed both full of violence yet disquietingly empty, spoke of loss, mourning, absence and destruction.
Stacked in layers, the chairs come in all sorts of different shapes, sizes and colours, each one revealing something of its own distinct origins. It’s a point worth bearing in mind when we see huddled masses of refugees: that these are all individuals with separate experiences. Although installed by a Colombian artist and located in Istanbul, the work’s strength lies in the fact that its scope seems far wider and that it keeps speaking to us in new situations.
Full of contractions – fragile and strong, loud and quiet, visible and invisible – the work reminds us of those who are denied a voice, or whose voices go unheard, those being the people who often suffer the most. As Salcedo said of the work: “Woven within the fabric of the city … it just sits there quietly.”
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