A brilliant idea, but a terrible chair
2020 | HD Video, glazed ceramics | 6’13” | variable dimensions
In the video A brilliant idea, but a terrible chair, Beckers presents three teapots, whose aesthetics are based or the colorful post-modern designs of the Memphis Group. As if on a home shopping channel, he demonstrates their use and shows their features to the camera.
While he demonstrates the teapots he recalls the appearance of post-modern design in the Tim Burton's film "Beetlejuice" and the equally bizarre interior design experiments in J.K. Huysmans' book "Against Nature.” Through these references Beckers' explores the gap between idea and effect and between imagination and reality.
The title of the video is a quote from Memphis designer Peter Shire who once both complimented and criticized a colleague's design for a chair by praising the idea behind it, but at the same time admitting it was completely impracticable.
“What better way to distinguish yourself from nature’s harmony then by creating interiors in which colors, shapes and materials continuously clash with each other?”
Installation view at Stigter Van Doesburg, Amsterdam, the Netherlands | Photo by Peter Tijhuis
Realized with the support of Mondriaan Fonds
Camera and Color Correction: Marcel IJzerman
Sound and Light: Tjeerd Melchers
Music: Zooey
Technical Assistance Ceramics: Pieter Kemink, Koloriet
Thanks to Carlotta Bailly-Borg & Stéphane Barbier Bouvet