Viktor Udzenija
13 H x 13 W x 13 L in / 35 H x 35 W x 35 L cm
Cast Bohemian Uranium Glass
8 Edition + 4 AP
2022
(Tabouret means “stool” in French.)
Tabouret Mutant abstracts and recontextualizes an iconic design object. The work is at once a meticulously hand-crafted sculpture and a satirical reaction to the status quo.
The original Tabouret Berger, a low table stool, was created in the 1950s by architect and designer Charlotte Perriand, who reinterpreted a simple cow milking stool from the French countryside as a simple elegant object, now revered by collectors and design aficionados around the world. The vintage originals are valued for both their design and rarity, yet it’s unclear just how few or many exist. Tabouret Mutant imagines that a vast storage vault packed high with these wooden stools was exposed to radiation from a nuclear disaster in a nearby European country. The stools transmogrified into a new consistency and haphazard formations, becoming frozen in a glowing radioactive moment.
In a bold Warholian gesture, Tabouret Mutant celebrates the original Tabouret Berger, reconsidering its role as an object in the world and in commerce and culture, giving it a new life in an ageless material. Tabouret Mutant is cast in Bohemian uranium glass, an otherworldly material that looks as though it could defy the laws of nature and shape-shift at any time. The material evokes both supernatural galactic wonders and earthbound dangers, conjuring the powers of Kryptonite and the perils of nuclear war.
Although Tabouret Mutant was conceived using contemporary digital technology, it is produced entirely by hand. To form Tabouret Mutant, highly skilled artisans in North Bohemia draw on experience and knowledge passed down through generations to push the limits of glass-making techniques. Because of the work’s complex shape, no master mold of it can be made; each piece s hand-sculpted in colorless wax, and the resulting structure is used for the glass casting, which takes more than two months. Concluding the production process, the piece is extensively carved by hand and given its final shape and texture.
I changed this back to "disaster" because we specify war in the next graf (plz see my note there), and also you mentioned both the Ukraine war and Chornobyl as informing your imagination here. And I think this a powerful addition: anyone considering your work will likely know that you are from Prague, so the "nearby" is personal.
Viktor Udzenija
13 H x 13 W x 13 L in / 35 H x 35 W x 35 L cm
Cast Bohemian Uranium Glass
8 Edition + 4 AP
2022
(Tabouret means “stool” in French.)
Tabouret Mutant abstracts and recontextualizes an iconic design object. The work is at once a meticulously hand-crafted sculpture and a satirical reaction to the status quo.
The original Tabouret Berger, a low table stool, was created in the 1950s by architect and designer Charlotte Perriand, who reinterpreted a simple cow milking stool from the French countryside as a simple elegant object, now revered by collectors and design aficionados around the world. The vintage originals are valued for both their design and rarity, yet it’s unclear just how few or many exist. Tabouret Mutant imagines that a vast storage vault packed high with these wooden stools was exposed to radiation from a nuclear disaster in a nearby European country. The stools transmogrified into a new consistency and haphazard formations, becoming frozen in a glowing radioactive moment.
In a bold Warholian gesture, Tabouret Mutant celebrates the original Tabouret Berger, reconsidering its role as an object in the world and in commerce and culture, giving it a new life in an ageless material. Tabouret Mutant is cast in Bohemian uranium glass, an otherworldly material that looks as though it could defy the laws of nature and shape-shift at any time. The material evokes both supernatural galactic wonders and earthbound dangers, conjuring the powers of Kryptonite and the perils of nuclear war.
Although Tabouret Mutant was conceived using contemporary digital technology, it is produced entirely by hand. To form Tabouret Mutant, highly skilled artisans in North Bohemia draw on experience and knowledge passed down through generations to push the limits of glass-making techniques. Because of the work’s complex shape, no master mold of it can be made; each piece s hand-sculpted in colorless wax, and the resulting structure is used for the glass casting, which takes more than two months. Concluding the production process, the piece is extensively carved by hand and given its final shape and texture.
I changed this back to "disaster" because we specify war in the next graf (plz see my note there), and also you mentioned both the Ukraine war and Chornobyl as informing your imagination here. And I think this a powerful addition: anyone considering your work will likely know that you are from Prague, so the "nearby" is personal.