In the small town of Brisbane, California, just outside of San Francisco, I was invited to create a special art exhibit in honor of the opening of our new City Hall. This provided an important opportunity to welcome Brisbane citizens into City Hall, to engage the public in a dialog about social commitment and encourage their involvement in local politics. After years of building relationships with Brisbane City officials as a local community environmental activist and arts champion, I wondered how far Brisbane City officials would go to support the arts and encourage public participation.
“The chairs have heard it all,” I thought as I endured interminable meetings at City Hall. In keeping with my artistic practice of creating site-specific work, I wondered what the view might be like from the City Hall conference room chairs’ perspective. It is in this very conference room that we speak our minds, fight for what we are passionate about, work together and laugh together. I decided to convince our Mayor and the entire City Council, Police Commander, Fire Chief and Harbormaster to immortalize their derrieres as “Seats of Power,” all in the name of Art.
In order to photographically capture the impression of City officials’ pants sitting on their chairs, I asked them hold a piece of plexi-glass firmly against their derrières. “Bend over, this won’t hurt a bit.” And from that position I chatted with them about their passions for being involved in City affairs.
I came to appreciate Brisbane officials from a perspective different from that of the Council Chambers or City Hall offices. The posterior photo images were later woven into textiles and upholstered onto chair seats.
We had some good laughs and the puns keep flying.
“What we don’t do for our citizens,” quipped our female Mayor.
“You have to start at the bottom and work your way up,” remarked our female Chief of Police.
And here are three comments from our male City Council Members:
“I consider myself an ordinary Joe. I’ve never developed a big head over this thing.”
“The more butts in the game the better.”
“It’s the Hot Seat.”
Laughter has been a pathway into more serious discussions about the nature of political power. One Councilman described the challenges of being an elected official, “If I don’t acknowledge and exercise my power, I can’t do my job.” He continued, “In a democracy, everyone is empowered and that means they have to participate. The majority of the public does not participate and sees the political process as Us versus Them. In order to contribute to the solution they would have to accept responsibility…in other words, congratulations, you are part of the problem.”
For the opening reception, the public was invited into Brisbane City Hall to walk down a red carpet and sit in the “Seat of Power Throne.” Here they could contemplate and expound upon how it feels to be in a seat of power. Participants were asked, “How does it feel to sit in a seat of power in City Hall? How are you powerful in your life? What would you like to do with all of your power?” Public comments were recorded in a video made by documentary filmmaker, David L. Brown.
This project was featured in a half page Los Angeles Times article by Richard C.Paddock “Cheeky’ art work shows Brisbane, California, officials in new light.”
Seats of Power continued to capture the imagination of the national press appearing in over 40 newspapers and blogs.
“Once we are laughing together, I hope we can look at how we feel about power. Only through embracing our own leadership can we support and influence our elected officials. And it is through these relationships that we will preserve our local environment and continue to develop the community we desire. To quote author Alice Walker from her open letter to President Obama, “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”
