Other chairs for sale @ West High Auditorium Fundraising PROM

The West Anchorage High auditorium seat is not only a well-worn antique with age on its side; it is the interface that directly connected many people in my hometown of Anchorage, Alaska to the public theatre experience. The West Anchorage High auditorium was built in 1954 and until 1988, with the advent of the Performing Arts Center, was the largest venue in Anchorage Alaska. Anybody who went to a large show ended up sitting in one of these chairs during this 34-year period. The Beach Boys, and the Grateful Dead performed at this auditorium, I myself have not been to any large name shows, but I do remember seeing many local performances, and performing onstage in many school related events like the Lip-Sync, or orchestra recitals. Every experience in the theatre has been amazing.
The Chair is an interesting example of pure form. The original designer of the seats did well with the complimentary color scheme and the linear forms shooting up the sides. It was not only well designed as a chair in 1954, but it is also very sculptural when taken out of context and viewed as a piece of art. Marcel Duchamp introduced his concepts of ready-made art in 1917 with the Fountain. The chair may not make as bold of a statement as Duchamp did in 1917, but it is true that it holds up as well formally.
Interactive art is possibly the most avante-garde, intellectual art, available for us to experience today. When an art piece becomes interactive it involves the viewer as a participant making the experience as much of the art concept as the form. This piece invites the viewer to put the seat down and sit in the chair as a West High auditorium chair. (Quite possibly one of the last intact originals) It then is left up to the participants to let the memories or imaginations of past performances play upon their minds. It is for this purpose as well that I chose to leave the chair original. It is through the re-creation of the emotions felt in prior performances that my intent in leaving the chair intact is achieved.
I leave the seat intact for three reasons, the chair has historical merit, It exudes natural beauty in form, and the act of pulling up a seat in the chair makes anyone who has ever seen a show at West high, remember the history in a way that is experienced through interaction with the sculpture. It is for these reasons I invite you to sit in the chair as well, and to look at it in loving memory as an artifact, a sculpture, and a memory aid.