Have A Seat - Stay Awhile

 

Antique Vintage Sci-Fi Cair - In Progress

     Imagine sitting down in a machine, capable of changing you in any number of un-foretold ways. A canopy drops from overhead, switches are flipped, motors hum, lights flash, cool air passes over your face, and vibrations are felt throughout your body, heightening the experience. Even worse, what if this experience was forced upon you! Sci-Fi movies have created wildly imaginative, clunky and slick, mad and brilliant machines over the decades, but the B – Movie low budget sci-fi chairs were by far the best for me. Finding the passion for this project was simple, however, engineering the machine was not….

H.G. Wells - Time Machine

   The first science fiction chair I can remember is that of H.G. Wells and his Time Machine. I remember seeing the 1960 movie version many times over in my life, usually on Saturday afternoon or Sunday matinee T.V. However, there have been other inspiring chairs in science fiction. Some could read your mind (or perhaps wipe it clean) with the push of a button, while others would make the user invisible, taller, smaller, or smarter! They are the amazing machines of the science fiction world that allow a simple human to be altered in complex and limitless ways. (Usually created by an evil genius I might add) For my Antique Vintage Sci-Fi Chair piece, I addressed these thoughts. However, I also wanted to incorporate another idea that was inspired by an emotional response that I still get to this day. 

     The response in question comes from video game arcade and amusement parks.  That response to getting into a chair behind the wheel, joystick, or buttons of a game I have never played before. Of course this was far more prominent for me as a kid, eagerly pumping quarters into the machine to see just what it would do! Anticipation, wonder, and interaction all rolled up into one small private space. Combining these ideas and emotional responses, the Sci-Fi Chair and the interactive arcade/type experiences were the final concepts that went into the work.

     I want to let those who sit in the device flip the switches that will in turn provide sound, feeling, and visuals to inspire their own minds. So the name of the piece has been kept ambiguous. Is it a time travel chair? Maybe. Is it a mind reading device? Why not? Is it going to hurt me or scare me? Lets find out! Will it change my life forever? I hope so.... I am often asked, "What does it do?" by those about to sit in it. This never fails to make me smile, for it is the very question I sought to evoke from those viewing/experiencing it. I simply reply, "What do YOU think it does?," and I smile. 

***My next udate will take place on the Sci-Fi Chair page. Additional images, a full detailed description, and video. Bot Shop out.***