Modified Social Bench #07 10

Jeppe Hein, a graduate of the Royal Danish Art Academy and the Städelschule in Frankfurt, lives in Berlin and Copenhagen. Hein‘s interactive art objects are internationally exhibited. In “Blickachsen 11” visitors to Bad Homburg have three opportunities to use one of Jeppe Hein’s humorously designed “Modified Social Benches”. In this series of works, Hein reinterprets the classical park bench, challenging citizens and guests of the city to confront his variations on the theme. Placed in many locations since 2005, his benches are not just for sitting on; rather, these strange pieces of urban furniture permit, or (depending on the version) demand, that their users face each other, find their feet on them, or playfully make them their own. Hein repeatedly designs sculptures for the public space, but not simply to shape or decorate it. Rather, his works can be seen as a call to a more active use of this space, an exhortation to linger, or contemplate it from a different perspective. In this way, Hein invariably creates places for an encounter, a conversation, play – places open equally to everyone and to be shared between them.