Rufer and Schupp proposed the campaign work with the symbol of a People’s Chair.
The People’s Chair is the antithesis of the empty chairs inside UN meetings and buildings which are often formal, relatively expensive and heavy. By contrast, the monobloc chair, which is ubiquitous and universal, affordable and sustainable, was chosen as the people’s chair.
The People’s Chair try-out installation exhibited four chairs that had been worked on by activists and human rights defenders to record their visions for a People’s Council.
Viewers were invited to interact with the chairs by reading the messages written on the chairs, a second ‘blank’ chair was placed across from the people’s chair - in a conversational arrangement. The ‘blank’ chairs also had a QR code which allowed the viewer to watch videos, made by activists and human rights defenders in different locations across the world, talking about the barriers to participation in UN human rights processes and their visions for a more just and equitable system.
