The not-for-profit project is conceived as a clandestine event; chairs are scattered through different areas of the city without municipal or local permission, left in each environment for a few days, then collected and redistributed somewhere else. The seats are adorned with attention-grabbing custom designs from artists such as DALVA, Milton Glaser, and Fawad Khan, with varying themes such as abstracted superheroes, geometric patterns, and stylized building facades.
Each placement brings attention to an underused spot in a neighborhood and strives to instigate a sense of pride in each community. Kim and Seto hope that this small-scale intervention will help preserve the totality of New York’s urban environment, and that other designers and residents take it upon themselves to sustain their place in the city and become New Role Models.
The chairs were on display this week at the Pratt Show and the Model Citizens exhibit at The Chelsea Museum.
