Sitzen in China - Sitting in China
An exhibition with photographs and "Bastard Chairs"
by Michael Wolf, Hong Kong

Composed and arranged by Andreas Schmid, Berlin.

The exhibition and installation project "Sitting in China", comprising of 60 photographs and 30 original chairs and foot stools, is being shown to the public for the first time on the occasion of the ICSID. The exhibition combines large format still life photographs of chairs, journalistic photographs documenting the topic of sitting in China with vernacular chairs and footstools collected by Wolf during his many trips to the People´s Republic of China. With their highly individual aesthetics and amazing pragmatism, these real contemporary objects ("Bastard Chairs") question our concept of design. They are just as far removed from designer furniture of our latitudes as from classical Chinese period furniture.

The photographs have been published in book form prior to the exhibition, entitled "Sitting in China" (Göttingen, 2002), and is available under ISBN 3-88243-670-0 from bookstores or during the exhibition.

Press schedules for the global culture of sitting:

5 September 2003:

11:00am "Sitzen in China - Sitting in China" press conference
6:30pm Exhibition to be opened under the patronage of the Mayor

8 September 2003 (Wilkhahn press programme):

2:30pm "Sit down", exclusive guided tour by Dr. Wolfgang Schepers, director of the Kestner-Museum
3:00pm "Sitting in China", exclusive guided tour by the artist and photographer Michael Wolf, Hongkong
4:00pm "Sitting in Chairmany", guided tour and talk with the designers Michael Englisch, wiege, and Prof. Werner Sauer.

Further information
ICSID press programme:  www.wilkhahn.com
Artist:   www.photomichaelwolf.com
Deutscher Werkbund Nord: www.werkbundnord.de

Press images 
No 1 - 3  prints and data base available (high rez 300 dpi)
No 4 - 6  only data base available (high rez 300 dpi)

Requests under:  burkhard.remmers@wilkhahn.de

No 1: "Sitting in China" © Michael Wolf: Still life - Chair in wenzhou village, Zhejiang province, 1998.

No 2: "Sitting in China" © Michael Wolf: Still life - Improvised chair, Beijing 1999.

No 3: "Sitting in China" © Michael Wolf: Still life - Bastard chair, Beijing 1998.

No 4: "Sitting in China" © Michael Wolf: Journalistic photograph - Stretching exercises at a school for acrobatics, Wuqiao, 1999.

No 5: "Sitting in China" © Michael Wolf: Journalistic photograph - Workers in a shoe factory in Guangdong province taking a break at their workplace, Guangzhou 1994.

No 6: "Sitting in China" © Michael Wolf: Journalistic photograph - Sitting on a fence by the road side in the city of Chengdu, Chengdu 1999.

For further details, please contact:

Wilkhahn
Wilkening + Hahne GmbH+Co
Press + Public Relations
Fritz-Hahne-Straße 8
31848 Bad Münder
Germany
Phone: ++49 (5042) 999-169
Fax: ++49 (5042) 999-450
burkhard.remmers@wilkhahn.de