Sit Tight (2025)
Lauren Edmonds, wall-based sculpture installation
corregated panel, foam, fabric
dimensions variable [each chair 46.5 x 42 x 47cm]
Hand-built constructs that mimic train seats are installed at precarious heights and angles on the gallery wall, rendering them impractical for use. Made from a corrugated door panel, MDF, foam, and custom-printed fabric, the chairs exist somewhere between function and fiction – objects that appear familiar, yet dysfunctional.
The printed pattern on the fabric has been designed by the artist. The strange shapes that echo emojis or logos were generated with AI in Photoshop, giving them an uncanny quality. The 20 words embedded into the design were also generated by ChatGPT using the following prompt:
Can you provide a list of 20 single words you would use to describe, encapsulate or summarise humanity’s future in the next 50 years – your honest opinion.
Inspired by the way patterned train seat fabric (moquette) is designed to conceal dirt and wear, the work reflects on how layers of complexity, distraction, and visual noise – through bureaucracy, social media, advertising, and constant consumption – can obscure inequality, hinder access to basic rights, and make it easier to overlook systemic failures.
On a more intimate level, the work considers how this kind of systemic noise can disconnect us from imagination, and human expression. The use of AI here serves as both a material and conceptual gesture: echoing the visual noise of everyday systems while reflecting on the tension between automation and human authorship. The result is a surface that, like traditional moquette, conceals dirt and wear while raising questions about what’s being lost – or hidden – in the shift toward increasingly impersonal technologies.
Special Thanks
The concept development for this artwork was funded through the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF).
The Regional Arts Development Fund is a partnership between the Queensland Government and City of Moreton Bay to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
