Project Description:

Take a Seat! is an interactive installation of movable chairs on Pittsburgh’s riverfonts. Thirty lightweight movable chairs were equipped with GPS locators to record their locations and movements along the city’s three rivers. People were invited to find a chair and move it to their favorite riverfront spot during the 2017 Three Rivers Arts Festival. Users were instructed to take a seat, snap a picture, tag it online with #TakeaSeatPGH and track the chairs’ journey at RiverlifePGH.org. The 10-day experiment garnered immediate attention, with kids, adults, dogs, runners, couples, students, Three Rivers Arts Festival go-ers, and skateboarders putting their creativity to the test. Individual chairs journeyed over the rivers, became a part of an art experiment, found a home on a submarine, and were active participants in peoples’ workouts. The geo-referenced data illuminated patterns in peoples’ seating preferences and have been used to make decisions about future permanent seating along the riverfront.