Open Call: A Seat At The Table

Exhibition Dates: 4th – 20th June, Private view 3rd June 5.30pm – 7.30pm 

Exhibition Location:  South Block Gallery Space, Osborne Street, Glasgow, G1 5QH

Curatorial text

A chair seems like a simple thing: something you sit on. Yet A Seat At The Table reveals that even this most familiar object is far from fixed. Bringing together artists, makers, designers and furniture makers, the exhibition explores the chair in its full range, from finely crafted, functional forms to works that question, extend, or unsettle what a chair can be. At its centre lies a deceptively simple question: when do we decide something is a chair, and what shapes that decision?

A chair is something we think we understand. A Seat At The Table invites us to look again.

About the Exhibition

A Seat At The Table is a group exhibition at Wasps Southblock that brings together a diverse range of practitioners working across furniture making, sculpture, design, and contemporary art. The exhibition is grounded in the chair as a recognisable, made object, something designed to be used, while also exploring how that understanding can be expanded, challenged, and redefined.

From carefully crafted, fully functional chairs to works that test the limits of use, representation, and definition, the exhibition reveals the chair as both a physical form and a site of inquiry. Some works invite sitting; others refuse it. Some prioritise structure, material, and skill; others operate through image, language, or absence. Together, they form a conversation around how meaning is constructed through object, function, and perception. Wasps Southblock is one of Glasgow’s leading creative hubs, housing a vibrant community of artists, designers, and makers. The exhibition takes place within the ground floor gallery space during the Glasgow International Festival period for which Wasps The Briggait is the central hub.