Tobias Rehberger
(German Bundestag/J.F. Müller)
born 1966 in Esslingen, lives in Frankfurt am Main.
For the visitors’ restaurant Tobias Rehberger has forged a link between different cultures. He drew classic pieces of Modernist designer furniture from memory, and on the basis of these drawings had chairs and tables reproduced by craftsmen from other cultures, for example Egypt and Mexico. This process of double refraction, on the one hand by Rehberger’s present day artistic recollection of classic items, and on the other by the specific perception and interpretation of his drawings by craftsmen from a different culture, produces a fascinating reflection on communication, memory and the contents of the Modernist canon.
The commissioned pieces have been placed without further explanation amongst the tables and chairs which belong to the standard furnishings of the restaurant, and are used every day by visitors – often they are not perceived to be different or are merely looked upon as a curiosity, but occasionally they do prompt closer examination and consideration.