The Waiting Room - a group exhibition exploring the non-place as a place
French anthropologist Marc Augé established the term "non-place" in his work ”?”, the term refers to ephemeral places (a kind of spatial passage), where visitors pass through relatively anonymous. The term has been used frequently, however, the perception is subjective; a non-place for one might be a place of experience and meetings for someone else. In the context of the waiting room, the passage of time stands as an abstract function, with no other expectations except the very purpose of waiting, we sit down and pause - often in the company of others.
Sometimes waiting is an unwanted necessity, but perhaps waiting can be self-chosen and thus a break to catch your breath. Here, the visitor's own connotations of the waiting room (as a non-place/place), and waiting (as a feeling), shape their subjective experience of the room. The exhibition space can sometimes, like the waiting room, be seen as sort of a non-place where we stay for a while and then move on. It is subjective whether the exhibition creates a memorable impression, or works rather as a transitory passage.
How can the exhibition space and the waiting room be combined, to give the non-place a value of place?
The designers My Comét (tæt studio) and Stina Henriksson (sa:k design studio) examine the above. By exploring the Waiting Room as a non-place, they aim to create an exhibition space to dwell in for a while, among objects carefully selected for the visitor. The objects have a meaning, a history, and are there to be used and experienced, rather than just being perceived - contributing to a memorable impression of the place. What you sit on, drink from, read, the queue ticket in your hand and the art you look at, while letting your mind wander, are all carefully selected as part of this group exhibition where we are allowed to unconditionally just be.