A pandemic that shakes the world. A virus that has no precedent and no cure. A crisis that sends governments around the world into a frenzy. Fear and uncertainty grips all of mankind. These are nine difficult weeks for all of humanity. Lockdowns are announced across the world, to keep people distanced and to prevent the rampant spread of the virus, and whole populations witnessed their world change around them. While ‘work from home’, ‘virtual meetings’ and ‘online collaborations’ helped the privileged few to continue with life in a new normal, those at the frontline braved the odds for the good of the whole. But, for a few chosen ones, this was an opportunity to invest in themselves and create.
‘9 chairs’ is a lockdown film from Engineer – designer – architect – artist – director Juergen Josef Goetzmann. Josef presents a film that showcases nine of his brilliant creations inspired by the lockdown. Nine chairs, each unique in its own right. These chairs come with stories that were the inspiration of the artist in their creation. Josef finds his spark in the most unlikely of places; Politicians, Health workers, Human emotions and even the very typographic image of the year in question. After signing off on his works of art, Joseph goes on to create the visual documentation and the back story with the same attention to detail. Joseph uses graphic images, text and engaging instrumentals to weave together a visual treat that communicates the inspiration, the build, the applications, the features and even the various colour options available with each chair to the viewer.
‘9 Chairs’ is a wonderful specimen of graphic art that works delightfully as a note about the artist’s expression and as promotional material for the artwork itself. The same standards of skill, craft, aesthetics and finesse carry through to the film as seen in the nine chairs. Each frame from the film is a visual treat, as is each element in the chairs. They come together with each other as precisely as does the various elements of the film. ‘9 Chairs’ seeds the idea that ‘If necessity is the mother of invention, exigency is the harbinger of genius’.
