Habitat

The ‘Monobloc’ plastic chair is the most widely used piece of furniture in the world. Due to its simple industrial production from a single mould of plastic, this chair is considered the epitome of capitalist mass-produced goods and is used around the world for outdoor areas such as campsites, front gardens or restaurants due to its weather resistance.
In his video work Habitat, Reichart mounts the plastic chair in the scenery of the painting ‘A Stream in the Forest’ (1865) by the American landscape painter Asher Brown Durand, which idealises the idea of ‘untouched nature’ without human intervention and uses this artifice to create a powerful image of man’s impact on the earth. Although current ecological contributions, such as the work of the philosopher Timothy Morton or Philippe Descola’s ‘Beyond Nature and Culture’ (2013), problematise the juxtaposition of nature and culture, the understanding of nature as the other of culture shaped by Romanticism lives on in society.
Even in Greek mythology, Prometheus - the bringer of fire - is regarded as the originator of human civilisation: with him, humanity begins to subjugate nature. And so the blazing fire on the seat of the chair in Reichart’s video work can also be read as a symbol of the momentous destruction of our own habitat, which has been progressing since the industrial revolution and is becoming increasingly evident in the current challenges of climate change. Even if the flame in Reichart’s video work does not go out, it is a reminder that man’s time on earth is limited.