Ikea Disobedients

In this architectural performance piece, first performed in Madrid in November 2011 and acquired by MoMA in 2012, Jaque explores the political potential of the domestic arena. Within an armature of “hacked” Ikea furniture, local community members are invited to publicly perform their everyday private talents, behaviors, and discussions. Using Ikea furniture as an improvised set, the work comments on the impact of these ordinary objects and systems in determining their users’ lifestyle—suggesting that not all people necessarily abide by the same normative principles or architectural dictates. The private dwelling, typically segregated from public space, is often conceived of as non-political, but Jaque underscores that political participation may be more than taking part in state or municipal decisions. Through activities, conversations, and community-oriented practices disseminated from one’s own private space, the domestic can become a new form of democratic parliament in which the architect is but an orchestrator and collaborator.

The installation Ikea Disobedients brought up a lot of interesting points I hadn’t considered. For one I didn’t catch on to this specific demographic of young adults/young families...maybe because I partially fit their targeted consumer. The topic of the home being apolitical vs political I feel is a super relevant subject currently even as it was back in 2011. Politics seemingly dictate so many things about day to day life without you even realizing it... often politics cause divide which I can understand why Ikea is wanting to create an apolitical space within the home environment. However, home, at least for me, turns into the political “safe place” in a sense... politics aren’t absent but rather have free reign. There isn’t the feeling of am I going to offend someone, what would people think if they knew x,y,z. So this concept almost goes back to the idea of the whom. No matter what you intend for your spaces to be used for or how to be used...the user always brings an element of the unknown into a project. I would like to think we as designers/architects could begin to tap into that unknown, but it can ultimately be unpredictable.