Davenport Yawn offers the gift of respite to fairgoers. Two at a time, each reclines on a furry sofa-like form. Shortly after their heads hit the pillows, air begins to fill the soft suede-like surface they walked upon to reach the center. Sparkling sac continues to engorge; the sofas and their supine guests slowly rotate toward each other. Full now, the inflated forms have turned the backs of the sofas into a momentary bed where strangers face one another intimately. Exhaling begets the end of this short closeness. Rotating in silence, returning to two, this room’s shimmering yawn beckons two more into its embrace.
Rozalia Jovanovic curated Alex Schweder’s new inflatable installation, Davenport Yawn, especially for Collective Design in collaboration with by Davide Quadrio at Alcantara. This work was commissioned by Alcantara and was inspired by Schweder’s work, Slowly Ceiling, exhibited at the 2013 Lisbon Architecture Triennale curated by Mariana Pestana and Beatrice Galilee. My Turn, a newly commissioned work in collaboration with Ward Shelley is contemporaneously on view at the Armory Show.