The Last Seat
Sofia Shen
Advisor: Yuliya Parshina-Kottas
The Last Seat explores a future where survival replaces meaning, and consumption replaces mourning. Constructed from the remains of extinct life, the project confronts humanity’s instinct to commodify, dominate, and endure at any cost.
Project Description
The Last Seat is a speculative artifact recovered from a future where survival has overtaken all other values.
In this world, life is no longer seen as sacred. Once a part of our food systems, have been driven to extinction. Yet humanity feels no guilt. To them, chickens were always products, bred for profit, consumed without thought, and discarded with no care. In death, they remain products. Their bones, stripped of life, are now repurposed into symbols of power, built into objects for those who survived.
Inspired by existential reflections on human nature, particularly Dostoevsky’s assertion that “man can get used to anything” and Camus’ portrayal of life’s absurd meaninglessness, this project confronts the idea that humans are inherently greedy, selfish, and adaptable consumers, the human tendency to normalize violence and commodification. We do not mourn loss; we repackage it.
We do not honor life; we turn it into product, status, or proof of survival.
The instability of the chair’s structure mirrors the fragility of the world it belongs to.
Survival leaves no monuments,
memory or meaning.
Only structure,
only proof,
only remains.
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Technical Details
The chair is constructed using driftwood, scrap construction material, metal remains, discarded objects and real chicken bones sourced from food waste. Bones were cleaned, boiled, degreased, and reinforced with wire and metal for structural stability. All materials were assembled manually, using reclaimed joints and industrial adhesives, to reflect the instability and exhaustion of survival.