The Wexford Municipal Museum of Modern Art has installed a velvet rope and small brass plaque around an ordinary wooden bench after staff grew tired of visitors photographing it, sketching it, and in one case attempting to purchase it for $40,000.
The bench, which was placed in Gallery C for guests to rest their feet, had been standing directly across from a piece titled ‘Untitled No. 7,’ a canvas the museum describes as ‘a meditation on absence.’ According to staff, at least sixty visitors per week stood in front of the bench, tilted their heads thoughtfully, and murmured things like ‘bold’ and ‘very tactile.’
‘We understand the confusion,’ said museum director Carla Pennington. ‘The bench does have clean lines and a certain quiet defiance. Frankly, it’s been getting better reviews than half the actual exhibits.’ Pennington noted that when the museum tried removing the bench for cleaning, three separate visitors filed complaints that ‘the artist’s vision had been censored.’
Since installing the rope, museum staff report a new problem: visitors now believe the rope itself is a commentary on institutional boundaries and are photographing that instead. A new sign has been ordered reading ‘Please Sit — This Is Furniture,’ though early drafts of the sign were mistaken for a haiku by two separate tour groups.
