Broken Chair

File:BrokenChair.jpg

Broken Chair on the Place des Nations, Geneva

Broken Chair is a monumental sculpture in wood by the Swiss artist Daniel Berset, constructed by the carpenter Louis Genève. It is constructed of 5.5 tons of wood and is 12 metres (39 feet) high.

It depicts a giant chair with a broken leg and stands across the street from the Palace of Nations, in Geneva. It symbolises opposition to land mines and cluster bombs, and acts as a reminder to politicians and others visiting Geneva.

History

Broken Chair is a project of Paul Vermeulen, co-founder and director of Handicap International Suisse. The sculpture was erected by Handicap International in front of the main entrance to the Palais des Nations in Geneva in August 1997, where it was intended to remain for three months, until the signing of the Ottawa Treaty in December 1997 in Ottawa. Following ratification by 40 countries, the Treaty became effective as an instrument of international law on 1 March 1999.

The failure of significant countries to sign the Treaty and the strong public support for the sculpture caused it to be left in place until 2005, when it was removed to allow extensive remodelling of the Palais des Nations. After completion of the work, it was reinstalled in the same place in front of the United Nations Office at Geneva on 26 February 2007.

The reinstallation of Broken Chair in February 2007 was officially dedicated by Handicap International to support the signature of an international treaty on a ban on Cluster Bombs (Convention on Cluster Munitions), which was signed in Oslo in December 2008.

The work was the property of the sculptor until 2004, when he transferred ownership to Handicap International.

See also

Other giant chair sculptures are Chair in the US, and the temporary The Writer on Hampstead Heath in London.

Notes and references

The article was translated from the French Wikipedia entry (as of June 2008), with some additional input from [1].