The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
Just outside London's Paddington Station, affixed to a corporate building at 50 Eastbourne Terrace, stands a remarkable clock. A cursory glance may deceive one into seeing a miniature man in a three-piece suit inside, painting and removing the clock's hands meticulously, marking the passage of time minute by minute. Initially bewildering, the realization dawns that this is not reality but a meticulously crafted film, capturing a continuous 12-hour performance—a stroke of creative genius inserted into an otherwise mundane piece of urban architecture. The public clock, now largely obsolete in the age of smartphones, has been transformed into a philosophical poem where function intertwines with artistic expression. It invites viewers to contemplate time in its existential purity, as a medium shaped by human action.
Designed by Dutch artist Maarten Baas, the clock debuted as part of his Real Time project at Milan's Salone del Mobile in 2009. Originally a trade fair for product design showcasing new furnishings and decor, Salone del Mobile has increasingly embraced more avant-garde installations at its fringe festival, known as 'Fuorisalone'. Here, the emphasis is less on comfort, brightness, or traditional beauty of objects like chairs or lamps, but rather on their ability to captivate like conceptual art. Each piece's underlying idea, concept, or narrative must match or exceed the value of its materials or the ingenuity of its construction, which sometimes becomes an integral part of its narrative.
Among the standout examples is Jeroen Verhoeven's Cinderella Table (2006), a conceptual fusion of an 18th-century chest of drawers and table, created using computer-generated outlines and meticulously constructed from plywood by boat-building specialists. The name itself invokes whimsical associations with Disney's reinterpretations of classical furniture in films like Beauty and the Beast. Similarly, Nacho Carbonell's expansive Light Mesh Collection transforms simple chairs into sprawling, cocoon-like structures reminiscent of his childhood home in Spain, while Thomas Lemut's Gigognes. Olympia. 43 + 38 (2020) nesting tables pay homage to Édouard Manet's painting Olympia, mapping its cracked varnish onto glazed earthenware tabletops, blending precision engineering with an allusion to human frailty. Furniture design, with its proximity to the human body and its integral role in domestic, social, and political spheres, offers a fertile ground for exploring embodied experiences. As John A. Fleming notes in 'The Semiotics of Furniture Form' (1999), all objects we create are reflections of the human body and mind within the constraints of time and space. This intimate relationship with movable objects like chairs and tables is underscored by our anthropomorphic references—leg, arm, back, seat—highlighting their symbolic resonance and functional significance throughout history.
The evolution of furniture from purely functional items to expressive, culturally resonant pieces parallels broader shifts in art and design. While traditional distinctions between art and design have been upheld through linguistic and educational frameworks, there have been movements, like the Bauhaus and Wiener Werkstätte, that sought to bridge these divides. The Surrealists, in particular, viewed furniture not merely as utilitarian but as conduits for subconscious projections and myths, exemplified by Salvador Dalí's Mae West lips sofa and lobster telephones, Méret Oppenheim's Object (1936), and Dorothea Tanning's Primitive Seating (1982).
Contemporary designers continue to challenge these boundaries. Artists like Franz West and Ron Arad blur distinctions between art and functional design, while groups like Droog and institutions like Design Academy Eindhoven foster experimental, thought-provoking approaches to design. Objects like Tejo Remy's Rag Chair (1991) or Lubna Chowdhary's non-functional sculptural ceramics defy conventional expectations, prompting viewers to reconsider the role of design as a medium for political expression and cultural critique.
