Citizen Chairs of Beirut — Sequences of a Fragmented City

In Beirut, chairs serve as silent witnesses to daily life and political turbulence—used by shopkeepers to reserve parking spots, gathered in city corners for after-hours conversation, or placed beside food carts for fleeting moments of rest. Designer George Baida asks: What does the chair reveal about broader infrastructures, state apparatus, broken systems and the everyday coping mechanisms of the people?

Ubiquitous plastic monobloc chairs are entwined into three sculptural forms, each expressing the shifting meanings and associations the same chair takes on across different urban settings. Accompanying film essays capture the quiet turmoil surrounding these objects, offering an impressionistic biography of the city and its many layers. At once a reflection on government neglect and a love letter to the people of Lebanon, the project explores how mundane objects and modest gestures speak to deeper systems of collapse—scarcity, precarity and loss—while also revealing persistence, solidarity and resilience.