Dismantling the Chair Pile: Uncovering the Aesthetics of Bureaucracy

Does your office also have a pile of neglected chairs? Sip coffee and connect unique personal experiences in your government office to the more universal dynamics of public institutions. This workshop aims to foster a critical appreciation of bureaucracy by exploring workspaces as a means of challenging worldviews and reimagining public service. Prompted by an inspiring visual collection of spaces, scenes, and objects in public offices in Brazil and the US, participants will be invited to share and analyze their own images. The images will serve as engagement prompts for participants to observe, identify, and discuss interesting characteristics of each bureaucratic setting. Participants will be invited to challenge their worldviews about bureaucracy, defamiliarizing and uncovering the fascinating and bizarre in their workspaces. Through an appreciative inquiry into spaces inhabited by civil servants, the workshop aims to connect individual stories to global narratives on bureaucracy’s role in contemporary challenges.

An exhibition will be curated featuring collected images, and the digital archives of @EsteticadaBurocracia and @PublicSectorOffice. This workshop was designed by Ana Carolina Fiocchi Perez, Brenda Machado Fonseca, Caio Werneck, Casey Peterson, Isabela Brandalise, and Lucas Vaqueiro.

By Comitê Estética da Burocracia & Public Sector Office.