Through July 19 | Tivoli, NY

"Don't Sit On Me," is group show that opened at Available Items in Tivoli during Upstate Art Weekend and remains on view through July 19. The title riffs on the Gadsden flag's "Don't Tread on Me," and the premise is pointed as th teeth of the Gadsden snake's fangs: thirteen chair designs, selected from an open call, that satirize or comment on the current state of America as it approaches its 250th anniversary—rising authoritarianism, ongoing inequality, corporate greed, and the questioning of basic rights, among other things.

'Period Piece' by Kate Casey of peg woodworking. "The stain on the seat is unavoidable," Kate Casey says. "Menstruation has been deemed unclean across cultures and centuries, used as justification to exclude, diminish, and suppress women across every generation. We inherit this shame early and carry it quietly, replacing stained clothing at our own expense, purchasing taxed sanitary products as though a basic biological function were a luxury. The burden is financial as much as psychological."

The designs reappropriate conservative slogans, critique patriotic hubris, and turn private struggles into public statements—but you shouldn't actually sit down on any of them, tempting as that might be in a room full of chairs, including one made of whoopee cushions. The participating designers are Brian Atkinson, Eric Trine, Felix Beaudry, flowerpsycho, Jed Heuer, Joey Zeledón x Martelle Esposito, Morgane Richer La Fleche, Nine Stories Co, Peg Woodworking, Shawn Carney, Summer Moore, Viñas + Design, and Yi Chen—a mix of furniture designers and visual artists working at the intersection of craft and protest. 

A chair is one of the most basic, universally understood objects of domestic life—something built to support and hold a body—a loaded form to subvert.

Available Items, 64 Broadway, Tivoli, NY. Free. More at @available_items on Instagram.

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Written by

Jamie Larson
Jamie Larson
After a decade of writing for RI (along with many other publications and organizations) Jamie took over as editor in 2025. He has a masters in journalism from NYU, a wonderful wife, two kids and a Carolina dog named Zelda.