Hidden Entourage by Supaform.

We expect furniture to serve us, but what happens if it resists?

This is the question Moscow-based design studio Supaform have asked in their latest solo exhibition, held last November at the Contemporary Cluster’s Palazzo Brancaccio in Rome. In ‘Hidden Entourage’, curated by Giacomo Guidi, a collection of eight objects disguised as furniture pieces temporarily filled the extravagant venue, connecting centuries of art and design heritage.

The objects are familiar — a sofa, a couple of side tables and chairs, a lamp and a chest of drawers. What’s unusual about this collection of objects is that while they are beautiful they are also devoid of function with no utilitarian function or comfort to them at all. Chairs are impossible to sit long on, lamp’s wires are exposed as if it is unfinished, tables do not seem to be made for putting anything at all on them.

Supaform argues through this show that devoid of function, objects start to render bare emotion. As design’s instinct is to be function-forward Supaform finds merit in the long considered ‘excessive’.

Related: Multipurpose Design Apartment in Rome by Contemporary Cluster.

“For once we stop expecting day-to-day objects to serve us, once we agree to let go of total control over them, they shine with pure emotion and undeniable beauty that does not need a reason,” explains Supaform’s Maxim Scherbakov, further elaborating that “it is a meticulous search for a way to get rid of an illusion of control, of an assumption that everything has to serve humanity by fulfilling a practical purpose.”

Every piece started from the two-dimensional world of painting with the geometric and vibrant paintings flanking the objects in the exhibition, celebrating the incubation period of the process.

Housed in the Palazzo Brancaccio, a prime example of decorative abundance typical for the end of the XIXth century architecture, a dialogue arises between the collection and the space — both have no purpose but to evoke emotion.

The objects serve as a paradox, sitting uncomfortably between art and design and perhaps creating a whole new medium in its own right — or at least something for us to argue over.

Related: Sight Unseen Launches ‘Offsite Online’ Design Fair.

[Images courtesy of Supaform. Photography by Serena Eller.]