IKEA Disobedients

IKEA Disobedients, an architectural performance by Madrid-based Andrés Jaque Arquitectos, was recently acquired by MoMA. The international premiere of the performance at MoMA PS1, part of the 9+1 Ways of Being Political exhibition at MoMA, reveals how recent architectural practices utilize performative actions to engage audiences with architecture in a non-traditional way.

The performance takes place in a setting made of IKEA-hacked pieces and invites neighbors in Queens to reenact their politically-charged domestic activities. According to Jaque, the performance suggests disobedience to the lifestyles proposed by brands such as IKEA, proposing "an urban counter-notion of the domestic" instead—one that discloses how politically active citizens can and do act outside of the privacy of their homes.