The Liberating Experience of Franz West's Fitting Pieces

As we navigate the world around us, it's easy to get caught up in the notion that everything has a purpose and a function. But what if we were to challenge this idea? What if we were to create objects that serve no practical use at all? This is exactly what Austrian artist Franz West did with his Fitting Pieces, also known as Paßstücke.

These sculptures, which have been part of West's oeuvre since 1974, are designed to be impossible to adapt or fit into our daily lives. They are meant to be frustratingly awkward and uncomfortable, forcing us to confront the tyranny of functionalist design. When we encounter one of these pieces, we're invited to pick it up and try to make it work, but ultimately, we're left feeling helpless and contorted.

The Fitting Pieces take on a life of their own as they morph into weird protrusions and extensions, defying our attempts to tame them. They begin with discarded objects covered in plaster, taking on biomorphic shapes that seem designed to fit snugly into the folds and curves of a human body. But alas, they never do.

In his 2001 retrospective 'Appartement' at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg, West featured one of these pieces shaped like a tube with a handle on the inside. The result is pure slapstick as we try to grab it, only to find our armpit rubbing against the rim of the tube.

The encounter with the Fitting Pieces ends up as a practical joke about Modernist notions of form and function. But since everyone in the exhibition can see our performance with these pieces, the joke is ultimately on us too. We become part of a larger commentary on the human condition, forced to confront the absurdity of trying to fit into a world that seems designed to exclude us.

In many ways, West's Fitting Pieces are a manifestation of his philosophical outlook. According to Greek pre-Socratic philosopher Empedocles, life begins with disconnected body parts that only come together through love. West's sculptures seem to echo this idea, featuring arms without shoulders, heads without necks, and other solitary organs bobbing about on the surface of Earth until they eventually form whole beings.

In the end, the Fitting Pieces are not just a commentary on design or functionality but also a reflection of our own struggles to fit in and find meaning in the world. They invite us to confront the absurdity of our existence and to laugh at the futility of trying to adapt to a world that seems designed to thwart us.

As we leave the exhibition, we're left with a sense of liberation, freed from the tyranny of function and form. We're reminded that sometimes the most liberating experience is the one that leaves us feeling useless and frustrated – but also strangely content.

Franz west fitting piece