Seatbelt on while seated. Life jacket under your seat
Medium: An old chair wrapped with rosaries. There is a seat belt attached to the sides and a life jacket attached underneath. At the back can be read “Seat belt on before taking off and landing, life jacket under your seat.”
Year: 2001
Dimensions: 80cm x 45cm 45cm
Location: Utrechtse Kunstmanifestatie. Janskerkhof. Sept 2001. Utrecht. The Netherlands
Seatbelt on while seated. Life jacket under your seat’ is an old chair wrapped with rosaries that was installed at a church. Attached to the sides is a seat belt, and underneath the chair is a life jacket. On the back of the chair is a sign that reads ‘Seat belt on before taking off and landing, life jacket under your seat’.
Lebrusan’s juxtaposition of consecrated items and aviation safety highlights the use of religion and spirituality in shaping humanity. The words, ‘seat belt on before taking off and landing’ alludes to human dependence on religion and spirituality as a lifeline in times of trouble. When we are ill, we go to the doctor and not the priest. When we lose someone or are diagnosed with Stage-4 cancer, many of us start to pray for strength and relief. While religion offers emotional regulation at times of hardship, it also reveals our dependence on others and our deep vulnerability.
As the chair places itself in a church, it reminds viewers of the civilising influence of religion to steer humans toward charity, compassion and cooperation. How the heart of religion is not its belief system or moral code, but its ability to generate collective effervescence: intense, shared experiences that unify individuals into cooperative social groups. ‘Seatbelt on while seated. Life jacket under your seat’ reveals the value of religion as a consolation rather than its factual disappointments.
The Chair Rosary
Give me a chair to rest,
give me a truth to believe,
give me a belt to tie myself to my belief,
give me a life jacket to be safe from the world.
Seat belt on before taking off and landing, life jacket under your seat.
I have a chair to rest,
I have a truth to believe,
I have a belt to tie myself to my belief,
I have a life jacket to be safe from the world.
Seat belt on before taking off and landing, life jacket under your seat.
(repeat both 10 time)
