There are an upwards of 20 different styles of benches on the sidewalks of Los Angeles. They each serve a function, usually related to transportation and waiting; though they could serve many other functions such as aiding in socialization or resting. For this project I have tested the resistant behavior of each type of bench. To understand the resistant behavior of such benches is to first examine the behavior of human bodies and our surrounding environments. Human bodies are soft, flexible, mutable and often amazingly resilient to various conditions. The structures of the built environment are management tools for not only masses of bodies but for specific individual bodies as well; (for instance sidewalks function to control the flow of traffic and maintain it within certain borders). These management apparatuses are found specifically in all the benches I have tested. Most benches have a type of divider, or hospitably put, an arm rest, to break up the surface of the bench, thereby commanding bodies to sit apart from one another in specific measured squares and rectangles designed to just adequately accommodate the ass and (sometimes) upper back of the body. Other benches provide a minimum of seating room so as to contain only one small to medium sized human at a time. These designs resist the desires of bodies to perform in a non- upright sitting position, thwarting the possibilities of comfort and time spent in such locations. Testing Resistance does just what it says, it tests the resistance of such architecture by temporarily modifying the body to accommodate the conditions of its built environment.

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Sarah Ross is a graduate student at the University of California, Irvine, studying Studio Art with an emphasis in Women Studies.   Her current work investigates the effects of social fear and anxiety on the body.