ROCKING CHAIR
21 May 2025
Berlin-based artist Martin Binder has created a bench that refuses to let you sit alone. While the Balance Bench looks simple - oak slats on a clean steel frame - it only works if two or more people use it together. It’s mounted on a single cylindrical pivot, so unless users physically balance their weights and positions, the bench tilts.
"This work directly embodies democratic principles through its design," explains Binder. "It cannot function for a single user—it explicitly requires consensus, negotiation and mutual awareness between at least two people to create a functional public space."
Installed in the Garden of Generations in Einbeck, Germany, Binder first came up with the idea during the COVID19 lockdowns. At the time, it was meant for a public art festival that got canceled. But the themes stuck—distance, proximity, awareness of others. The bench became a quiet response to how the pandemic shifted our understanding of shared space. Now, as a permanent fixture in his hometown, it opens up conversation between generations and strangers alike through weight and balance.
Binder calls it ‘democracy in design.’ There’s no hierarchy, no fixed center, no leader. The only way to sit comfortably is by mutual adjustment. Sit too far apart, and you slide off. Too close, same result. The mechanics force users to negotiate, to read someone else’s body, and to respond. The bench becomes a shared act. ‘Finding the right balance requires communication and awareness of others,’ Binder notes. ‘You cannot impose your will on the bench—the physics simply won’t allow it. Similarly, democratic spaces require give and take, awareness of others’ needs, and a willingness to adjust one’s position for the common good.’
BALANCE BENCH
LOCATION Einbeck, Germany
DESIGNER Martin Binder
PHOTOGRAPHY Spieker Fotografie
