The first site-specific museum installation in the US by the Viennese artist Franz West, Test, was presented on the MOCA Grand Avenue Sculpture Plaza and comprised twenty-eight couches arranged in four diagonal rows of seven. Built with sparing construction materials like foam and metal, the sofas sported colorful slip coverings designed and fabricated by Gilbert Bretterbauer and were meant to be used by the public.
Test related to an earlier installation by West called Auditorium (1992) that similarly involved outdoor sofas, which he presented at Documenta in Kassel, Germany.
Focus Series: Franz West was part of the museum’s Focus Series (1992–1998), which was dedicated to presentations of distinct bodies of work by artists working in all media and featured a roster of distinguished local and international artists.