Book review | The Chairs Are Where the People Go by Misha Glouberman with Sheila Heti

At first glance, I thought this book was going to be another exercise in Pilkingtonism. In the same way Ricky Gervais likes to put his friend Karl Pilkington in front of a microphone to laugh at what comes out, initially it seemed that author Sheila Heti (Ticknor) was going to perform the same sort of ventriloquism/voyeurism—in her foreword, she writes of her friend, “One day, I told him I thought the world should have a book of everything he knows.”

What follows is a transcription of Heti’s interviews with Misha Glouberman—a Toronto performer and artist—written as mini essays, congenial rants or how-to instruction manuals. The results are about as charming and idiosyncratic as could be imagined, with Glouberman holding forth on the best techniques for playing charades and the true importance of Missy Elliott’s “Work It.” Glouberman is a passionate, humanistic contrarian, often describing the preoccupations of his generation as baffling or “crazy.” In “Going to Parties,” a well-meaning friend wants to throw a party where no networking happens, but Glouberman thinks that misunderstands why people go to parties. Or he bemoans all of the art meant to connect people living in a city who don’t interact on their commutes. “That’s ridiculous!… A city is a place where you can be alone in public, and where you have that right.”

The obvious joy that went into the production of this book—it’s easy to picture Heti and Glouberman laughing through the interviews—is infectious, and what seriousness it aspires to is enlightening, if a bit transitory. Chairs is a catalog of the preoccupations of the contemporary urban artist, without ever getting artsy about it.