An experience with Urs Fischer’s PLAY is not an encounter with inert objects, but a dance with capricious partners. Nine office chairs of differing colors and with mercurial personalities zoom around a gallery, each inviting the viewer into an impenetrable pas de deux. The chairs, constructed masses of wires and sensors, are equipped with a functioning AI that determines and learns from each encounter they have. As the exhibition progresses, their actions will become more and more refined until they eventually become so graceful that their artificial origin can be obscured. PLAY is a technologically advanced work, yet it is one that seeks to transcend the novelty of its creation. As Fischer affirms, “despite the complexity of the parts, the exhibition as a whole is pretty simple. It’s about what you, the viewer, project onto it. It’s not about chairs, it’s about humans.” While the chairs are the most visible part of PLAY, the work unfolds through exchange, expectation, and frustration. As you stand in the gallery, a chair might approach timidly or full of boisterous energy and engage you in any number of actions. Yet, the chairs defy preconceived notions of how they should behave. As you expect one to veer to the left, it darts right and wheels off to the opposite side of the room, abruptly dismissing any patterns that you may try to apply. These moments of entropy lie at the heart of the piece, confounding the observer and bestowing a kind of agency upon the chairs, making them active participants in their own arena.