Franz West’s Untitled (Sit Down) epitomizes the artist’s career-long fascination with creating sculptural works that incorporate interactive elements, blurring the line between his art and the audience. His desire to challenge the conventional view of art as something to be merely observed began in the 1970s with his Passstücke (Adaptives), a series of sculptural works intended to be experienced through interaction with the human body, inviting viewers to touch, hold, or wear the sculptures. West’s approach disrupts the passive relationship between the viewer and the artwork, making the audience an active participant in the experience of the art.

In addition to encouraging physical interaction, West frequently incorporated everyday objects, like furniture, into his sculptures, transforming them into surprising and unexpected combinations that played with familiar forms in unfamiliar ways.
In Untitled (Sit Down), West’s inclusion of text adds a conceptual layer to the work, taking his message one step further and emphasizing the key tensions at play. The phrase "Sit Down" directly addresses the viewer, offering a playful and seemingly straightforward invitation to engage with the piece. However, placing the sculpture on a pedestal introduces a key tension: it elevates the object back to the status of an art piece, distancing it from the viewer and subverting the invitation to physically interact.