A couch tours the world.

The question posed by the Universal Couch project is: What do people living in the 21st century think, feel, wish and hope for. Hundreds of people will answer fifteen universal questions, recorded on video and still photographs, and form a “Gallery of Mankind”. The bright red couch is the common denominator for all nations, creeds, races and classes, for cultural variety, different ways of life and opinions of individuals, scenes, majorities and minorities. A red couch therefore becomes a stage (soap box) for the well-known and unknown, rich and poor – for all the citizens of this earth.

The Universal Couch travels to the people, in their own country, their own surroundings, their own homes. The couch is a messenger and ambassador of the human search for truth and happiness and it shows that what people have in common is stronger than the things that divide them. A unique perspective of the world is being captured on film and in still photography; with each individual mirroring the main concerns of mankind.

« Every human being is unique, real original. Therefore he/she will not only be„world-famous for fifteen minutes” (Andy Warhol 196 ) and an artist (“every human is an artist” Joseph Beuys) but an absolute piece of art itself. « Horst Wackerbarth

The goal of the project is to make global dialog possible between people and to create an anthropology of the 21st century for present and later generations – an anthropology compiled by the people themselves.