Bench and Table puts pressure on the separation of the private and public, of performance and sculpture. In this piece, Burton plays with the notion of being private in public. By contemplating the work and sitting on it, the viewer–as–participant constructs a private and personal experience with the sculpture. The semicircular bench and cylindrical table are low and compact, forcing you to compress your knees and slightly lean forward if you want to fit within the boundaries of the object. Yet any private experience of the work is also a public one, as sitting on the work blurs the line between viewer and object. Seen from the outside, a seated figure on Bench and Table becomes as much a part of the public art exhibition as the sculpture itself.

This tension between private and public also informs the notion of performance that the sculpture embodies. Burton believed that the interaction between the participant and the sculpture constitutes a performance. When you approach Bench and Table as both a private and a public experience, its shape and location compel you to perform the interaction in a certain way, moving your own form in response to the artwork and activating the object as a bench and a table. It is a dialogic performance that changes both you and the sculpture, bringing it fully into the present and the everyday while you are drawn into its borders and geometry. This dynamic was important to Burton, who believed that the incorporation of the body into an artwork makes the piece more accessible.

Similarly, the sculpture itself is a consummate performer. Whereas actors on stage can move between different embodiments of themselves as characters and as people, the sculpture is an object always on display in an ongoing performance of both art and pragmatism. Accordingly, the performances of both the participant and the sculpture are incorporated into the artwork itself. Burton’s interpretation of the performative nature of sculpture ultimately connects to his belief in the democratizing power of public art. By interacting with the object in a way that is familiar and accessible, every participant is empowered to both grasp and shape the meaning of the artwork.

Burton hoped that people could interact with his furniture pieces in meaningful ways without necessarily knowing that they were works of art. He believed that anyone could connect with them simply on the basis of their everyday experiences. By exhibiting his art in public spaces, Burton aimed to facilitate unmediated and personal interactions between his sculptures and the people around them.