Shechet’s outdoor sculptures are accompanied by a multitude of artist-designed benches, which serve as an invitation for visitors to pause and spend more time with the sculptures, watching as they shift and change in the light and landscape. Shechet says, “I want people to be comfortable. If I’m asking them to linger and contemplate my work, I want to make a gesture that makes it obvious and easy. I’ve worked on various shows where I’ve done this, and it lets people know, even if they don’t sit down, that I’m thinking about them.” Shechet’s benches also encourage interactions—an unexpected conversation with a fellow viewer, or a place to sit during performances.

The benches are constructed from cast-concrete with pleated attachments in sandcast bronze or carved marble. The grain from the wooden forms in which the concrete was cast remains palpable on the benches’ surfaces, part of Shechet’s long-running theme of making her “process visible.”