In Robert Rauschenberg’s elegant ziggurat, two chairs face each other at a standoff. The word “incident” in the title suggests an unpleasant standoff, a confrontation. But the chairs are also delicately balanced against each other, with their seats in perfect alignment. Perfectly aligned, too, are the their stairstep bases. Indeed, the entire arrangement mirrors itself, such that neither side is distinguishable from the other. How many of our real-life confrontations are like that, where both parties are coming from the same essential set of desires and fears? And, Rauschenberg suggests, without our opponent in the incident, we will both topple.

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