Roadblock

2017

Roadblock was part of our class' group exhibition.

Visitors and participating students have slept, worked and played chess in this red, wooden block.

The little red hut had a hand sewn custom made pillow to sit on, a lamp, lavalamp, fairylights and some plush sculptures to create a cosy atmosphere.

I had a lot of conversations inside the block, without a specific reason to interact, nor with any rules to see what would happen.

Later on I staged the interaction and it became my performance to play chess inside with everyone for days.

It included serving home baked biscuits during chess games.

I chose chess because it is an ancient game (and battle) between two individuals. Everyone became very focused on the game whether they loved chess beforehand or not. We were playing the game, forgetting there is even a world outside of this red block.

Chess was also one of the main reasons to visit me and relax inside. Because a game can go on for days or even weeks, I took pictures of the chess pieces’ compositions when we decided to pause the game. So everyone had a reason to return. Either to ask for revanche or to resume were we had left.