Earth is like a chess board where man fight against the biosphere. The oil can be regarded as our ally in the fight. Should the biosphere get the upper hand, the development will go into reverse, but the future of the earth may be saved. Welcome to play a game of outdoor chess, where the game also is a piece of artwork, named The Struggle (2020).
Starting from week 35, 2020, the chess pieces has been removed for maintenance. We will post here once they are back end the chess game is functional again.
The chess pieces on the biosphere side comprise of elks, trees and birds and on the opposite side, cars, oil pumps and factories.
The chess game was developed by the artist Lars Arrhenius, who sadly passed during the spring 2020, and the author and artist Eric Ericson. The duo has previously developed family games with climate theme, most recently Party (2018), where the participants compete in preparing a successful children’s party. During the game, the participants are taken on a trip across the world where they are shown how the necessary components for a party depletes the world and where the production is made by underpaid labour in low-wage countries. The earlier games, all focus on topics like economy, ethics and biosphere, bear the titles Welcome to society (2012), Panama (2016) and From nothing to striped tootpaste (2017).
– To make the chess game accessible at Artipelag is gratifying. It is meant to both entertain and evoke reflection. Chess game has been around for more than thousands of years, our earth is billions years old but the latter is being destroyed at a rapid speed, says Eric Ericson.
The game, which will become a part of the permanent outdoor exhibition Sculpture in nature, is placed adjacent to the outdoor terrace belonging to Bådan Café & Pâtisserie. A description on how to set up the pieces can be picked up at the information desk. Unfortunately, no pre-booking to play the game is possible.
