The ‘War Games’ trilogy is the result of a long research on the theme of war and play. That is why, I chose to construct three toys with obvious features of wars we have either seen in photographs or read about. From animals to humans, it would be easy to notice the tremendous similarities that exist among them in childhood. Dogs, cats, wild animals as well as humans discover the world and acquire knowledge through play and more specifically a kind of game that shares a feeling of battle or war. The projects were designed and constructed during the second year of the Master’s degree in the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, Italy in 2022/2023. The motivation for these works was one of my favourite songs entitled the ‘War song’. The audience feels that in the game they are invited to play there is no movement left to perform. In the end, they cannot but remain uninvolved and inactive.
On the first chessboard, the Hotspot approach (first reception facilities) and the imprisonment of survived refugees is negotiated.
On the second chessboard, there is a wall in the middle which has trapped/ frozen all the pawns before their next move. Yet, they are doomed to remain immobile forever. No player could easily find a solution to this structural problem of the board. One of the clear references is that of Israel’s modern apartheid in Palestine.
In the third case, the chessboard itself has been destroyed. The pawns are fewer. It would now be extremely difficult to distinguish what was there before the moment of destruction and even more difficult to identify what has happened. The –now – burnt wood of the chessboard only testifies to the memory of a disaster.
Materials: painted wood ,iron,building brick Dimensions: variable