Stalemate

When I set out to create this image, I was interested in the way people who collect games like to pack them up…often very neatly (bordering on OCD) in little plastic bags.  This reminds me of the way some people collect comic books.  Therefore, here I have some chess pieces frozen in containers to make sure they are perfectly preserved.   I have also ludicrously preserved the gloves one needs to use to handle such valuable items. In this case stalemate refers to the end of the game when you put stuff away.  But a stalemate is not a tie…It means everyone loses.  Its kind of like when you buy a toy, or comic, or game and are more interested in preserving it, than playing (it’s the nullification of the game). The serious activity of collecting something and preserving its value collides with the idea of playing.  
 
As I froze these pieces, I also could not help but think about the idea of freezing your Han Solo action figure in ice to simulate carbon freeze…something many kids did when I was younger.  Ironically this was more likely to ruin your figure than preserve it, but was a lot of fun.
 
However, this image is also a play on computer games and the idea of a frozen game.  That’s why there is a mouse plugged in to the frozen screen above.   When you play a computer game and it ends abruptly that’s kind of like the ultimate stalemate.  There isn’t a winner.  Computers are complex when it comes to play because on one hand they open a lot of different avenues for playing but on the other they can freeze play.  They can do this both literally and metaphorically.  When I say computers can freeze play metaphorically, I am suggesting that they reduce or nullify play in significant ways…not least of which is the fact that no matter how interactive they are, in the end you are usually (in reality) sitting in a room by yourself.  On one hand, at the current time, we don’t have a lot of other options.  On the other, we have been playing by ourselves for a long time now.