Magnet Chess, 2008

25.5 x 31 x 4 cm,
wenge veneer, bleached maple veneer, larch veneer, ebony, rosewood, boxwood, maple, iron plate, glass, leather, aluminum filler with black pigment, amalgam, magnets

The magnetic pull between the magnetic wand, the game pieces and the chessboard are adjusted to each other in such a way that the game pieces are pulled up to the glass plate with the help of the strong magnetic wand and can consequently be moved. When the magnetic wand is removed from the glass plate, the game pieces are pulled by the chessboard again.

Originally, this magnetic chess would have been intended as a design object for the public space, however, it turned out that the idea is not very practical. Consequently, it became more important to me to emphasize the artistic aspect of this magnetic chess. This new approach also allowed for an extravagant manufacturing process. Such as that the individual chess symbols were engraved into the pieces with a copy milling machine and then filled with amalgam or black-colored aluminum filler.

The way this magnetic chess must be used gives essence of a quote by Marcel Duchamp, “...on the surface a game of chess

strongly resembles a pen drawing, with the difference, however, that the chess player draws with already existing black and white shapes instead of inventing these shapes like the artist” [Marcel Duchamp, quoted in: Ernst Strouhal, Duchamp's Game.- Vienna 1994, p.9] . This idea that playing chess can be like a drawing with chess pieces is illustrated in this magnetic chess with the (magic) wand for moving the pieces because it resembles a pencil. Additionally, the free space around the chessboard pattern, which serves to place the captured pieces, simultaneously corresponds to a passe-partout.

Furthermore, when the pieces are pulled to the glass plate with the help of the magnetic wand, a short click can be heard, which is similar to the click of a computer mouse. The magnetic chess can therefore also be regarded as an analog touch screen.

Many thanks to Rudolf Wenzl and Jakob Scheid for their helpful advice.