Games

Theory of Mind @ Galerie Christine Mayer
April 8 - May 13, 2017

Cyborg Dreams @ 83 pitt st.
March 4 - 20, 2017

The Future of Memory @ kunsthalle wien
February 2 - March 29, 2015

New Feelings @ 47 Canal
September 28 - November 2, 2014

On INSECURE ATTACHMENT:
The board game is made out of a ¾ inch (2cm) thick silicone base encased in plastic. “INSECURE ATTACHMENT” protrudes out of the sides of the square board. Insecure Attachment is a reference to attachment theory, a psychological theory about intimate relationships between humans; it’s the name of the game. The silicone is a rubbery flexible material, inviting to the touch. The game set comprises five pieces divided into two families. Inspired by early childhood development games, each piece is shaped singularly and fits solely its designed hole –think cylinder into a circle, rectangle into a square. The pieces are made of 3D printed nylon, a plasticky material that has a gently coarse feel to it. When entering or pulling pieces from their silicone sockets, it generates a sex-toy like friction. Like chess, the two families face each other on the board. One is a family of three and the other one of two. Unlike other board games, the pieces of each family are tethered by silicone “umbilical cords”, which makes it so that the family members have to move in solidarity of one another. No family member ever loses their lives – as opposed to chess for instance.

INSECURE ATTACHMENT is a positional game. Like checkers, the pieces need to cross the board and get to the side opposite from the one they started. The pieces can move freely, the only restriction is that the tethers of the opposing family cannot intersect and the pieces each have to move to a spot designated by the socket they belong to.

The game starts with the family on opposite sides of the board. Two pieces of each family sit in at the limit of the board, which means that the family of two starts with two pieces on one side, while the family of three starts with two pieces on the starting line and the third one positioned wherever on the board. Each player moves one piece at a time, and takes turns playing. Players are not allowed to repeat the same movement (take a piece back and forth) more than once. The tethers of the two families cannot intersect: meaning that if the piece that is being moved has its tether touching a tether from the opposite family, the piece has to find another socket for its destination for that round. The game ends when a family manages to get two of its pieces on the opposite side from where it started – so for the family of two all members need to get to the other side, while the family of three needs only to have two of its pieces on the other side.

The game came with a set of rules engraved on the plexiglass stand that protected that encased the game.