Partition:
Snake and Ladder a new difficulty.
video duration: 4min.
written and directed by Gigi Scaria
2005
Look at this, what you see in front of me you may tent to call it as a sculpture. But I would like to call this a complex situation. Though I am not directly involved in it this has been getting into my nerves quite some time.
All this started when these fellows decided to have their individual spaces. I don’t know who started it and how this idea of individualism came into play in a game like this. Any way they decided to cut this table into four pieces in order to device their own personal territory to play without any disturbance from the other. But when we look very closely at this matter they are likely to confront two serious problems while they make it work. One is of course the physical aspect of cutting this table into four separate pieces. When they cut it the way it is shown here each one of them will be left with one leg and that is not sufficient enough to hold the table individually. In this case they have to attach three more legs to each piece; if not three minimum two are very necessary.
There is another possibility of a different way of cutting the table. For example if they cut it like this (taking the game board put it on the table and showing suggestions on the board using a marker) they probably do not need these many extra legs to support their individual pieces. But in this case making sure that each one of them gets accurately equal space irrespective of the fact that they are of different shapes will bring a complex mathematical problem into the picture.
Ok, let us think that they manage to solve these difficulties and finally get separated. Then comes the second trouble; how will they play the game? After the partition each table will have approximately 25 columns. There are ladders and snakes which cross over from one side to another which will be naturally cut into pieces. For example one fellow reached column number 17 where he has a ladder to go up. But because of the partition his ladder has been cut along the edges of the board. So, where will he reach? Till where this ascent can take him? Similarly if one lands up at column number 59 where there is a snake waiting to swallow him , where will his fall ends since the snake is half cut along the edges of his game board? It of course creates metaphorically no win, no loose situation but ultimately they claim that they all won the game in their own territory. In that case tell me according to you are they all consider as real winners?
video duration: 4min.
written and directed by Gigi Scaria
2005
Look at this, what you see in front of me you may tent to call it as a sculpture. But I would like to call this a complex situation. Though I am not directly involved in it this has been getting into my nerves quite some time.
All this started when these fellows decided to have their individual spaces. I don’t know who started it and how this idea of individualism came into play in a game like this. Any way they decided to cut this table into four pieces in order to device their own personal territory to play without any disturbance from the other. But when we look very closely at this matter they are likely to confront two serious problems while they make it work. One is of course the physical aspect of cutting this table into four separate pieces. When they cut it the way it is shown here each one of them will be left with one leg and that is not sufficient enough to hold the table individually. In this case they have to attach three more legs to each piece; if not three minimum two are very necessary.
There is another possibility of a different way of cutting the table. For example if they cut it like this (taking the game board put it on the table and showing suggestions on the board using a marker) they probably do not need these many extra legs to support their individual pieces. But in this case making sure that each one of them gets accurately equal space irrespective of the fact that they are of different shapes will bring a complex mathematical problem into the picture.
Ok, let us think that they manage to solve these difficulties and finally get separated. Then comes the second trouble; how will they play the game? After the partition each table will have approximately 25 columns. There are ladders and snakes which cross over from one side to another which will be naturally cut into pieces. For example one fellow reached column number 17 where he has a ladder to go up. But because of the partition his ladder has been cut along the edges of the board. So, where will he reach? Till where this ascent can take him? Similarly if one lands up at column number 59 where there is a snake waiting to swallow him , where will his fall ends since the snake is half cut along the edges of his game board? It of course creates metaphorically no win, no loose situation but ultimately they claim that they all won the game in their own territory. In that case tell me according to you are they all consider as real winners?
(Work presented as a sculptural installation along with the video projection on the wall.)