Being Played is a wearable-art series by St. Louis artist and designer Michael Drummond, first shown at the World Chess Hall of Fame. Each look answers a move in a historic 1910 chess game between A. Roesch and Willi Schlage, built almost entirely from deadstock and reclaimed textiles, in keeping with Drummond's belief that we need less clothing, not more.
Turn the pages and the game unfolds move by move while a chessboard plays alongside, from the opening through the final resignation. The work threads together chess, the climate crisis, the theory of predatory delay, and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, casting humanity against an opponent it can never quite name. Materials range from woolly mammoth hair surfaced by melting permafrost to a corseted apron printed with the White House and a dress buried in deadstock underwire.
PLAYED
Being Played sets three entangled themes against one another: chess in strategy and form, the climate crisis, and predatory delay, seen through fashion and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. It stages a game in which a human player faces an opponent that holds an unfair advantage, in time, in space, and in consumption.
That advantage has a name in theory. Predatory delay, a term from the futurist Alex Steffen, is the blocking or slowing of needed change so that unjust systems keep paying out in the meantime. Possibly it is something older, an egregore, a thought-form we fed until it began to move on its own. Here it is one side; we, the inhabitants of Earth, are the other. Our pieces hold the center in gold, black, silver, and white. Red marks the opponent and rings the perimeter, a state of emergency and one of the oldest colors on the board.
The works are titled after a real game played by A. Roesch and Willi Schlage in Hamburg in 1910. As it unfolds the underdog turns against itself. The planet heals, but are we speeding an event that did not need to arrive? Will fear and greed lead, or could beauty, honesty, and action carry us to the next rung of our evolution?
MOVE 1
e4
Laser-etched leather, shou sugi ban cedar tree trunk, waxed cotton cord
Humanity's first move. These shoes are decorated using shou sugi ban, a 16th-century Japanese technique of burning, brushing, and oiling cedar. The burning and laser represent fire, one of humanity's earliest tools; the laser exposed carbon, an essential building block of all life. The male and female faces evoke Adam and Eve. They are men's shoes, an allusion to Eve being created from Adam's rib.
MOVE 1
...e5
Michael Drummond and Attilio D'Agostino
NASA, Symphonic Sounds of Space
Sound on directional speakers with video
MOVE 2
Nf3
Deadstock underwire, nylon cord, vinyl (individually handsewn)
This dramatic dress is created from deadstock bra underwire, materials overproduced by manufacturers that might otherwise go unused. The underwire overlaps to create an effect reminiscent of a knight's armor.
MOVE 2
...Nc6
Sterling silver, vitreous enamel, 14k rose gold
Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, have been found inside some meteorites, chunks of rock or metal from space that survived passing through the earth's atmosphere. Some scientists believe asteroids and meteorites carried amino acids to the earth, contributing to the life emerging on the planet.
MOVE 3
Bb5
(1) Hat: wire, nylon, tape, deadstock elastic, buckram
(2) Deadstock couture fabric, sequins, polyester, found plastic findings
(3) Deadstock couture fabric, sequins, polyester, found plastic and metal findings, deadstock elastic, polyester corset boning
MOVE 3
...a6
Attilio D'Agostino
Photographic print on acrylic
MOVE 4
Ba4
(1) Deadstock sequins, rubber, silk organza, cotton, lurex, elastic, synthetic hair
(2) Polyester, deadstock elastic, laser-etched 3M reflective fabric
The wrap skirt carries laser-etched images of people laughing and screaming on 3M reflective fabric, heat-pressed to polyester chiffon. The blouse is a handknit sweater with a sequin shell and an attached silk organza apron.
MOVE 4
...Nf6
Silver, gold, nickel, aluminum, cast fossils in resin, oil paint
Cast from fossils, Nf6 blends ancient natural elements with the manmade. Of this work and its role in Being Played, Drummond stated, “In my fantasies a world was created where [fossils and meteorites] became fossilized once again but this time alongside and in our discarded artifacts. Meteorites are forged into jewelry, woolly mammoth’s fur is caught in a resin locket.”
MOVE 5
Qe2
(1) Fosshape, horsehair, deadstock bead trim, rubber
(2) Handwoven deadstock elastic pullover
(3) Deadstock glass bead and silk wrap skirt with elastic waistband
MOVE 5
...b5
Michael Drummond and Attilio D'Agostino
NASA, Symphonic Sounds of Space
Sound on directional speakers with video
MOVE 6
Bb3
(1) Hair hat: synthetic hair, buckram, wire, cotton, rubber
(2) Sweater: handknit cotton, nylon, elastic, lurex, wool
(3) Skirt: deadstock silk and elastic with found metal findings
MOVE 6
...Be7
Woolly mammoth hair, resin, gold leaf, copper, found necklace
In the earliest chess, played in India as chaturanga, one of the four divisions of the army was the elephant. As the game moved west through Persia and into Europe it was reshaped into the bishop, though it is still called the elephant in Russian and Spanish, a piece colonized as it traveled. The woolly mammoth met a similar end, said to have died out from a warming climate and human hunting, the same forces at work today. The hair in this necklace came from Siberia, bought on eBay, exposed only after the permafrost that held it for tens of thousands of years began to melt. Ancient life is set in resin and worn against the body, an extinction turned into ornament, and a memory kept the way Victorian mourners once wore the hair of the dead.
MOVE 7
c3
Polyester sublimation print, silk organza, polyester corset boning
Made after the 2016 election, c3 takes the form of a corseted apron in the tradition of the French maid. It draws on two historical apron types, the sturdy protective garment of labor and the frilly decorative one. Here the White House is sublimated onto the body of domestic work, the seat of power suspended from a wire cage where a body should be.
MOVE 7
...0-0
Attilio D'Agostino
Photographic print on acrylic
0-0
(1),(2) top: cotton canvas, deadstock bra closure
(3) salt skirt: cotton canvas, deadstock bra closure, nylon grosgrain ribbon, sea salt
Castling is the only move where two pieces shift at once, the king tucked away and shielded by the rook. Here it becomes a king's castle slowly submerged by rising seas. The garment soaked for four months in a 30% salinity solution until salt crystals formed on the fabric.
MOVE 8
...d5
Photographic print on acrylic
Attilio D'Agostino
Courtesy of Michael Drummond
30 in W x 39.5 in H x 1.5 in D
MOVE 9
exd5
(1) Buckram, wire, nylon, paint, synthetic hair
(2) Silk organza, steel, copper, elastic, aluminum, rubber
MOVE 9
...Nxd5
Plastic space bag with air removed, found mixed textiles
The fashion industry is one of the most resource-intensive in the world. Many fast-fashion pieces last only about ten washes, yet as artifacts of a consumptive era they may join the fossil record, since most fibers are now synthetics derived from fossil fuels and will not decay.
Nxe5
Polyester sublimation print, deadstock elastic, bra closures, aluminum chain
Images on a soft chiffon backdrop show the terror of climate change, partly obscured by pixelation. The pixels also recall the squares of the chessboard, as though the game were being played out over the flora and fauna of the work.
MOVE 10
...Nf4
Silk organza, nylon, acrylic fingernails
Male and female space suits
The opponent is negotiating, mirroring its rival while working in an algorithm the other side can follow. It fashions male and female space suits. There is no way inside them, and they would not save you in outer space. The adversary is stuck here on Earth.
MOVE 11
Qe4
Silk organza, embroidery thread
Deadstock underwire, deadstock bra elastic
A dress embroidered with the words “at what cost,” buried under piles of deadstock underwire and bra elastic once destined for the landfill. The embroidery maps the earth and marks the mills, cotton fields, and chemical plants along a garment's journey to the wardrobe. It takes its cue from “Are My Hands Clean?” by Sweet Honey in the Rock, which traces a blouse from the cotton fields of El Salvador to a department store, wrapped in cellophane and on sale.
...Nxe5
Attilio D'Agostino
Photographic print
MOVE 12
Qxa8?
Found sequin fabric, spandex, deadstock elastic, tagging gun barbs, and plastic chess pieces
Covered in chess pieces, Qxa8 speaks to overpopulation, and possibly war. The pieces are attached to the dress using the barbs of a pricing gun, to remind the viewer of commerce and how price tags are attached to a garment for sale.
MOVE 12
...Qd3!
Attilio D'Agostino
Photographic print
MOVE 13
Bd1
Buckram, deadstock horsehair, elastic, metal, wire, tape, cotton thread
Adjustable from lace at back of head
13 x 14 x 9 in, 7.5 oz
MOVE 13
...Bh3!
Laser-etched acrylic, anodized aluminum frame
In hostage negotiation, the terms mirroring and labeling describe techniques used to gain leverage over the person in question. Mirroring repeats what is said back as a question, to buy time and draw out more. Labeling assigns a trait or belief to a person, then makes a request consistent with it. The game is almost over; red is about to win. A mirror stands in for the mirroring technique, and “It looks like you are finished playing games” is the label, a pun on seeing yourself reflected. The questioner hopes the other player will say, “Yeah, you are right, I give up,” rather than be destroyed outright.
MOVE 14
Qxa6?
(1) Headpiece: fosshape, elastic, metal, rubber
(2) Dress: deadstock silk chiffon, leather, steel, rubber
MOVE 14
...Bxg2
Plastic cup, glacier water
Bxg2 is a cup filled with melted glacier water. It stands for fossil fuels, the plastic, and for how burning them raises the earth's temperature and melts the glaciers. The water is now protected and stored inside the very thing that helped melt it. The cup also echoes the silhouette of a chess piece, set off to the side near the emergency exit, the last move in the game between the opponent and Poole. At the opening, guests were handed these same cups for their drinks alongside the hors d’oeuvres, and the plinth holding the original was mistaken for a place to rest a glass or leave an empty one behind.
MOVE 15
Re1
(1) Deadstock yarns, elastic, lurex, and cotton
(2) Leather peplum harness: antique handcuffs, deadstock notions, and leather
(3) Cotton and elastic
MOVE 15
...Qf3
Attilio D'Agostino
Photographic print on acrylic
0-1