The following text is an excerpt from a saucy missive posted to Nettime: In the legend of the founding of the Order of the Garter, medieval England’s most prestigious military order, Edward the Third plays Chess with the Countess of Salisbury. Queens, bishops, rooks, knights and pawns would decide this battle of the sexes. Edward Plantaganet staked a King’s ransom, in the form of a ruby, for the Countess’ virtue. Checkmate – the domination of one sex over another. How different is Debord’s game from its illustrious predecessor! This time around, the two players are loving comrades not rival aristocrats. In their book of The Game of War, Guy Debord and Alice Becker-Ho take on the roles of South and North. This illustrative contest is a marital affair: the tabletop becomes an erogenous zone where the inventor and his wife face each other in libidinous combat. Foreplay begins with North’s fond caress of South’s western arsenal, which soon succumbs to oblivion. Responding to this advance, South runs his cavalry up North’s left flank, and then North invitingly shifts her balance eastwards. Seizing the initiative, South fondles the tip of North’s mountain range before engaging in a penetrative action which comes tantalisingly close to entering North’s central arsenal. But, in a sudden forward thrust, North counter-attacks, her forces enveloping South who – with one flank now fully exposed - lingers in a fort before retreating back into his own territory. Finally, experiencing the ‘little death’ of surrender, South’s army becomes flaccid and resigns – totally exhausted - from combat. You too can be exhausted by combat at a series of Class Wargames events taking place in London over the next few months: CLASS WARGAMES PERFORMANCE Saturday 25th July 2009 CLASS WARGAMES CLUB NIGHTS Tuesday 7.00-10.30pm The FleaPit CLASS WARGAMES RADIO SHOW Wednesdays 5.00-5.30pm CLASS WARGAMES FESTIVAL Saturday 1.00-6.00pm Sunday 1.00-8.00pm HTTP Gallery |
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Vague TerrainDigital Art / Culture / Technology |
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