“Reversi” is a game that the players need to occupy the best spot to fight for the most space on a limited square ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversi ). The game board in my project represents the area that I define, which is framed by four different streets in each site. In Reversi Taichung editon, for example, the location is at an old market called as "Zhongxin market", and I combine the plan of the market with the grid lines on the board (see the pictures below), so each store / residency shows on the plan will get a coordinate on the game board. In Reversi Taipei edition, the area I define is an old neighborhood where Taipei MOCA is located.
THE GALLERY LOCATION
The grids on the board game in regular "Reversi" are 8*8, which I apply the same to the most part in my Reversi project. The Taipei edition is an only exception, due to the area I define is way bigger than other editions in the serial, the grids in this version are 16*16 ( See the map >> )
In front of the game board, there is a compass composed of 2 concentric circles drawn on the floor with chalk or pencil. The Inner circle is a compass for the directions, the outer one is a clock, and the combination is a symbol to mark out the current time / space. During the show, due to the audiences step by the compass from time to time, the compass would fade out gradually, even disappear at the end.
In my project “Reversi ”, I invite my participants to do 2 things:
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Let me trace their body’s outlines on the wall.
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Make one move on the Reversi game board. Every player can only play one move a day.
Based on the area that I define, the participants are divided in two teams:
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“Local”: people who live or work in the area currently.
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“Visitor”: people who just pass by the area.
I will trace the participants’ outlines differently depending on which team they are belonged to.
IF YOU ARE A “VISITOR”
In the middle of the room (show space), I installed a light on the ceiling, which is rotating 360 degree a day / 15 degree an hour like a Sun. The light will project on the wall on the same location in the same time everyday.
When the participant is a visitor, I will place his / her body according to where the light project on the wall, also indicates when the visitor show up in the space. For example, no matter which day visitors show up, the visitors who show between 1-2 pm, their body outlines will trace in the same section, and so on.
Visitor poses his/her body in front of the location where he/she is assigned, and I will use thin black tape to trace hos/her body outline. Then I will write down the date and time visitor shows up in the gallery space outside of the outlines, also a fraction inside the outline that the numerator of it is the duration that the visitor stays in the gallery space, and the denominator of it is the duration that he / she stays in the area.
IF YOU ARE A “LOCAL”
Since the game board represents the area, each local will find his / her coordinate (represents his /her living or working sites) on the game board, based on the map that I show in the gallery space.
Not like “visitor” whose body positions are decided by time, “Local’s” are decided by where they live/work, which means the relative position of their sites and the gallery space. For example, if a local lives at the left side of the gallery, his / her body outline will be left on the left-side wall of the gallery. Then I will use pencil to draw down his / her outline first, ask the local writes down his / her coordinate and the duration of staying at the site inside of the outline. After that, I will apply a layer of glue inside of the outlines. Every time the local player comes back to play a move, I will apply one more layer of glue on his / her outline.
The Rules of the Game
“Local” play white piece and “visitor” play black piece.
Every participant only can make one move a day.
The players need to place their pieces based on the rule of “Reversi”, but the local player could choose to follow the rules or to put the piece on the same coordinate of their site on the game board. (For instance, a local player whose location coordinate on the map is 4A could either plays the game by regular reversi rule or choose to put his / her piece on 4A.)
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If the player couldn’t make a move to turn over the opponent’s pieces, just put the piece wherever he / she wants to place on the board.
The team that has more pieces left on the board at the end will be the winner.
Tape and Glue
The reason why I choose different media/ways to trace the participants’ outlines is trying to show the different level of attachment toward the space between local and visitor. I use tape to trace down visitor’s outline, cause it is not as sticky as glue, easier to be taken off from the wall, and the area it covers is linear (the outline only). The black tape outline sticks out on the white wall at the beginning, but after a period of time, all the outlines will tangle together and lose the clarity of individual. On the other hand, I use glue to fill out the local’s outlines, the area it covers on the walls way more than tape does. Glue is translucent, it’s not easy to be seen in the distance, but when you come closer, the smell is pretty strong; and when it dries, it brings up different texture from the wall, make every individual more pop-out.
The Records on the Walls and on the Board
If the record on the wall (body outlines) represents the different degree of attachment toward the space between local and visitor, then the record on the board says otherwise. Like I mentioned before, Reversi is a game about using strategy to occupy space on the board, so it doesn’t matter how much time one spends in the area, and if a team has more players, it get more chance to win. The more population of one side, the more influence they get. And that is what happened in the area where I do this project.
