Gallert Natalia Goldin 2008
Beyond a corridor of red curtains, you entered a room draped with the same red curtains. In the middle of the room stood a table with a chess board on top. A small lamp on the table was the only light source in the room. As you stepped closer toward the chess board, a few pictures slowly emerged from within the hard shadows of the chess figures. In the shadows of certain pawns, you could see pictures of me dressed as a farmer. But the pawn that had advanced to the last row displayed a picture of me dressed as a queen.
In chess there is a rule that if a pawn – usually the weakest piece of the game - advances to the last row on the chessboard, he can change his gender, becoming the queen - the strongest figure of the game.
In a short period of time the pictures vanish. Around you a flickering light seeped out from the narrow gaps between the curtains and a droning sound in the background became louder and louder. As you turned your head to look around, an image appeared for a split second in the corner of your eye. The image of the Grim Reaper. After 5 minutes the sound dies out and the flickering light disappeared, leaving once again only the lamp to illuminate the room. If you approached the table again, the photographs once more appeared in the shadows of the chess figures...

PDF pressrelease from the exhibition