The piece consists of a park chess board and life-size bronze bird sculptures set on top of it instead of chess pieces. They are local species of Sopot. To represent the white pieces, there are swans and seagulls. For the black pieces, there is the white tailed eagle, hooded crows and pigeons. The bird species will represent different chess pieces and their value by their size and by commonness.

There are two swans representing the white king and queen, and several seagulls as pawns and other pieces. The endangered white tailed eagle serves as the king on the black side alone without a queen. The number of birds will be 7-12, fewer than in an actual game of chess (2 times 16 pieces). In the artist’s mind, the game is already on and some pieces are out. The work will both serve the purpose of sparking thoughts and also be enjoyable to viewers of all ages. The chess board can be walked on, and the sculptures can be touched by the viewers. The birds will be set on the board as if they were naturally walking on it and not in the strict order of actual chess pieces.

The foundation of the project is the artist’s conviction that our co-existence with nature is a complicated game of chess. As part of the ecosystem and fighting for its survival, we must take into account its complexity. We are playing the game, nature has its own rules.

https://baltichorizons.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/FI-Mattila-Lotta-Projekt.pdf

Technique: stone or concrete, clay

Suggested dimensions: chessboard: width 6 m, length 6 m; figures: natural dimensions of birds