Recently, Dutch artist Guido van der Werve filmed a scene at the Marshall Chess Club in which he plays a game of chess with grandmaster Leonid Yudasin. For this film that explores the parallels between chess and piano, van der Werve, a member of the Marshall Chess Club himself, and a trained composer of classical music, built a chess table that functions as a mechanical piano. The piano will be the centerpiece for live performance for Performa09, performing the composition that he wrote for his particular film. The composition is written for chess, 9 string players, of two first violins, two second violins, two violas, two cellos and one bass, and will be performed by himself and the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra at the legendary chess club frequented by Marcel Duchamp and Bobby Fischer.
