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Manhole Cover Chess Set

Instructions

Cut out the circular manhole covers using a pair of scissors. For ease of use, the photographs may be glued to pieces taken from a regular game of draughts; this improves handling as well as the ability to see at a glance whether a piece is White or Black. There is room for choice in the designation of the pieces, so long as there is one White Queen, one Black Queen, one White King and one Black King; two White Bishops, two White Knights, two White Rooks, two Black Bishops, two Black Knights and two Black Rooks; eight White Pawns and eight Black Pawns.

The inspiration for what was initially planned to be a “Cajun Manhole Chess Set” came from the streets of New Orleans, where the sometimes brief and sometimes ornate appellations of what lay under the thoroughfares opened a new door onto the imagination. The photographic hunt was on, and collecting bug set in: for three years, we drove, rode and flew across the States, from West to East and from North to South: California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona; Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina; Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida. We flew to Illinois. We crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, we crossed the Niagara Falls to Toronto. We sojourned in Death Valley and scouted in Key West. We walked past Hemmingway’s house, Oprah Winfrey’s yellow Porsche (possibly), Mies van der Rohe’s 860 and 880 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago. To our left and our right stood the latest achievements by Frank Gehry, Anish Kapoor, and Ricardo Scofidio. We walked on by. We trod on the stars on the Walk of Fame, looked glassy-eyed and wearily at the window displays on Rodeo Drive, and staked out Naples, San Juan Capistrano, St.  Augustine, Destin, Miami Beach, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. We gave them sideways looks. We remained intent on our higher purpose. We zeroed in. We took home the bounty. Beneath the circular, cast-iron covers, whole labyrinths of human industry are summed up in single words of portent: “TRASH”, “DRAIN”, “SEWER”, “TRAFFIC”, “POWER”, “GAS”, “WATER”, “STORM”, “COMMUNICATION”, “DANGER”, “SANITARY”. Portals that remind the happy citizens that, beneath their feet, the state, the civil engineer, the navvy and the sewage worker are busy ensuring the health and efficiency of their daily lives.

Paul Edwards, 2015-2018

avec l’aide d’Élodie Grossi