I read four texts while seated on a black table, dressed in black. The tone is dry, brittle, and then softer for the last text. Sylvain (Di Liberto) and I move two large red leather armchairs and place the table perpendicular to the public. A game of chess is set up; the clock is set to 6 minutes per side (reading included). The sixteen white squares empty at the beginning of the games are covered with sixteen fragments of the same poem, “Emptying museum,” allocated randomly. The computer printout of the poem fragments was calculated to obtain 5 cm squares of text. The beginning of the performance had begun with an explanation of the rules to be followed:
1) Each time a piece or pawn lands on a white square, or during a capture on a white square, the player must calmly read the fragment of text within the allotted time.
2) Each piece touched must be played.
We play a Sicilian E4-C5 match.
Thirteen readings are performed during the twelve minutes of the performance.
I win within the time and capture a piece before the flag drops.