Museum of Matches 2005/6

Located in a space adjacent to Proteus Gowanus, a gallery and reading room in Brooklyn, NY, The Museum of Matches is a permanent interdisciplinary installation that explores the Cold War, its antecedents and its legacy through visual art, documents, photographs, books, memorabilia, interviews and publications.

Museum of Matches 2005/6

The project is modeled after “one-room museums” that are founded by an individual compelled to better understand a historical moment. Founded and developed by artist Sasha Chavchavadze, the project merges and matches Cold War history with personal history, focusing on Chavchavadze’s father’s career as a Cold War CIA operative.

Museum of Matches 2006/7

The Museum of Matches was inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s passion for symmetry and thematic designs, and by a match game described in his memoir, Speak, Memory.

Still from "The Match Game" 12 min DVD, 2007

“After reading a description of a match game described by Vladimir Nabokov in his memoir Speak, Memory, I became interested in a match game invented by my father as a boy and played throughout his career as a CIA operative in the US and abroad during the Cold War. After many years of silence, my father and I began an email communication in which I asked him questions about the game. I made a recreation of the game, painting match tips to replicate the old Ohio Blue Tip matches he had used. During that time, my father found the paraphernalia of the original match game—old matches, flags, BBs, instructions, scoring notes, and a government-issued pen—stored in a Cuban cigar box. He presented it to me as a gift.”

An excerpt from “Game, Set, Match” by Sasha Chavchavadze, an essay with visual documentation commissioned by NYFA Current, the New York Foundation for the Arts online magazine, February 2007. To read more click here.

Still from "The Match Game" 12 min DVD, 2007

Publications

  • Cabinet Magazine Issue 18 (Fictional States): “The Match Game“
  • An artist project including narrative text, emails, Cold War photographs and documentation of a match game installation.
  • Bomb Magazine, Fall 2006: “Matchwork”
    An excerpt including narrative text and reproductions of assemblages/drawings made with wooden matches.
  • NYFA Currents: “Game, Set, Match” February 2007
    An essay with narrative text, Cold War photographs, reproductions of assemblages/installations made with wooden matches commissioned by the New York Foundation for the Arts online magazine.
  • The Play Book: “Nabokov’s Match Game (or a better trick),” Fall 2007
    A match game comprised of drawings with narrative text based on a game described by Vladimir Nabokov in his memoir, Speak, Memory, to be published by Proteotypes/Proteus Gowanus.

DVDs

  • “The Match Game”
    DVD completed in 2007 in conjunction with a Rotunda Gallery/BCAT Multi-Media Residency in non-linear editing.

Exhibitions

  • The Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2007. “The Match Game,” an installation of Cold War archival material.
  • Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY. 2005. “Matchwork,” mixed-media assemblages and drawings incorporating wooden matches.

Readings/Slide Shows

  • Kentler International Drawing Space, “Matchwork,” 2005
  • Wellfleet Library, Wellfleet, MA. “Nabokov’s Matches,” 2005
  • DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA. “Nabokov’s Matches,” 2004

Press

  • The New York Times City Section/Urban Studies, September 17, 2006: Cold War Memories, Burning Bright (Download as a PDF)
  • Brooklyn Arts Council Newletter, Spring 2007, Featured Artist