Human Chess was a 30-minute participatory performance staged at the Clydeside Amphitheatre involving 32 participants directed by two chess players. Performers wore sculptural hats representing chess pieces and moved across the board in response to both conventional chess rules and a series of instructional cards distributed throughout the game. Actions included prompts such as “start a union”, “go on strike” and “move yourself once”, gradually disrupting the logic of the system from within. The work used the structure of chess as a model for civil society, exploring authority, collective action, labour, obedience and resistance by pushing a rigid rule-based system towards instability and collapse.