A table fit for a chess master. Photo: Patrick Goddard

An artist from Lewisham played chess for 24 hours at an exhibition in east London this week.

Patrick Goddard showed his work as part of an exhibition called Alternative Risk Transfer, which features art dealing in risky behaviour, chance and skill.

The artist sat in the art space Rag Factory in east London for 24 hours from 8pm on Tuesday to 8pm on Wednesday playing live chess. Mr Goddard played with members of the public who challenged him as well as competing online throughout the night.

The piece, entitled A Play in One Act is the first piece of performance art Mr Goddard has undertaken and explores the idea of risk. Mr Goddard said he was unsure about what to submit to the curators because at first glance his work isn’t connected to the themes involved.

Mr Goddard said: “my works to do with inevitability and entropy, but you can look at it on the flipside – if you gamble long enough you’re going to lose.”

The exhibition is being described as an ‘Art Casino’ where artists have been given free reign to explore risky behaviour. It including work from 19 artists and is arranged over two floors in the venue.

Other works include performance artist Mark McGowan inviting participants to enter a booth where they will be asked to ‘take a risk’ infront of a video camera linked to a screen outside. A ‘gambling den’ has also been constructed, where 19 artists will stake their art in poker games played late into the night.