Facing a Berlin Defense expert (the same line used by World Champions), Hangan showed how to beat a drawing weapon.
Hangan’s practice often circulates around iterative production and small-scale permutations of a motif. In “Sets 41–50” she doubles down on that strategy: instead of a single large variation, she presents ten tightly related studies whose differences are both structural and indexical. The series operates as a laboratory for perception—how small, cumulative changes alter legibility and affect. The decision to present ten consecutive “sets” foregrounds seriality itself as subject: the viewer encounters a rhythm, pattern recognition, and the expectation of progression that the works then modulate.
Not every game in a collection is a win. Game 44 is a masterful draw against a GM rated 150 points higher.
These two games together are a psychological case study. Alexandra Hangan sets 41-50 is not just about tactics; it is about emotional regulation.
Release Date: March 2024
Trigger warning: Discussion of generational trauma representation alexandra hangan sets 41-50
Set 47 is a diptych series—each of the 8 images is paired with a second image taken 24 hours later in the same location, with the same model, after a prescribed “ritual of undoing.”
Concept: Hangan asked each model to bring a garment belonging to their mother. The morning shoot treated the garment as a sacred relic (gentle handling, respectful draping). The evening shoot had the model destroy the garment—cutting, burning, or soaking it in muddy water.
The twist: The mothers were not told in advance. After the destruction phase, Hangan mailed each mother a print of the corresponding image, along with a handwritten letter explaining the project. Several mothers responded with their own photographic replies, which Hangan has kept private.
Within Alexandra Hangan sets 41-50, Set 47 is the most narratively complex, operating on three timelines: the shoot, the mother’s reception, and the viewer’s present. It is also the set that cemented Hangan’s reputation as a performance theorist, not merely a stylist. Facing a Berlin Defense expert (the same line
Release Date: September 2024
Medium: Single long-exposure image + 12 detail crops (digital only)
The final set in the Alexandra Hangan sets 41-50 sequence is deliberately ambiguous. It consists of a single 4-minute long-exposure photograph showing a figure standing in a doorway, half inside a dark room and half illuminated by an unseen exterior source.
During the 4-minute exposure, the figure (a dancer from the Bucharest National Ballet) shifts her weight from one foot to the other approximately 40 times. The result is a ghostly blur where the torso remains semi-visible but the legs dissolve into vertical streaks.
The 12 detail crops: Extreme close-ups of the doorframe’s paint cracks, the dancer’s floating hand, dust motes illuminated midair. These two games together are a psychological case study
Why this closes the cycle: Hangan has stated that Set 50 has no single interpretation. It is both an ending (the 50th set) and a refusal to end (the figure never crosses the threshold). In interviews, she refers to it as “a long blink.”
This is the most explosive game of the set. Facing an aggressive junior player, Hangan allowed the Yugoslav Attack in the Sicilian Dragon—a line so sharp that one mistake usually means death.
Endgames are where players prove their mettle. Game 42 against IM Viktor Lazar is a masterclass in rook endgames.
Game 46 is a favorite among French Defense players. Hangan, as Black, faced the Tarrasch Variation (3.Nd2).
