POSTED BY Troy K., ON February 16, 2011, 10 COMMENTS

You are a curatorial assistant helping to put together an exhibition puzzlingly titled, Chain Links: Questionable Connections in Art. Although the theme of the exhibition has never been entirely clear, you have been told that many of artworks relate somehow to other works in the exhibition. The curator has even prepared a map showing how the works connect to each other. With only a few hours until your deadline to submit the final list of works in the show, you suddenly realize that the map file on your cursed computer has been corrupted, obscuring the identity of several of the works. Using your knowledge of art, the museum’s online collections database, and your wits, you must figure out which works are missing from the map. Click here to download.

Notes: The map is spread over two pages, with the bottom edge of the first page connecting to the top edge of the second page.  All of the missing works (labeled A-L) are in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, and are listed in the online collections database.

Hat tip to Chicago’s own The Puzzler, who inspired this puzzle with his recent series of chain-building contests.  For previous museum-themed puzzles from our blog, go here, here, and here.

POSTED BY Guest Blogger, ON December 17, 2010, Comments Off

Growing up, I always loved scavenger hunts. Who didn’t? The challenge of finding hidden clues, the satisfaction in figuring out what they mean, the ultimate reward of completing the hunt. Unfortunately, once you’re past the age of 12 or so, games of this sort become increasingly scarce. In fact, most games start to fade away, and soon enough you find yourself consumed with activities that clearly fall into the “work” category: schoolwork, housework, paperwork.

But with the advent of the now nearly ubiquitous smart phone, games are enjoying a digital renaissance. I can’t get on the Blue Line without seeing Angry Birds or Doodle Jump being played on a screen nearby. Big box stores encourage you to “check-in” on Foursquare to redeem points and get coupons. And let’s not even talk about Farmville.

One of the newest—and in my opinion, most exciting—additions in the world of smart phone game-apps from a museum perspective is SCVNGR (pronounced the same as if the vowels were there). It’s a game about going places, doing challenges, and earning points. The people at SCVNGR have worked hard to make sure awesome institutions are involved, and they’ve done some pretty cool stuff already. We recently set up some quick, easy challenges on the Art Institute page and encourage you to try them out! We also welcome your tips and comments, which you can leave for fellow SCVNGR players by checking-in during your next visit. Right now you’ll earn 2 points for every challenge you complete, and while real world redemption of those points is currently TBD, we’re hoping to have some rewards in place in the next few weeks.

Download SCVNGR for free to your iPhone, iPod Touch, or Android (we hear Blackberry is coming soon!) and happy hunting!

—Jocelin S., Social Media Coordinator

POSTED BY Troy K., ON October 28, 2010, 5 COMMENTS

The large geometric Sol LeWitt piece in the new temporary exhibition Lewis Baltz: Prototypes gave me an idea for yet another puzzle.  This one tests your research and math skills.  You can (and should) complete this puzzle online, although I strongly encourage you to come see the Baltz exhibition, and the LeWitt piece, in person.  The puzzle:

1.     Sol LeWitt’s Nine-part Modular Cube consists of a three dimensional grid of cubes 9 squares high, 9 squares wide, and 9 squares deep.  How many different cubes of any size can be found in the piece?

HINT: Figure out how many cubes there are of each possible size 1x1x1 (729 cubes) through 9x9x9 (1 cube), and add them all up.  An additional hint may be found near the end of this document.

2.     Taking the answer from Question #1 (let’s call the answer “n“), find the name of the artist associated with the n^th piece acquired by the Art Institute in 1922 for its permanent collection.

HINT: Once you know how the museum’s accession numbers are formed, courtesy of Annie M., then you can perform a search using the museum’s online collections website.

3.     Taking the answer from #2, find the number of pages in a 1992 book about that artist in the Art Institute’s library.

HINT: The museum’s Ryerson and Burham Libraries have an online catalog.

4.     Taking the answer from #3 (let’s call the answer “x”), find the title of  x^th piece acquired by the Art Institute in 2008.  Finally, for the win, who is the lead actress in the 2004 movie of the same title? Leave it in the comments!

Sol LeWitt. Nine-part Modular Cube, 1977. Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund. © 2008 The Estate of Sol LeWitt.