I was going to hold off on this post until all of the pieces were in, but I just can’t. On September 8th, the Smithsonian American Art Museum started thier Ghosts of a Chance ARG. They have asked artists and crafters from all over to submit “artifacts” created in response to a prompt.
The first prompt was the “Necklace of the Subaltern Betrayer”:
She’s a girl from another time, she blushes and rustles as she passes, taffeta skirt buoyed by crinolines. She has taught herself to fling her burnished curls with just a turn of her head; she and her sister practiced for hours in front of an oval mirror. At twenty, she is poised but not on the brink; she understands her value; her next great adventure awaits her. A mate. Travel. Domesticity – which involves a love of gardening, cleanliness and the proper care of servants.
As she rustles, and blushes, and tosses her curls, her scent insinuates itself in the air between you – Lilies of the Valley. Her eyes are the color of good sapphires, with royal-blue flecks at their core. Her hair is the color of bottled honey. Her neck is alabaster.
The frills and accessories that constitute the bureaucracy of her wardrobe make her power seem abstract.
The Necklace I want should fit perfectly around her neck, but remain there only long enough for me to steal it right off again.
My response was chosen as the favorite so far…it can be viewed in the following locations and in person at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on October 25, 2008:
- “Eye Level” (SAAM Blog):
http://eyelevel.si.edu/2008/09/ghosts-of-a-cha.html - Luce Foundation Center for American Art Collection:
http://americanart.si.edu/luce/object.cfm?key=338&artistmedia=0&subkey=224095 - Ghosts of a Chance website:
http://www.ghostsofachance.com/index.php?p=object&id=1
Now I wait and see how artifact #2 fares…
