ghosts of a chance

Any artsy mystery-lovers out there? The Luce Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) just launched an ARC (alternate reality game), supposedly the first to take place in an actual museum. If that wasn't cool enough, they announced the game by sending a mostly naked man, slicked up and covered in written clues, to Boston in July where he made an appearance at ARGFest-O-Con 2008.

The Ghost of a Chance website went live at midnight last night and with it the first clue. Here's where it gets artsy (aside from the whole art museum thing). The first assignment is called "The Necklace of the Subaltern Betrayer" and asks for the creation of a necklace to suit "a girl from another time, she blushes and rustles as she passes, taffeta skirt buoyed by crinolines."

To quote an article from blog Museum 2.0, "Sure, it's the necklace of the subaltern betrayer (who doesn't have one of those hanging around?) and it's being requested by a haunted 23-year-old curator who uses his MySpace page as a professional homebase, but heck, who isn't up for a little ghoulish informality in the world of staff disclosure?"

Anything I might attempt to cobble together would probably look like ridiculous gobbledegook, but I know that there are some seriously creative and talented folks out there--anyone interested in having a piece in a national gallery, even temporarily? Entries are due by September 15th and should be sent to

Ghosts of a Chance
c/o Georgina Bath
Suite 4200
Smithsonian American Art Museum
750 Ninth Street NW
Washington DC 20001

The game culminates on October 25th. You up to the chalenge?