finding FIGMENT

[magid]

I participated in the finding FIGMENT fundraiser, which started with a scavenger hunt. I didn't have a team in advance, but luckily another team had room and let me join them. Everyone gathered, many in silly hats or other interesting outfits (I finished a new white hat with tubular crin at *mumble* o'clock in the morning to wear). We signed waivers and got a rolled document that could be opened at 1. When we did, there were two long sheets that included clues to 14 art installations around the area (most of them metal sculptures, but some were flat works or non-metal), all technically within reach of the T, though some were more easy to reach than others, and some easier to find than others. Points were awarded for photos of each piece (with team members in it), though with different point values, partly based on distance. Also required was getting photos of the letters in FIGMENT, whether as type, or parts of other pieces, or in objects. There were points possible for style and cool photos, and extra points for photos of lions, anchors, or colonial hats. Points were subtracted for being late to the end location.

My team didn't get even close to all of the art, but we did have a good time finding the ones we did find; I'm very lucky to have teamed up with people who had smart phones, which made things a lot easier. The art we found included the bronze 'trash' embedded in the sidewalk near Haymarket, the animals in a sculpture in Post Office Square, a rotating piece near South Station, the covered graffiti row in Central Square, a curving curling large metal structure outside the Whole Foods near Symphony, a mural not too far from the BCA (we ran into another team there, and had fun forming FIGMENT using people from both teams for a fun photo), a geometric judge near the Dudley Square courthouse, and a huge black head at the NCAAA museum.

Our figment was found:
- an f in the side of a bench
- an information i
- a g I made out of checkers on a checkerboard at a cafe we stopped in
- an m out of my teammate's bunny ears bent down on either side
- an e in the curves of the sculpture near Symphony
- an n from the same teammate's feather boa held as an n
- a t from an MBTA logo on a bus stop

We also found lions twice: four lion heads by the Post Office Square sculpture, and the lion and the unicorn on the Old State House.

Once we were at the other end, we transferred our photos to the computer one of the organizers had brought, pointing out our figment and some other bits. Some of the other teams were really creative with their photos, having a plot with men in black (and hands of blue, which had me thinking about Firefly, confusing the wearer considerably, since apparently he'd never seen the show).

There was an after party, which included local music, a raffle, and the wrap up of the scavenger hunt. I made it through a couple of hours, helping with the raffle (earning me some extra raffle tickets), but didn't stay until the end of the raffle or the results of the scavenger hunt; I hope there will be information about it, and links to the photos. I got tired, and headed home. When I mapped it out, I'd walked around 11 miles (in addition to rides on three T lines and a couple of buses), so I had a reason to be a bit tired :-). Of course, I failed to just go to bed once I got home, which is why I was awake to get a text from one of the organizers: I'd won one of the two things I'd put raffle tickets for. In fact, I won the grand prize, the only one that needed more than one ticket: I have another ticket to Burning Man!

And FIGMENT Boston is in two months, down on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. I'm thinking of bringing materials for 1,000 Blank White Cards on the Sunday; join me :-)

Comments

[cellio]

That sounds like fun!

[magid.livejournal.com]

It was lots of fun; if they do it again next year, I'd like to get a bunch of friends together to make a team with me, and maybe come up with a concept. (The winning team took a series of pictures involving an investigation of a "homicide", which was pretty cool.)