Playing Hands | Eli Whitney Museum & Workshop

Cards
Leonardo and the printing press were born in the same year. And the first transformation of that revolutionary communications technology was, of course, games. Books required readers. Playing cards, made uniform and inexpensive by Gutenberg's press, spoke a universal, popular language. China, India and Egypt had organized the deck. Soldiers carried the newly manufactured cards – less cumbersome than chess pieces – across Europe. The Renaissance was a flowering of art, literature, and cards.

The Challenge
“It’s an ordinary deck” says the dealer, the fortune teller or the conjurer, fanning the cards before you. The game begins with a promise of absolute familiarity and fairness. The Challenge lies in what you do with the cards you receive.

Shuffle, sort, palm, count, hold, flip, cut or conceal them. Or draw another.
Bend, fold, spindle or mutilate them. Read the past or the future in them.
Find new meanings for their symbols. Tell their stories.
Make art in the play of your hand.

Principal Underwriter
The JFM Foundation supporting education in the arts
The Foundation will match Sponsor, Contributor, & Benefactor gifts.

Sponsors
Brown-Forman
Lehman Brothers Engravers
Royal Printing Service

Contributors
Artspace
Koffee on Audubon

Sponsors underwrite a scholarship that may be awarded by, to, or through an organization or a company.

Contributors underwrite a summer or classroom scholarship to be awarded by the Museum.

The Leoardo Challenge 2007

Thursday, April 12th
5:30 – 9pm

Celebrate creativity. Enjoy fine champagne, savor inventions from the creative kitchen of Douglas Coffin.

Support the work of the Eli Whitney Museum through your presence and your purchase of artwork invented for this event.

Artists
Call for Entries

Benefactor
Event Tickets

Photography by Robert Lisak www.robertlisak.com