The new exhibit “Chess: Gymnasium of the Mind” opens April 4 in Spurlock Museum of World Culture’s central core gallery, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana. The display features a variety of chess sets from around the world highlighting unique pieces, boards and moves, and runs through July 7.
The project is part of thesecond annual Spring Symposium held by Playful by Design, an interdisciplinary game studies consortium at the University of Illinois.The sets are on loan from local game enthusiasts David Dubin, Dan Cermak and Judith Pintar.
Playful by Design will also host a special exhibit-opening event Thursday, April 4, from 2-4:45 p.m. Watch a demonstration of chess hacks games created by U. of I. students that are variations in pieces, boards or rules. At 3 p.m., Allen Turner of the DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media will give the keynote address. Turner isa black/Lakota/Irish game designer, storyteller, artist, dancer, author, performer and a 20-year veteran of the video games industry. A reception follows his speech.
The Playful by Design Spring Symposium will be held from April 4-6 at locations around the U. of I. campus, including the Armory Innovation Spaces and CU Community Fablab. More information about the event is online. Playful by Design is sponsored by the Illinois Project for Research in the Humanities, Spurlock Museum, Illinois Informatics, CU Community FabLab, CITL and the School of Information Sciences at Illinois.
