Design
2009 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Who? Where? How? was a game created for the V&A Friday Late event Home Sweet Home in 2009.
It was devised as a murder mystery trail around the Museum in which the visitor adopted the role of a detective investigating the murder of Henry Cole’s faithful dog Jim. The object of the game was to discover who murdered Jim, as well as where and how he was murdered, by collecting cards placed around the Museum.
Katharine McEwen illustrated each of the cards with either a potential murder weapon, murderer or location. Each of these relate directly to either the V&A’s collection or the building; the murder weapons are all objects from the Museum’s collection, the murderers are all designers whose works are held in the collection and the locations are all spaces within the V&A buildings.
The V&A has a broad and varied collection of objects that document the history of gaming including chessboards and chess pieces dating back to the mid-13th century, playing cards dating back to around 1500, as well as popular 20th-century family board games such as Cluedo and Monopoly. In addition, there is also a large collection of drawings, prints and paintings representing people playing games.
It was devised as a murder mystery trail around the Museum in which the visitor adopted the role of a detective investigating the murder of Henry Cole’s faithful dog Jim. The object of the game was to discover who murdered Jim, as well as where and how he was murdered, by collecting cards placed around the Museum.
Katharine McEwen illustrated each of the cards with either a potential murder weapon, murderer or location. Each of these relate directly to either the V&A’s collection or the building; the murder weapons are all objects from the Museum’s collection, the murderers are all designers whose works are held in the collection and the locations are all spaces within the V&A buildings.
The V&A has a broad and varied collection of objects that document the history of gaming including chessboards and chess pieces dating back to the mid-13th century, playing cards dating back to around 1500, as well as popular 20th-century family board games such as Cluedo and Monopoly. In addition, there is also a large collection of drawings, prints and paintings representing people playing games.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | gouache, pencil, coloured pencil, coloured crayon, unidentified glaze, watercolour paper, painted, drawing |
Brief description | Design for the game 'Who? Where? How?' by Katharine McEwen, depicting part of the V&A Grand Entrance and a section of Dale Chihuly's Rotunda Chandelier [LOAN:CHIHULY.1-1999]. Designed for V&A Friday Late 'Home Sweet Home', 2009. Gouache, pencil, crayon and coloured pencil on watercolour paper. |
Physical description | Design for a card game, depicting a section of one of the arches of the V&A Grand Entrance, as seen from below. The arch rises from a pilaster, with a balustrade running along its base. In the upper left corner is a section of Dale Chihuly’s V&A Rotunda Chandelier [LOAN:CHIHULY.1-1999] in blues, greens and yellows. Gouache over pencil, heightened with coloured pencils, crayon and pastels, with glaze in some areas. |
Dimensions |
|
Marks and inscriptions | KMCEWEN (Signed in pencil in bottom right hand corner of the image) |
Credit line | Given by the artist, Katharine McEwen |
Object history | Who? Where? How? was a game created for the V&A Friday Late event Home Sweet Home in 2009. It was devised as a murder mystery trail around the Museum in which the visitor adopted the role of a detective investigating the murder of Henry Cole’s faithful dog Jim. The object of the game was to discover who murdered Jim, as well as where and how he was murdered, by collecting cards placed around the Museum. Katharine McEwen illustrated each of the cards with either a potential murder weapon, murderer or location. Each of these relate directly to either the V&A’s collection or the building; the murder weapons are all objects from the Museum’s collection, the murderers are all designers whose works are held in the collection and the locations are all spaces within the V&A buildings. |
Subjects depicted | |
Place depicted | |
Associations | |
Summary | Who? Where? How? was a game created for the V&A Friday Late event Home Sweet Home in 2009. It was devised as a murder mystery trail around the Museum in which the visitor adopted the role of a detective investigating the murder of Henry Cole’s faithful dog Jim. The object of the game was to discover who murdered Jim, as well as where and how he was murdered, by collecting cards placed around the Museum. Katharine McEwen illustrated each of the cards with either a potential murder weapon, murderer or location. Each of these relate directly to either the V&A’s collection or the building; the murder weapons are all objects from the Museum’s collection, the murderers are all designers whose works are held in the collection and the locations are all spaces within the V&A buildings. The V&A has a broad and varied collection of objects that document the history of gaming including chessboards and chess pieces dating back to the mid-13th century, playing cards dating back to around 1500, as well as popular 20th-century family board games such as Cluedo and Monopoly. In addition, there is also a large collection of drawings, prints and paintings representing people playing games. |
Associated objects |
|
Collection | |
Accession number | E.2956-2016 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
Record created | December 30, 2015 |
Record URL |
Download as: JSON