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Start hunting for octopus, Minneapolis

Category: Art • Cephalopods • Local
Posted on: October 16, 2008 10:47 AM, by PZ Myers

An artist, William Hessian, has hidden 35 miniature artworks portraying the octopus in public parks around Minneapolis. Your job: find them! It's getting cold, too, so you might want to do it before the first snowfall.

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Comments

Posted by: Mdfitty | October 16, 2008 11:03 AM

Hebbo! The mighty Oobu will be pleased!

Posted by: Thomas | October 16, 2008 11:04 AM

I sure hope he didn't incorporate any LEDs into the artworks...

Posted by: Greg | October 16, 2008 11:08 AM

Did he go to public parks to hide Art of Octopuses, or did he he hide Art of Octopuses in Public Parks?

The difference could be important!

Posted by: Capital Dan | October 16, 2008 11:13 AM

They're in the mall... They're always in the mall. It's what they do right before they turn.

Posted by: craig | October 16, 2008 12:22 PM

Love this kind of stuff. Public art installations, not necessarily endorsed by the gvmt. (Dunno if this was or not)

"Illegal" public art installations, like a more artistic and less damaging form of graffiti, engaging the public etc. I've had some ideas like this in the works for a while now but they aren't progressing too far.

These kinds of things are starting up everywhere, sort of like an urban folk art.

Posted by: Greg | October 16, 2008 12:51 PM

@ craig (#5)

Sorry, I have to pop in and correct you here.
Graffiti is a painting style/technique which is generally done on a rough medium using aerosol paints. It is not actually related to vandalism.

People regularly equate vandalism and graffiti, but they are *not* the same. Much the same way that pointless tagging and the like is also not graffiti, and treating them as though they are alike just further demonizes a very interesting form of art. (Some graffiti is vandalism, some vandalism is graffiti, but they only overlap, they are not the same.)

Sorry! This is a pet peeve of mine, and I thought I'd vent. :D

Posted by: Qwerty | October 16, 2008 2:08 PM

I wonder if there is one in tiny Jackson Park which is two blocks from where I grew up in NE Minneapolis? Or perhaps Loring Park where us gays have our Gay Pride Festival every year? Hmmmm. So many parks; so little time or desire to look. If only there was a prize involved...

For all you out of towners who want some free art, here is a link to the Minneapolis Park Board's map of my home town's parks. The green bits are the parks.

http://www.minneapolisparks.org/forms/parks/parkMap.pdf

Happy hunting to one and all.

Posted by: Noadi | October 16, 2008 2:15 PM

Cthulhu must be proud.

Art, octopus, and public participation, just overall a very very cool idea. I applaud the person who came up with it.

Posted by: Monado | October 16, 2008 3:59 PM

The article says,