10 jigsaw puzzles

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1.

Jigsaw Puzzle Blues (1:27)

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2.

Allen Ruppersberg Fishing is Fun, 2005
1000 piece two-sided hand-cut wooden jigsaw puzzle in box
Finished puzzle: 19 ½ x 24½ inches
Box: 11 x 13 x 2 inches
Edition of 15


Puzzle/front




Puzzle/back




'In isolation, a puzzle piece means nothing -- just an impossible question, an opaque challenge. But as soon as you have succeeded, after minutes of trial and error, or after a prodigious half-second flash of inspiration, in fitting it into one of its neighbours, the piece disappears, ceases to exist as a piece. The intense difficulty preceding this link-up -- which the English word puzzle indicates so well -- not only loses its raison d'etre, it seems never to have had any reason, so obvious does the solution appear. The two pieces so miraculously conjoined are henceforth one, which in its turn will be a source of error, hesitation, dismay, and expectation.' -- Georges Perec, Life a User's Manual


'In the preamble to his 1978 novel Life a User's Manual, Georges Perec attempts to explain the strange nature of jigsaw puzzles, an enterprise of profoundly perfect yet simultaneously futile solutions. He does so by way of introducing Percival Bartlebooth, the main character of the story to follow, an artist who devotes his life to the elaborate creation and destruction of jigsaw puzzles of his own making. Perec's musing on this subject might also help to ellulidate the work of Allen Ruppersberg. Since the early 70s, Ruppersberg been making artworks that in many ways function as puzzles: a collection of elements arranged to make up a meaningful whole. In a recent series entitled Honey I Rearranged the Collection, for example, Ruppersberg rearranges elements of his own works from the 70s into new configurations. He accompanies these new works with imagined quotes from a fictional "collector" who explains the reasoning behind such a new arrangement of the "collection." Ruppersberg's own collection has been a primary source of material for his artwork. It is a vast and ever-expanding collection, a wide-ranging archive of material including pulp fiction, comic books, vanity press publications, industrial and educational films, posters and an assortment of ephemera and objects of a certain nostalgia including the original Fishing is Fun a puzzle from the 50s on which this puzzle and its box are based. One wall of Ruppersberg's collection, as it was installed in his former New York studio, is pictured on the cover of the Fishing is Fun puzzle box and on one side of the puzzle. On the other side of the puzzle are a series of brief observations -- a puzzle in text -- describing two individuals who have influenced Ruppersberg as an artist: Raymond Roussel, and the Unknown Soldier.' -- Christine Burgin Gallery

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3.

Blonde vs. Jigsaw Puzzle (0:58)

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4.

Jigsaw Puzzle Cake

'It took me three years to figure out how to do this. This is a jigsaw puzzle cake. When it sliced in the correct manner, the pieces can be reassembled to reveal an image closely resembling the cover of The Beatles' Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. I can't show you the completed puzzle because the image is owned and copyrighted by Ripley's Believe It or Not. But a replica of the cake can be seen in the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. An image of the actual completed puzzle cake is in the 2000 edition of the Ripleys Believe It or Not book.' -- Marcia Sunderlink

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5.

Manuel Fallman 'A Part' (3:07)

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6.

Jigsaw Puzzle Alarm Clock

'This alarm clock has a deafening, horrible, shrieking alarm. The only way to turn it off is to complete the puzzle first. The puzzle pieces fire out from the clock at the set time, and by the time you manage to crawl out of bed, find the scattered pieces, piece together the puzzle and stop the alarm, you are awake.' -- BamBamBingIndustries

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7.

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8.

X.J. Scott 5-dimensional jigsaw puzzle (1998)

'Each composition on this album uses a nonoctave tuning. After completing This is Not For Realsies, I wrote the software applications Li'l Miss' Scale Oven and IntervalCalc in order to see if I was right regarding my ideas about how music is perceived and what the scale -- the building block of melody and harmony -- really means. I succeeded wildly in showing that the octave, which has been thought to be a necessary part of music, is not only totally unnecessary, but very restraining. You will hear how music written without octaves can be as beautiful and consonant as anything ever heard before -- perhaps even more so. It doesn't sound weird, strange or hurt your ears either -- in fact it sounds far more fluid, more organic, more soothing, healing, mesmerizing, energizing than anything you've heard before.

Sounds no one has ever heard before; states never experienced

'All the scales used on this album are ones newly discovered by myself. Each is unlike anything you have ever heard before. The beat patterns which result from the interactions among the overtones of each instrument shimmer and glow. The music may access emotions you have never experienced. You may see and feel things you never imagined. I have been cataloging the emotional and physical impacts of each of the different scales by journalling my experiences and comparing my results with those of others who experience the music. I ask that you too write me and tell me of anything you experience while listening.

'This album results from my first impressions and experiences with these new scales. The first experience we have with something totally alien can be among the most profound.

Walking through volcanic meadows, picking flowers

'It's like walking into a giant field in the mountains -- a meadow. Covered with wildflowers everywhere -- untouched, unspoilt. Each flower different from the others and different from anything you have ever imagined. You can pick them all day and never see the same flower twice. Each of those flowers is a song. The meadow is one of the new scales.

'The meadow of the standard western tuning -- twelve-tone equal temperament? Only dirt is left from overgrazing. And the flowers? You've seen them all before. All music being written today sounds the same as the music being written yesterday. They have overpicked the field and now they are buying plastic flowers made in a factory in China.

'But I have gone to a remote island, climbed an unknown volcano, and found a meadow full of incredibly beautiful flowers no one has seen before. There are thousands of other secret volcanoes I know about -- volcanoes upon which hitherfore, only gods, and never mere mortal man has tread upon. But I have been given the key, the path. I am privledged to be the first to see these unknown vistas, to smell these incomprehensible perfumes. I love it. And I am continually amazed.' -- X.J. Scott

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9.

Ming Vase 3D Puzzle

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10.

God's Jigsaw Puzzle Contest, Death Valley

'The Holy Spirit Lutheran Church of Las Vegas, Nevada will be holding its third annual God's Jigsaw Puzzle Contest in Death Valley on April 4th. Last year's contest featured a record breaking fifteen contestants and over 500 attendees, and we're expecting the largest turn out ever for this year's event. The cost of participating in the contest is $50, which includes all amenities and transportation and, in a first for the contest this year, it will include a private picnic dinner with our celebrity judge actor Stephen Baldwin! The cost for attending is $25 and includes not only the contest, but two desert prayer services, and a picnic dinner sponsored by Domino Pizza. Those wishing to attend are invited to meet in the church parking lot, 6670 Cheyenne Avenue, at 5:30 am on the morning of the 4th where we will travel to the contest site by bus. We also need volunteers to help prepare the puzzles. Seeking a sign from God? This is it!' -- Pastor Ryan Rouse

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Bonus: Crossword

'The Ukrainian city Lvov has recently installed what might just be the world's biggest crossword (in physical size). The puzzle covers the entire side of a residential tower block that's approximately 30 meters tall. During the day the crossword appears empty - with the answers lighting up at night. The questions for the puzzle are located in different point of interests of the city: monuments, theatres, fountains etc. So people walking around the city can try to solve the puzzle and write down their answers. when night comes they can meet at this house and check how they did.' -- Design Boom
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