Anthropeum is a free online game designed for art enthusiasts to guess the origin and era of artifacts from New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Created by 21-year-old Matthew Chu, the game challenges players to place a pin on a world map and select a timeline date for each artifact. Inspired by his experiences with collectors identifying artifacts, Chu aims to educate players by exposing them to unfamiliar art pieces. The game uses the Met’s Open Access Initiative, featuring over 492,000 artworks, and balances European and non-European art to avoid bias. Chu developed an algorithm to provide daily artifacts for the next decade, ensuring historical accuracy with additional research when necessary.
QUESTION: How might playing a game like Anthropeum change your perspective on art and history?
Wordle, but for art history—Anthropeum turns the Met Museum into an online game
