CHICAGO, IL.- The Art Institute has been named Trip Advisor’s #1 museum in the world and is proud to be the World Champion of Art, taking its place alongside the Bears, the Bulls, the Blackhawks, the White Sox, and other renowned Chicago champions.

To celebrate this title, the Art Institute has launched an irreverent city-wide campaign, officially inviting all Chicagoans to take pride in this international achievement. Everyone is also invited to revisit the museum's extraordinary collection of art that inspired travelers from all over the globe to make the Art Institute #1.

New advertising builds on this momentum, reimagining Art Institute masterpieces with sports iconography including foam fingers and pennants. The Art Institute also unveiled a 16-foot foam finger sculpture that will pop up in landmark public spaces around the city this summer to offer a monumental backdrop for selfies, photo-ops, and creative videos that highlight Chicago’s civic pride.

The “World Champions of Art” sculpture launched on May 3, 2015, in the heart of the Loop at the intersection of State and Lake in collaboration with the Chicago Loop Alliance. As the sculpture moves around the city, the Art Institute encourages Chicagoans to follow its progress on Twitter and Instagram at @artinstitutechi. Fans are invited to take their own photos with the sculpture and tag them - #artchampions and #entry - to become eligible to win a range of exciting “#1 experiences,” including a private, after-hours tour of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The “World Champions of Art” campaign was developed in collaboration with Leo Burnett Chicago, which donated its services for the project.