http://exhibitfiles.org/browse/index The most recent activity on ExhibitFiles en-us Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:16:47 -0800 The Exhibition ”Alfred Nobel–Networks of Innovation” is produced by The Nobel Museum in Stockholm. It is a traveling exhibition and it opened in Dubai in april 2008. It has since then visited Palais de la découverte in Paris, France and the A. S. Popov Museum of Communications in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In February of 2010 it ”came home” and opened in the space for temporary exhibitions at The Nobel Museum in Stockholm. The exhibition depicts the life of the founder of The Nobel Prize, Alfred Nobel. The exhibition consists of five main parts that tell the story of Nobel’s early life in Stockholm and Saint Petersburg, of his several hundred inventions, of his growing multi-national industrial empire, and, lastly, his death in San Remo, Italy, in 1896. One of the fundamental concepts of the design and content of the exhibition was to work closely with artists. In each main part, curators from the Nobel Museum have cooperated with different artists to produce texts, films, multimedia and also in designing the display cases. The result is part science history exhibition, part art installation. The idea to supplement the exhibition with an exhibit that collected all the facts and information about Alfred Nobel in one place came early, but it wasn’t until it visited Stockholm that we had the opportunity to implement it. The multimedia part was programmed in Flash by staff from our ”sister”-organization, Nobel Web, who runs the website Nobelprize.org. Apart from the application itself they also made an editor in which non-programmers easily could add content in the form of images, text and even new nodes. The hardware consists of touch-screens from Samsung with built-in computers, which fit in a relatively slim construction. The graphic design highlights one of the many unique qualities of Alfred Nobel’s business; his wide network. He was one of the first truly multi-national businessmen with factories all over the world. A lot of effort was put in to making the navigation as intuitive as possible. There is still some work left to do, but hopefully we can complete it in the near future. The video can also be watched on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmnKb5x44Tw http://exhibitfiles.org/alfred_nobelkiosk http://exhibitfiles.org/alfred_nobelkiosk Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:52:56 -0800 Storyville is not all that different from many children’s museums. It is a sweet little exhibit that harnesses the power of kids’ imaginations and solicits spontaneous storytelling and character development. The space consists of a series of small, themed, environments with a fence or gate to create an enclosure. Most are cul-de-sacs and back up against a wall so the main circulation space is in the center. Each area has a fairly literal looking storefront – grocery store, house, post office, theater, skyscraper, back yard - creating a “town square” setting. The colors are fairly typical reds, blues, greens, and yellows. Inside each of these “buildings” are props including blocks, magnets, puppets, rulers, toy food, costumes . . . you get the idea. But Storyville is not a children’s museum. It is a wing of a public library in suburban Baltimore, MD. This gives the activities a different context. There is a limited range of play styles in the space – primarily imaginative play sprinkled with literacy, theater arts and numeracy components. There is not much constructive play, problem solving, aesthetic exploration, science, tinkering, or invention. I usually find this kind of narrow experience frustrating because it limits the age range the space appeals to, and because my own kids don’t love strictly imaginative play experience. But I found it less of a problem in this setting. It felt like focus, and it made sense. That in turn made me feel like I understood what to do and I could help my kids when they seemed stuck. Another difference: Storyville is explicit about parental participation. As you enter, a staffer gives you instructions to “stay with your children and interact with them”. I suspect that adults expect to engage with their children at the library. After all, they are going to the library to get books to read to their kids. So the expectations may be different here for both the organization and patrons. It was a surprisingly refreshing departure and, more importantly, it seemed to work. The library also has a rare ability to manage crowds in Storyville. The staffer at the gate hands out numbers and tracks how many people are in the exhibit. The library does not seem uncomfortable telling people to do something else and come back later. In this way, Storyville functions something like a special exhibit would in a children’s museum except that it is free. Of course there are things they could have done more with. In addition to my disappointment over the richness of the visitor experience I think they missed an opportunity to thread Storyville into the stacks of the library as a whole, and to enliven the browsing experience. And they have not thought of a way to offer visiting hours outside the library schedule. But overall I think it is a very interesting expansion of a library’s core services. Storyville is not in a wealthy community with a lot of resources. This exhibit is a playful, print-rich, family-oriented environment that provides opportunities for engagement in literature and narrative arts. And it works – I saw a mommy-and-me group meeting in the tot spot for their weekly outing, and lots of the people we saw there had planned their day around this visit. So Storyville, by drawing on the lessons of children’s museums and by mimicking their strategies directly, is able to extend the library’s services beyond book-borrowing and lap-sits. In fact, this small, not very original exhibit, is a key to repositioning the library as a family destination that promotes playful learning, and as the hub of a community of learners that starts at birth and follows families throughout their lives. http://exhibitfiles.org/storyville http://exhibitfiles.org/storyville Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:34:11 -0800 The moment you see the seven-story, glass and steel building on a prime piece of Pennsylvania Avenue real-estate that is the Newseum, you know this is not your grandpa’s idea of what a museum should be. The $450 million museum was created by, for, and about newsmakers, newshounds, and newsreaders. The Newseum boasts of its 250,000-square-foot museum of news, housing: • 35,000 – Total number of historic newspaper front pages in its collection, going back nearly 500 years. • 6,214 – Number of artifacts in its collection (excluding newspapers and photographs). • 15 theaters, • 14 main exhibits, • 2 state of the art HD broadcast studios, • And much, much, much more The Newsuem’s mission is to “educate the public about the value of a free press in a free society and tells the stories of the world's important events in unique and engaging ways… blend[ing] five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits”. The Newseum does just that. It blends the up- to-the-second journalistic mentality with a hands-on, technological approach to exhibition design to presents a museum experience that blurs the line between the traditional museum and an interactive theme park experience. The Story of News exhibit displays original prints of front pages recording some of the most historic events in history. Arranged in chronological order and described as “the entire history of the printed news”, visitors can read the news stories that reported such momentous events as the outbreak of the American Civil War, the sinking of the Titanic, the assassination of President Kennedy, and even the death of Blackbeard the pirate in 1718. The exhibit furthers the discussion of how the press reports history in the making by having numerous artifacts and memorabilia used by journalist in their quest for the truth, with the door lead to the Watergate scandal as its most famous example. The Berlin Wall gallery proudly displays eight 12-foot-high sections of the Berlin Wall and a three-story East German guard tower. Impressive artifacts on there own, but the real lesson presented is how the power of a free press change the world by bring an end of the oppression in Eastern Europe. The Wall could not impede the radio broadcasts from the Allied section of Berlin, and it spreading the ideals of freedom and democracy. In the end, the exhibit is all about how the press played a leading role in the opening of the boarders between East and West, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the fall of Communism. The Newseum’s dedication to technology also plays a large part in its drive to educate its public in unique ways. The incorporation of technology as a teaching tool can best be seen in the museum’s Ethics Center. While the topic of ethics is prominent in the news gathering community, it might be in so ingrained in the minds of its visitors. That is why the Newseum developed the exhibit. The center’s focal piece is the ethic table where visitors wave their hands over the table’s infrared screen to control tiny avatars and answer questions on journalistic morals. It is one of only three such high tech motion-sensing tables in the entire world. In addition, the ethics center has interactive touch-screen kiosks loaded with engaging games that illustrate some of the hard choices journalist have to make in their line of work. The ethics center is just one example of why the Newseum claims to be “the world’s most interactive museum.” Its commitment to providing its guest with unique and engaging experiences can also be seen in its 4-D film experience called "I-Witness: A 4-D Time Travel Adventure”. Not satisfied with a basic video display, the Annenberg Theater also includes seat that shake, wind machines, and other sensory special effect to further add to the excitement of a 3-D movie recreation of “some of the most dramatic events in journalism history”. The Newseum commitment to technology is where it assaults the line between the long-established educational museum environment and the high tech world of an interactive theme park. No mater on what side of that line you stand on, the Newseum achieves it mission to educate its visitors about the history of journalism, the power of the truth, those who risk their lives for the dissemination of reliable information, and the need for freedom of speech and a free press through highly engaging, informative, and thought provoking ways. ***All figures, pictures, and quotes courtesy of the Newseum Website: http://www.newseum.org *** http://exhibitfiles.org/the_newseum http://exhibitfiles.org/the_newseum Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:54:44 -0800 Sometimes a single exhibit or experience can change a life. For me, going to Washington, D.C., at age 12 and seeing the sculpture "Infinity" by José de Rivera in front of the National Museum of American History provided a powerful inspiration that led to a life-long interest in object making and the power of objects and spaces in the human experience. I had a wonderful time at the museum that day, but made no conscious connection between this sculpture and American history. I don't really think making the connection was important. I was very energized by my experience with the sculpture. Something undefinable about the strange curves and loops of the sculpture really captured my attention. The energy and enthusiasm of this inspiration carried over to the entire museum experience. It also continued after I returned home and started reading about Möbius strips and building paper models of them. Years later, I followed this inspiration with a degree in sculpture and a career in museum exhibit making. These days, I revisit "Infinity" whenever I can. I took the photo here on a recent trip. As my introduction to this group, I just thought I'd mention how important an icon or a single discrete experience can be for a museum visitor. I'm looking forward to returning to this website and group often! http://exhibitfiles.org/infinity http://exhibitfiles.org/infinity Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:21:21 -0800 The Try It! Lab started as a supplemental exhibit to a small exhibition of about a dozen rented physical science exhibits in a too big space. I asked to move my team, including myself, into the space. It grew into something else… Description and goals of the physical space: Most people see the Try It! Lab as a physical science exhibition with a small exhibit shop in it. The shop is behind a transparent plastic wall that acts a giant set of safety goggles to protect guests while they look in. My conception of the space turns this upside down. The goal has become: The place where the most meaningful work in the museum happens, where the process of exhibit development is as important the content. To me, the Try It! Lab is a research space that contains a physical science exhibition. This exhibition provides the platform for the guest interactions we are studying. Existing exhibits can be modified or supplemented. Prototypical exhibits can be added and removed. Physical relationships between exhibits are altered on a regular basis. This exciting, dynamic space is where the exhibitions team does testing for future exhibitions. We have created a windowed workspace that allows the exhibition staff to observe guests firsthand as they interact with exhibits within a connected exhibition. The team can see what types of exhibits are most successful, (or unsuccessful,) and why. They can also exit the workspace directly into the gallery, and are encouraged to interact with guests. The information collected is used to refine the exhibits before final build and installation. The fact that guests can see the exhibition crew at work, and the exhibits in progress is an added benefit of the windows. My hope is that a kind of two-way learning takes place, with guests learning from the exhibits and exhibits staff learning from the guests. Finally, I wanted to be able to move or otherwise change the exhibits within the exhibition to a large degree with a minimal amount of effort. What we refer to as a high degree of modularity. Description and goals of learning in the space: Based on the idea that people learn what they want to learn, when they want to learn it, we have developed a “more questions than answers” pedagogy. We help people make connections and get them excited in an effort make the “when” happen more often. Many of the exhibits don’t really teach facts of the type that might appear on a quiz. Rather they are designed to try to get guests to play in way that reinforces science methodology. Ask questions, make predictions, make comparisons, make changes, start again. This is the same thing the exhibit developers are doing in the lab. We foster curiosity, and encourage acting on it. Summary of description and goals: The Try It! Lab is about exhibit developers and guests learning together, working together, playing together and noticing things along the way. Some exhibits do provide answers. Some provoke more and “better” questions. Hopefully all of them provide some connection to our world and how it works. The Try It! Lab is, in my opinion, very successful in accomplishing these goals, though more formal evaluation is necessary to back up the observations of my team and I. Traditional evaluation methods may be difficult to apply since the exhibition does not focus on the traditional “learning outcomes” paradigm. Much of what the exhibitions team has learned is through interpersonal interaction and connection with our guests. I would even say that some of what we have learned in the past six months has influenced our exhibit building on a fundamental level. Personally, I feel that I am transforming from an authority figure using exhibits to impart information, to more of an anthropologist studying how people make meaning from their experiences, and modifying the experiences that are presented to make them more accessible to guests. http://exhibitfiles.org/try_it_lab http://exhibitfiles.org/try_it_lab Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:23:54 -0800 The New York Hall of Science is hosting Math Midway, a new exhibition developed by the Math Factory, a group led by Glen Whitney that is planning a math museum in the region. I first saw components of the exhibition outdoors at the World Science Festival in New York City in the summer of 09. I was struck by the crowds that were drawn to the exhibition, the lively design and the general energy surrounding it. The only exhibits that I actually got to see increased my curiosity...particularly a very clever square wheeled tricycle that visitors could ride on a textured surface so that the ride was smooth. It was a clever way to get to kids through a counter intuitive experience and showed the kind of combination of experiential learning, fun, and aha! that we all aspire to. On the spot, we agreed that the Hall should host this exhibition, and thanks to the cooperation and goodwill of the Math Factory folks, we opened it this winter. The exhibition installs very quickly, using speedrail and drape for the backbone of the physical structure, and using the organizing metaphor of a carnival midway with booths and catchy "step right up" type language and descriptors. While this has the potential to be a bit corny for kids (how many have actually been to a carnival midway?), the quality of the individual exhibits dispels this concern. It is in the individual exhibit elements that the creativity of the team that put this together shines. I'll start with my favorite component, called the Ring of Fire. This is a circle, mounted vertically, with lasers at 90 degree intervals pointed at the center of the circle. There are diffusers mounted over the lasers such that there is essentially a plane of laser light that covers the area of the circle (see I'm already talking more math-y and the exhibition has only been here a few weeks.) Several 3d geometric shapes made of transparent plexi can be passed through this plane, with the result that you can see the unexpected 2-d shapes defined by the plane intersection the shape. Think interactive "flatland" but with lasers. Very very clever and effective. I can't say that all the kids were as impressed with it as the museum staff were. This is kind of an exhibit persons exhibit. Another very clever exhibit is called "plant the daisy" in which the visitor is challenged to place a long rod into a small hole while holding it on one of the vibrational nodes. Very hard to do with the large version, so they made a smaller version for kids. Again, very experiential with rich meaning. A section on mirrors worked very well, with a funhouse mirror in which visitors could control their reflection by pulling on a rope that changed the convex/concave configuration of the mirror. This same section had a very well designed mylar reflection activity that showed surprising symmetrical reflections. A large exhibit using two "watch hands" spinning at slightly different speeds with a string connecting them, and a monkey riding back and forth on this string was a clever, if a bit abstract, way of showing chaotic motion. It was loaded with a number line that had symbols for different types of numbers, whether prime, fibonacci sequence, squares, cubes, powers of 2. This was very dense for most visitors, and probably overlaid too much meaning on one exhibit, but having it explained opened up a world of exploration and interest. Another clever exhibit used numbered disks to balance a pirate ship, encouraging visitors to solve the equations that will be balanced. A well designed tessellation puzzle exhibit using monkey shapes, a building exhibit using large padded blocks to make cubes, a maze challenge, are all popular, kinetic, and so far pretty durable. The exhibition is still in its fine tuning phase, so there are kinks being worked out. But overall, this is an imaginative, effective, lively exhibit made by a team with a strong desire to share the joy of mathematical thinking. I hope it will not be too snarky to say that I was very surprised to learn that Ralph Applebaum's firm designed the exhibit, as it is a much simpler, leaner, and more playful vocabulary than I have seen in any of their other exhibits. They deserve real credit for responding to the Math Factory's enthusiasm with their own burst of creativity. http://exhibitfiles.org/math_midway http://exhibitfiles.org/math_midway Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:09:27 -0800 I return to Riveropolis again and again as a point of reference and inspiration. Strictly speaking, Riveropolis is a temporary water feature by artist Gregory Gavin. What makes it charming and special is that the sculpture is actually co-created by groups of children working with everyday materials, flat planters of grass, and a garden hose. Gavin’s original idea was to provide an armature for running water and then invite families to create chunks of the riverbank, which steps down in a series of plateaus and waterfalls. Each finished plot, containing a section of forest or a house as determined by its creator, is connected using urban design strategies including roads, bridges, and fences. Each time the piece is installed, Gavin incorporates new ideas he has had. So, for instance, when I saw it at the Museum of Children’s Art in Oakland, CA he had introduced removable “landscape trays” that visitors could work in before integrating them into the evolving miniature world. Gavin writes on his website that Riveropolis is meant to engage the kids and adults who collaborate in its creation in “art, architecture, and ecology.” In addition, there is an important opportunity for those working on the River to learn from the experience of contributing a piece to a group work, and in negotiating how to connect each plot of riverfront with its neighbors. For people approaching the finished work – and for those who did not contribute to it directly - Riveropolis serves a public art function by bringing running water to an urban setting while enlivening public space with a fun, interactive, unexpected and beautiful experience. Riveropolis has another important take-away for me about the ways design can support engagement and deepen learning. Riveropolis is an intentionally incomplete physical environment that relies on visitors to actively collaborate. It is, in large part, made BY its audience rather than FOR them. This sharing of authorship opens up dialogue with the audience and supports many levels of participation and ensures that each installation of Riveropolis reflects its unique community. By basing the experience of Riveropolis on the creative process it also ties visitors’ learning to their generative activity – visitors have to consider what their contribution to Riveropolis will be, and why, and how to express that vision. Riveropolis is also experimental, risk taking, and quirky. In particular, it models a self-reflective process, changing with each new installation as the design team continues to refine their ideas. It can change at many timescales - in the moment of creation, in the space of the visit, and over longer periods of time. And this is one of the key reasons I find it so compelling. It raises the question of whether being temporary is crucial to its success, or whether a similar alchemy can be achieved in a permanent exhibit. http://exhibitfiles.org/riveropolis http://exhibitfiles.org/riveropolis Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:44:44 -0800 When I am in an exhibition I have a burning desire to touch objects. I want to take a magnifying glass to them and scrutinize the surface. I want to know how and why it was made. I want to know what is soooo great about this object that it is under a vitrine and I am not allowed to satiate my desire to feel it up. While the Library of Congress did not permit me to put my greasy paws all over their collections they did let me get up close and personal through the use of technology. As I entered the beautiful renaissance revival Thomas Jefferson building of the Library of Congress I was greeted with a line of sleek flat screen monitors shouting out “touch me”. Through the modern marvel of computer circuitry these elegant monitors communicated an amazing amount of information and allowed me to collect memoirs of my experience at the LOC. With the entry monitors I registered a “passport to knowledge” and submitted my e-mail address to the LOC. They also provided me with a list of current events, a map and exhibition schedule. Everything I needed to be well prepared to start my tour. I moved on to the exhibitions knowing exactly where I was going. The first exhibit was the LOCs Bible Collection. Immediately I saw two very old and interesting objects, the Mainz and Gutenberg Bibles. Unfortunately I could only observe the bibles through a plexi glass case. So I went over to a near by touch screen to see what it could do for me. This kiosk gave me additional information about these bibles and presented digital images of other historically important bibles. The best part, I thought, was the ability to flip through and zoom in on the pages. The resolution of the digital reproductions was excellent and zooming in revealed details you could not have seen otherwise. However, I was a little disappointed with the lack of in-depth information provided. Highlighted areas pointed out things like illuminated boarders and repaired areas, but these elements were simply highlighted, not interpreted or explained. I found this to be the case with several of the interactive kiosks. The graphics and manipulation were fantastic but the information was limited. As I progressed throughout the library I inserted my passport into multiple kiosks collecting objects and playing interactive games related to the exhibition I was in. These games were called “knowledge quests”. I found some games more interesting then others, but I did get caught up in the “quest” to complete them all. There were several other interactives which allowed me to manipulate collections objects and view architectural features up close and personal. One I really enjoyed was the Waldsemuller Maps Kiosk. This interactive compares two world maps from 1507 and 1516. It highlights interesting elements such as how the continents shapes changed as exploration advanced human understanding of the earth’s geography. Another interesting highlight on the 1507 map was the labeling of South America as America. This was the first time the name America was used on a map. I found this interpretive information and textual detail to be the most robust of all the interactive. The “Art and Architecture of the Jefferson Building” was another great interactive that allowed me to zoom in on details of the Library’s interior. For example, I zoomed in on the stained glass skylight and learned that it was a repetition of the mosaic pattern on the floor. Again however the interpretive detail was very limited. After about an hour and a half of perusing the galleries I had to jump on the metro and get out to Gaithersburg to catch my 8 year old nephews birthday party. I hadn’t seen everything or finished my knowledge quests, but I wasn’t worried because I had my passport. So after the crazy party was over I logged into myloc.gov and revisited the objects I had collected and completed a few more “quests”. I was also able to visit collections from exhibitions, which I hadn’t seen. One problem I encountered was the link that the LOC sent me (via e-mail) to access my personal collection did not work. Instead I had to navigate to myloc.gov through their main web page. Aesthetically the LOC beautifully integrates technology into the historic and exquisitely ornate Thomas Jefferson building. The use of technology is ubiquitous but not flashy. The monitors have clean understated profiles and contrast nicely with the sharp bold graphics they display, but do not clash with the building or distract from the physical exhibition. Some textual information could be made more robust and there were technical glitches. However all in all I was very satisfied with my technology experience and will be a frequent visitor to the LOC and their website. http://exhibitfiles.org/thomas_jefferson_building http://exhibitfiles.org/thomas_jefferson_building Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:52:56 -0800 Storyville is not all that different from many children’s museums. It is a sweet little exhibit that harnesses the power of kids’ imaginations and solicits spontaneous storytelling and character development. The space consists of a series of small, themed, environments with a fence or gate to create an enclosure. Most are cul-de-sacs and back up against a wall so the main circulation space is in the center. Each area has a fairly literal looking storefront – grocery store, house, post office, theater, skyscraper, back yard - creating a “town square” setting. The colors are fairly typical reds, blues, greens, and yellows. Inside each of these “buildings” are props including blocks, magnets, puppets, rulers, toy food, costumes . . . you get the idea. But Storyville is not a children’s museum. It is a wing of a public library in suburban Baltimore, MD. This gives the activities a different context. There is a limited range of play styles in the space – primarily imaginative play sprinkled with literacy, theater arts and numeracy components. There is not much constructive play, problem solving, aesthetic exploration, science, tinkering, or invention. I usually find this kind of narrow experience frustrating because it limits the age range the space appeals to, and because my own kids don’t love strictly imaginative play experience. But I found it less of a problem in this setting. It felt like focus, and it made sense. That in turn made me feel like I understood what to do and I could help my kids when they seemed stuck. Another difference: Storyville is explicit about parental participation. As you enter, a staffer gives you instructions to “stay with your children and interact with them”. I suspect that adults expect to engage with their children at the library. After all, they are going to the library to get books to read to their kids. So the expectations may be different here for both the organization and patrons. It was a surprisingly refreshing departure and, more importantly, it seemed to work. The library also has a rare ability to manage crowds in Storyville. The staffer at the gate hands out numbers and tracks how many people are in the exhibit. The library does not seem uncomfortable telling people to do something else and come back later. In this way, Storyville functions something like a special exhibit would in a children’s museum except that it is free. Of course there are things they could have done more with. In addition to my disappointment over the richness of the visitor experience I think they missed an opportunity to thread Storyville into the stacks of the library as a whole, and to enliven the browsing experience. And they have not thought of a way to offer visiting hours outside the library schedule. But overall I think it is a very interesting expansion of a library’s core services. Storyville is not in a wealthy community with a lot of resources. This exhibit is a playful, print-rich, family-oriented environment that provides opportunities for engagement in literature and narrative arts. And it works – I saw a mommy-and-me group meeting in the tot spot for their weekly outing, and lots of the people we saw there had planned their day around this visit. So Storyville, by drawing on the lessons of children’s museums and by mimicking their strategies directly, is able to extend the library’s services beyond book-borrowing and lap-sits. In fact, this small, not very original exhibit, is a key to repositioning the library as a family destination that promotes playful learning, and as the hub of a community of learners that starts at birth and follows families throughout their lives. http://exhibitfiles.org/storyville http://exhibitfiles.org/storyville Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:34:11 -0800 The moment you see the seven-story, glass and steel building on a prime piece of Pennsylvania Avenue real-estate that is the Newseum, you know this is not your grandpa’s idea of what a museum should be. The $450 million museum was created by, for, and about newsmakers, newshounds, and newsreaders. The Newseum boasts of its 250,000-square-foot museum of news, housing: • 35,000 – Total number of historic newspaper front pages in its collection, going back nearly 500 years. • 6,214 – Number of artifacts in its collection (excluding newspapers and photographs). • 15 theaters, • 14 main exhibits, • 2 state of the art HD broadcast studios, • And much, much, much more The Newsuem’s mission is to “educate the public about the value of a free press in a free society and tells the stories of the world's important events in unique and engaging ways… blend[ing] five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits”. The Newseum does just that. It blends the up- to-the-second journalistic mentality with a hands-on, technological approach to exhibition design to presents a museum experience that blurs the line between the traditional museum and an interactive theme park experience. The Story of News exhibit displays original prints of front pages recording some of the most historic events in history. Arranged in chronological order and described as “the entire history of the printed news”, visitors can read the news stories that reported such momentous events as the outbreak of the American Civil War, the sinking of the Titanic, the assassination of President Kennedy, and even the death of Blackbeard the pirate in 1718. The exhibit furthers the discussion of how the press reports history in the making by having numerous artifacts and memorabilia used by journalist in their quest for the truth, with the door lead to the Watergate scandal as its most famous example. The Berlin Wall gallery proudly displays eight 12-foot-high sections of the Berlin Wall and a three-story East German guard tower. Impressive artifacts on there own, but the real lesson presented is how the power of a free press change the world by bring an end of the oppression in Eastern Europe. The Wall could not impede the radio broadcasts from the Allied section of Berlin, and it spreading the ideals of freedom and democracy. In the end, the exhibit is all about how the press played a leading role in the opening of the boarders between East and West, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the fall of Communism. The Newseum’s dedication to technology also plays a large part in its drive to educate its public in unique ways. The incorporation of technology as a teaching tool can best be seen in the museum’s Ethics Center. While the topic of ethics is prominent in the news gathering community, it might be in so ingrained in the minds of its visitors. That is why the Newseum developed the exhibit. The center’s focal piece is the ethic table where visitors wave their hands over the table’s infrared screen to control tiny avatars and answer questions on journalistic morals. It is one of only three such high tech motion-sensing tables in the entire world. In addition, the ethics center has interactive touch-screen kiosks loaded with engaging games that illustrate some of the hard choices journalist have to make in their line of work. The ethics center is just one example of why the Newseum claims to be “the world’s most interactive museum.” Its commitment to providing its guest with unique and engaging experiences can also be seen in its 4-D film experience called "I-Witness: A 4-D Time Travel Adventure”. Not satisfied with a basic video display, the Annenberg Theater also includes seat that shake, wind machines, and other sensory special effect to further add to the excitement of a 3-D movie recreation of “some of the most dramatic events in journalism history”. The Newseum commitment to technology is where it assaults the line between the long-established educational museum environment and the high tech world of an interactive theme park. No mater on what side of that line you stand on, the Newseum achieves it mission to educate its visitors about the history of journalism, the power of the truth, those who risk their lives for the dissemination of reliable information, and the need for freedom of speech and a free press through highly engaging, informative, and thought provoking ways. ***All figures, pictures, and quotes courtesy of the Newseum Website: http://www.newseum.org *** http://exhibitfiles.org/the_newseum http://exhibitfiles.org/the_newseum Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:54:44 -0800 Sometimes a single exhibit or experience can change a life. For me, going to Washington, D.C., at age 12 and seeing the sculpture "Infinity" by José de Rivera in front of the National Museum of American History provided a powerful inspiration that led to a life-long interest in object making and the power of objects and spaces in the human experience. I had a wonderful time at the museum that day, but made no conscious connection between this sculpture and American history. I don't really think making the connection was important. I was very energized by my experience with the sculpture. Something undefinable about the strange curves and loops of the sculpture really captured my attention. The energy and enthusiasm of this inspiration carried over to the entire museum experience. It also continued after I returned home and started reading about Möbius strips and building paper models of them. Years later, I followed this inspiration with a degree in sculpture and a career in museum exhibit making. These days, I revisit "Infinity" whenever I can. I took the photo here on a recent trip. As my introduction to this group, I just thought I'd mention how important an icon or a single discrete experience can be for a museum visitor. I'm looking forward to returning to this website and group often! http://exhibitfiles.org/infinity http://exhibitfiles.org/infinity Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:23:54 -0800 The New York Hall of Science is hosting Math Midway, a new exhibition developed by the Math Factory, a group led by Glen Whitney that is planning a math museum in the region. I first saw components of the exhibition outdoors at the World Science Festival in New York City in the summer of 09. I was struck by the crowds that were drawn to the exhibition, the lively design and the general energy surrounding it. The only exhibits that I actually got to see increased my curiosity...particularly a very clever square wheeled tricycle that visitors could ride on a textured surface so that the ride was smooth. It was a clever way to get to kids through a counter intuitive experience and showed the kind of combination of experiential learning, fun, and aha! that we all aspire to. On the spot, we agreed that the Hall should host this exhibition, and thanks to the cooperation and goodwill of the Math Factory folks, we opened it this winter. The exhibition installs very quickly, using speedrail and drape for the backbone of the physical structure, and using the organizing metaphor of a carnival midway with booths and catchy "step right up" type language and descriptors. While this has the potential to be a bit corny for kids (how many have actually been to a carnival midway?), the quality of the individual exhibits dispels this concern. It is in the individual exhibit elements that the creativity of the team that put this together shines. I'll start with my favorite component, called the Ring of Fire. This is a circle, mounted vertically, with lasers at 90 degree intervals pointed at the center of the circle. There are diffusers mounted over the lasers such that there is essentially a plane of laser light that covers the area of the circle (see I'm already talking more math-y and the exhibition has only been here a few weeks.) Several 3d geometric shapes made of transparent plexi can be passed through this plane, with the result that you can see the unexpected 2-d shapes defined by the plane intersection the shape. Think interactive "flatland" but with lasers. Very very clever and effective. I can't say that all the kids were as impressed with it as the museum staff were. This is kind of an exhibit persons exhibit. Another very clever exhibit is called "plant the daisy" in which the visitor is challenged to place a long rod into a small hole while holding it on one of the vibrational nodes. Very hard to do with the large version, so they made a smaller version for kids. Again, very experiential with rich meaning. A section on mirrors worked very well, with a funhouse mirror in which visitors could control their reflection by pulling on a rope that changed the convex/concave configuration of the mirror. This same section had a very well designed mylar reflection activity that showed surprising symmetrical reflections. A large exhibit using two "watch hands" spinning at slightly different speeds with a string connecting them, and a monkey riding back and forth on this string was a clever, if a bit abstract, way of showing chaotic motion. It was loaded with a number line that had symbols for different types of numbers, whether prime, fibonacci sequence, squares, cubes, powers of 2. This was very dense for most visitors, and probably overlaid too much meaning on one exhibit, but having it explained opened up a world of exploration and interest. Another clever exhibit used numbered disks to balance a pirate ship, encouraging visitors to solve the equations that will be balanced. A well designed tessellation puzzle exhibit using monkey shapes, a building exhibit using large padded blocks to make cubes, a maze challenge, are all popular, kinetic, and so far pretty durable. The exhibition is still in its fine tuning phase, so there are kinks being worked out. But overall, this is an imaginative, effective, lively exhibit made by a team with a strong desire to share the joy of mathematical thinking. I hope it will not be too snarky to say that I was very surprised to learn that Ralph Applebaum's firm designed the exhibit, as it is a much simpler, leaner, and more playful vocabulary than I have seen in any of their other exhibits. They deserve real credit for responding to the Math Factory's enthusiasm with their own burst of creativity. http://exhibitfiles.org/math_midway http://exhibitfiles.org/math_midway Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:15:55 -0800 http://exhibitfiles.org/chris_spraker http://exhibitfiles.org/chris_spraker Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:58:41 -0800 http://exhibitfiles.org/christ_difranco http://exhibitfiles.org/christ_difranco Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:33:38 -0800 http://exhibitfiles.org/megan_grimm2 http://exhibitfiles.org/megan_grimm2 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:01:51 -0800 http://exhibitfiles.org/valerie_haggertysilva http://exhibitfiles.org/valerie_haggertysilva Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:54:35 +0000 I particularly notice the fact that this an exhibition experience in a different, yet related, venue. The setting seems to contribute to this, and so makes me think about the settings of the work I am currently engaged in. Thanks for sharing this. Dave http://www.exhibitfiles.org/bits/1248-_ http://www.exhibitfiles.org/bits/1248-_ Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:41:30 +0000 We really appreciate the comments about this exhibit. Multitouch and multiuser technology is finally at a stage where it is possible to put together interesting exhibits that have tactile qualities and encourage social interaction. This is major step forward as up to now, most computer-based exhibits are lack the physical qualities found here and they are isolating experience. As for the photographs, Chad Person did a great job shooting the terrestrial images for the exhibit. We worked with ASC to find common and iconic images to include in the exhibit. We've posted many of them on our Flickr stream. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ideum/sets/72157622938524341/ http://www.exhibitfiles.org/bits/1238-thanks-for-the-comments http://www.exhibitfiles.org/bits/1238-thanks-for-the-comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:14:04 +0000 LOVE the Xray iPhone photo... what a decidely clever yet simple way to immediately connect to modern society. Grabbed my attention to click and read your case study! Coming from a sales perspective, has anyone asked to buy the x-ray pic as a poster? It's awesome! http://www.exhibitfiles.org/bits/1221-brilliant-beautiful-photographs http://www.exhibitfiles.org/bits/1221-brilliant-beautiful-photographs Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:35:36 +0000 Looks interesting, Lori. I'm assuming it has been a well received exhibition, especially lately, with First Lady Michelle Obama's very aggressive fight towards ending childhood obesity in the U.S. I am curious as to your translation process. Do you use an outside or internal editor to proof the Spanish translations? What is your preferred method when working on a bilingual exhbition? http://www.exhibitfiles.org/bits/1220-great-idea http://www.exhibitfiles.org/bits/1220-great-idea