self-archive part nine
I will post drawings soon-ish: I plan to find a scanner tomorrow, surely- its under control. My INITIAL IMPRESSIONS of the Exploratorium. I know its boring, but I really like it - in this country (and maybe others) liking something is boring. So I must be boring. I am daily really inspired to write or paint, which makes me and my brain happy. I am too far away from my studio though and my paints/collage making effects unfortunately. If only I were a Jetson....The space is very unimposing. The outside is plain and draws you in. The exhibits are simple and located all over the floor, no forced flow or direction. Its whatever you want to make it. This also lends to if someone else is playing with the exhibit that you want to see, you can play with something else until they are done. The amount of visitors that this space can hold is impressive. Several people will be crowded around some exhibits and others will only have a small few. When you enter you can either go upstairs or continue straight and I personally felt drawn upstairs first. Others may feel drawn downstairs. The exhibits upstairs first are all magnetic or pendulum based, then electricity/generators based, then you enter the traits of life exhibit. Its microscopes and plants, termites, fishes, chicken embryo, dna, cow's eyeball, then you enter the sound exhibit called "Listen". How fortuitous that I have just gotten back into making noise/sound art and this exhibit is hear for me. At the end of the exhibit is a staircase that leads downstairs.
The flow of downstairs is you walk in and are introduced to exhibits that use pins (apparently the first pin [the thing you put impressions of your hand in, that is sold at stores like Gadzooks!] thing was an exhibit here and someone came in and ripped it off and put the patent on it, and made the money, not the actual inventor), shifting sands, vortices, tension, pulleys, how landscapes change due to air pressure and wind, understanding water flow patterns, how skillets conduct heat, fog, tactile sensations, iron, sand, puzzles, cafe, then the seeing and mind exhibits.
When it's 5 (closing time) all of the Explainers start yelling that the Exploratorium is closed and bells go off and everyone is herded out quickly. Kids seem unhappy, parents seem tired.
Overall, I have reduced, based on my initial impressions my focus of interest in the museum to the fusion of art and science. I will hopefully get to talk to Susan and Dennis about this. I plan on doing discourse analysis on how they fuse art and science, but will have to proceed carefully , as I have somehow lost my Rose book. Somehow.
Initial impression positive, inspired, and happy with my choice.
The flow of downstairs is you walk in and are introduced to exhibits that use pins (apparently the first pin [the thing you put impressions of your hand in, that is sold at stores like Gadzooks!] thing was an exhibit here and someone came in and ripped it off and put the patent on it, and made the money, not the actual inventor), shifting sands, vortices, tension, pulleys, how landscapes change due to air pressure and wind, understanding water flow patterns, how skillets conduct heat, fog, tactile sensations, iron, sand, puzzles, cafe, then the seeing and mind exhibits.
When it's 5 (closing time) all of the Explainers start yelling that the Exploratorium is closed and bells go off and everyone is herded out quickly. Kids seem unhappy, parents seem tired.
Overall, I have reduced, based on my initial impressions my focus of interest in the museum to the fusion of art and science. I will hopefully get to talk to Susan and Dennis about this. I plan on doing discourse analysis on how they fuse art and science, but will have to proceed carefully , as I have somehow lost my Rose book. Somehow.
Initial impression positive, inspired, and happy with my choice.
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