August 17, 2007

New 'Mind' exhibit at San Francisco's Exploratorium science museum proves interesting

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Sip of Conflict copyright 2007 Exploratorium | Photo: Amy Snyder And by interesting I mean hideously violational (not a word) of preconceived notions about, in this case, consumption and excretion, or the boundaries between clean and dirty. But that's the point, you see. From Raphael Rosen, a public information officer at the Exploratorium: "In Mind, you are the exhibit. Experience your own thoughts, feelings and actions in provocative and unexpected ways in this major new 5000-square-foot Exploratorium exhibition, four years in the making, featuring over 40 brand-new interactive exhibits. In a very real sense, you'll discover that the exhibits in Mind are actually within yourself: these experiences are windows into the subtle but powerful processes and mechanisms at work inside our heads. At A Sip of Conflict, for example, drink from a water fountain fashioned from a very real but unused toilet." As optical illusions teach us, our senses have certain biases. Or, to put it another way, our sensory systems, and the brain itself, process information in particular ways, and things like optical illusions "break" those processing mechanisms. (False-motion illusions illustrate this point.) More from the upcoming exhibit: As Others See You & As You See Yourself copyright 2007 Exploratorium | Photo: Amy Snyder Communication Emotions with Your Body and Face copyright 2007 Exploratorium | Photo: Amy Snyder The exhibit opens November 9 and runs until December 31. A companion website will drop some time this summer (but is not active yet) at http://www.exploratorium.edu/mind

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