EXPLORATORIUM PIER 15 PRESS KIT2 · Curated by senior artist Pamela Winfrey and social psychologist Hugh McDonald, Ph.D., Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded Science of Sharing

THE EXPLORATORIUM @ PIER 15 PRESS KIT

TABLE OF CONTENTS Click to the links below to navigate to different parts of the kit

Exploratorium @ Pier 15 Overview

● Campus Map ● Exploratorium Visitor Overview Press Release ● Exploratorium Visitor Overview Fact Sheet ● Facts of Note

Exhibits and Programming

● New Galleries and Exhibit Highlights ● New and Upcoming Public Programs ● Arts Program and New Center for Art & Inquiry ● Arts Fact Sheet ● Arts Press Kit (view online)

Dining & Store

● Dining at the Exploratorium ● New Exploratorium Store

Building

● Architect’s Vision: Art and Landscape Converge ● Net-Zero Energy Goals (full press kit online here)

Background and Bios

● Who We Are (2 minute video) ● Key Leadership at the Exploratorium ● Gallery Curators ● Project Development and Construction Team ● Exploratorium Founder Frank Oppenheimer ● Global Studios (Released November 15, 2012) ● Sound Uncovered: A Free iPad App (Released February 12, 2013) ● Contact the Exploratorium Public Information Office

http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/exploratorium-arts-press-kit

http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/exploratorium-net-zero-press-kit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI4D3sO1b7A&feature=share&list=UUR4I4iSvzltLN_WumwIBC3Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI4D3sO1b7A&feature=share&list=UUR4I4iSvzltLN_WumwIBC3Q

http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/exploratorium-launches-global-studios-entrepreneurial-endeavor-share

http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/calling-all-audiophiles-exploratorium-debuts-sound-uncovered-ipad-app

Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 2

Exploratorium @Pier 15 San Francisco, CA 94111 www.exploratorium.edu


EXPLORATORIUM OPENS APRIL 17, 2013 ON SAN FRANCISCO’S WATERFRONT AT PIER 15 New Embarcadero Gem to Feature 150 New Exhibits, Bay Observatory,

Outdoor Gallery and Free Civic Space

On April 17, 2013, the Exploratorium opened at Pier 15 at the heart of the revitalized San Francisco waterfront radically improving access to visitors from all over the world and dramatically enhancing the size and scope of the museum. One of the most highly anticipated events of the year, the Exploratorium’s opening events included a dedication ceremony with keynotes by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, and other dignitaries, as well as two evenings of spectacular large-scale projections on the façade of Pier 15 by internationally acclaimed technology innovators Obscura Digital. With three times more space overall than its previous home, the new Exploratorium will engage the curiosity and creativity of visitors of any age as they explore 150 brand-new exhibits amongst more than 600 that will be on view. For the first time, the Exploratorium expands its investigations into

the bay, city, and outdoor landscape. As the global leader in informal learning—an approach that encourages learning outside the classroom—and the world’s most experimental museum, the Exploratorium will make use of the remarkable new space to push the boundaries once again. For the first time in 44 years, the signature ah-hah! Exploratorium exhibits will be featured outdoors, taking advantage of the city and bay to encourage visitors to observe and engage in their environments like never before. Visitors will experience their own storm by adjusting the frequency, size and velocity of raindrops (umbrella highly recommended), step into the mobile Camera Obscura and see an upside-down world before them, and interact in real-time with invisible life – teeny-tiny plankton that produce almost half the oxygen we breathe. The site features the Bay Observatory, an all-glass building. The Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery and Terrace, on the second level, is for viewing the waterfront and the city, designed to allow visitors to explore the science of the bay, the landscape, and the human impacts that have shaped the Bay Area. The new Exploratorium will also offer 1.5 acres of free public space – a part of the Outdoor Gallery, for visitors to enjoy the views and play with participatory exhibits tied to the surrounding environment. The 330,000 square-foot indoor/outdoor project was designed and constructed with the goal of becoming the largest net-zero energy museum in the United States, if not the world. True to the spirit of the Exploratorium and the nature of net-zero, achieving such an ambitious degree of energy-efficiency will require monitoring and tinkering over time. The entire undertaking will be a real-time educational exhibit, with live energy use and photovoltaic production data on public display. Along with the move, the Exploratorium has expanded its programming and is open late two nights a week. On Wednesdays it is open to the public from 10am-10pm. And for those who want to experience this exuberant learning laboratory amongst other adults, the Exploratorium is exclusively to the 18 and older crowd on Thursday evenings for After Dark, from 6-10pm, with a cash bar. Special programs will be offered both evenings. At Pier 15 the world-renowned Exploratorium will attract even more visitors of all ages to play, observe and discover while soaking in the beauty of the bay and cityscape. But as always, exhibits retain the familiar home-made authentic quality for which the Exploratorium is famous.


Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 4 The Exploratorium’s opening partners are: PG&E, Premier Opening Partner and Lead Sustainability Partner; Chevron, Premier Opening Partner; Genentech, Premier Opening Partner; SunPower, Supporting Partner; Wells Fargo, Supporting Partner; KGO-TV, Premier Media Partner; San Francisco Chronicle, Premier Media Partner; San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority, Premier Media Partner.

CLICK TO GO BACK TO MAIN TABLE OF CONTENTS



EXPLORATORIUM VISITOR OVERVIEW FACT SHEET The Exploratorium is regarded as the world’s foremost interactive science museum, designed to make natural phenomena and the world around us both exciting and understandable. A pioneer in exhibit design and global leader in informal learning, the Exploratorium has been described as a mad scientist's penny arcade, a scientific funhouse, and an experimental laboratory all rolled into one. Hundreds of hands-on exhibits inspire the curiosity and creativity of visitors of all ages. At a Glance

● Opened April 17, 2013: a 330,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor space at Pier 15 on the San Francisco waterfront, providing 3 times more overall space than the original Palace of Fine Arts location

● More than 600 indoor and outdoor exhibits created by staff scientists and artists, 25% of which are brand new

● 1.5 acres of free, outdoor space feature a public plaza, promenade, striking views, outdoor exhibits, a bayside restaurant, a plaza-side café, food carts and the Exploratorium Store with interactive exhibits

● Pier 17, part of the Pier 15/17 campus, provides back-of-house space with room for future expansion

● The new Exploratorium will be a must-see destination along San Francisco’s Embarcadero The Exploratorium at Pier 15 – Inside and Out The indoor and outdoor spaces are divided into six main galleries:

● Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery – Human Behavior:

○ Curated by senior artist Pamela Winfrey and social psychologist Hugh McDonald, Ph.D., Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded Science of Sharing project, this gallery focuses on the art and science of human behavior

○ This provocative space encourages people to play with perception; investigate memory, emotion, and judgment; and experiment with how we cooperate, compete, and share, as in the following exhibits:

■ Poker Face: an exhibit that allows people to explore how we use facial expressions and behaviors to interpret the intentions of others

■ Tactile Dome: Coming Summer 2013, an updated version of the classic exhibit where visitors spelunk through abundantly textured passages in total darkness using only their sense of touch

■ Tornado: lets visitors dance and spin with a vibrant and ever-changing column of fog, promoting experimentation with air currents and social interaction and observation

● Bechtel Central Gallery – Seeing & Listening:

○ This familiar “core” of the Exploratorium, expanding with many new exhibits, is curated by Thomas Humphrey, Ph.D., and Richard Brown, Ph.D. It serves as a public laboratory for investigation into physics and human perception, including light and sound with exhibits such as:

■ Sound Bite: Discover how you don’t need your ears to listen—use your jawbone instead when you listen like a snake



■ Bright Black: Find out why we can’t always believe what we see through an exhibit that will convince you that an object is white before you discover that it is almost black

● East Gallery – Living Systems:

○ Led by Kristina Yu, Ph.D. and Jennifer Frazier, Ph.D., the expanded Life Sciences section is a rarity in the museum world. It’s a working laboratory where visitors can experience the beauty and complexity of life through interactive investigations of living organisms, from an examination of life indigenous to the bay water, to mouse stem cell research, to movement of the tides. In this gallery visitors:

■ Get a close-up view of the living critters that live in the waters underneath the museum

■ Control research grade scientific microscopes that have been ‘hacked’ to give visitors control

■ Understand the power of microscopic plankton, which produce almost half the oxygen we breathe, why their numbers rise and fall with the seasons, and why they dance their ballet towards blue light

● South Gallery – Maker Culture in The Tinkering Studio™: ○ South Gallery is the public workshop area where visitors can engage in learning by

making directly adjacent to where Exploratorium exhibits are built ○ Founded by Karen Wilkinson and Mike Petrich, The Tinkering Studio™ is where

museum visitors can build, make, hack, create, invent and experiment ○ Past activities have included: sewing electrical circuits, mechanical teddy bear toy

dissection and turning 100 square feet of pegboard into the world's largest marble machine. See gallery overview for list of surprising exhibits found in the South Gallery.

● Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery and Terrace – Observing the Landscape:

○ An all-glass gallery (and terrace) that becomes a transparent lens to both the waterfront and the cityscape, providing visitors an opportunity to observe the science of the bay, the landscape and the human impact that has shaped the Bay Area

○ Led by Senior Artist Susan Schwartzenberg with Sebastian Martin, Ph.D., exhibits, instruments and artworks for observing give visitors a 360-degree view of the natural and built worlds

○ Multi-layered exhibits focus on what visitors can see through the windows in real time – the movement of the sun, tides and currents, cargo ships, people and historical perspectives on the landscape. Exhibits include:

■ Oculus: a circular opening in the ceiling that turns the entire gallery into a timepiece. Markings show seasons and solstices, and track the sun's position across the sky

■ Visualizing the Bay: a 3D topographic map of the Bay Area with a wide-range of data sets projected on its surface show the forces that shape our landscape—from earthquakes to fog banks, from income distribution to life expectancy

○ Fisher Bay Observatory Terrace: This space offers outdoor exhibits that engage with the environment.

○ Wired Pier: Led by Director of NOAA Partnership Mary Miller, the Wired Pier includes more than a dozen sensors on and around Pier 15 that stream real-time data about the surrounding environment — quality of air and bay water, weather, tides and pollution — into the Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery, compiling it into interactive visualizations

○ NOAA research vessels will periodically berth at the end of Pier 15 and use the working biological labs featured in the museum to bring current science to the public



● Outdoor Gallery: ○ For the first time ever the Exploratorium has outdoor learning exhibits, curated by Senior

Artist Shawn Lani and associate curator Eric Dimond, and developed by the Outdoor team.

○ The Outdoor Gallery, which includes ticketed space and 1.5 acres of free space, beckons visitors to investigate exhibits about water, fog, wind, rain, daily cycles of the sun and more

○ The Bay View Walk invites the public to stroll around the entire site. It includes two connecting bridges, the Outdoor Gallery, food carts, and a civic plaza, where outdoor events and cultural programming are held.

● Net-Zero Energy Goal:

○ The Exploratorium’s goal is be to the largest net-zero energy museum in the US if not the world. Click here to see the Net-Zero press kit.

Also of note

● Bowes Education Center ○ The Bowes Education Center revolutionizes the way the Exploratorium reaches all

teachers and learners of science, including school teachers, administrators and children, after-school professionals, scientists, science journalists, university professionals, and even parents and other adults.

○ The new Center multiplies the Exploratorium’s impact, with new, configurable classrooms and seminar spaces, state-of-the-art technology and programming capability, and significantly greater participant capacity than ever before.

○ The Center features more than two times the space for classrooms and four times the number of meeting rooms as the former site at the Palace of Fine Arts. It triples the capacity for teacher professional development.

○ Learning-specific spaces in the new Exploratorium building are not confined to one floor or location, but are spread over both floors to foster connectivity and collaboration with all staff, exhibits and programming in the museum.

● Expanded Focus on the Arts and New Center for Art & Inquiry:

○ More than 40 new art projects are on view at opening ○ Works include Fog Bridge, a large-scale, immersive outdoor fog installation on a 150 ft.

long pedestrian bridge by Japanese interdisciplinary artist Fujiko Nakaya; and Aeolian Harp by Doug Hollis, which captures the wind dynamics of the site

○ Other works include a fold-out guide to the atmosphere, an opening in the pier over the bay that visually and sonically comes alive at night, a giant Douglas Fir tree tipped on its side, and a library on Bay history

○ Newly established Center for Art & Inquiry and its Director Marina McDougall, will expand the museum’s focus on art as a medium for exploration, inquiry and discovery

○ New programmatic emphasis on the arts at re-opening is made possible by a generous grant from Sakurako and William Fisher

○ Click here to see the complete Exploratorium Arts Press Kit

● Coming Summer 2013: ○ Kanbar Forum, a 200-seat cabaret-style multi-use space, with a state of the art

Constellation acoustic system by Meyer Sound, for demonstrations, talks, films and performances by artists, scientists and educators, with cash bar





○ Tactile Dome, an updated version of the classic exhibit where visitors spelunk through abundantly textured passages in total darkness using only their sense of touch

● Dolby Atrium: ○ Opposite the museum’s main entrance, this space provides a usually sunny convening

and meeting area for families and others

● Historic Bulkhead: ○ This two-story structure provides a second entrance to the Exploratorium ○ Includes the Kanbar Forum; the Exploratorium Store; the seismic joint café; and

educational spaces ○ The bulkhead lobby is a free public area, and features a Bay History Walk to educate

visitors about the history of Pier 15, San Francisco’s maritime history and the building’s real time energy generation data

● Dining:

○ Curiosity Catering, comprised of award-winning food service group Bon Appétit Management Company and acclaimed San Francisco chef Loretta Keller of COCO500 collaborate to create and prepare seasonable and sustainable cuisine for visitors

○ The seismic joint café serves crowd-pleasing takeaway fare on the west end of Pier 15 near the Embarcadero

○ The 200-seat SEAGLASS Restaurant in the Bay Observatory building caters to a wide range of palates and offer stunning views of the bay and Bay Bridge

■ The restaurant and café operate during the museum’s open hours ■ Offers event catering with unexpected taste experiences and fun perceptual

challenges ■ Whimsical food “trikes” dot the outdoor plaza, offering snacks and beverages ■ Click here to read more about the Exploratorium’s dining programs

● Exploratorium Store

○ Exhibits and products intermingle ○ Products are organized by concept, phenomena or story, creating a store experience

that is an extension of the visitors’ museum experience ○ Purchases support the Exploratorium’s educational programming ○ Click here to read more about the Exploratorium Store

Hours of Operation & New Evening Hours Tuesday-Sunday 10am-5pm; Wednesday evenings until 10pm; After Dark, Thursday evening adults only (ages 18 and up) 6-10pm. Admission $25 for adults, with lower rates for SF Bay Area residents, youth, seniors, students, teachers and the disabled. After Dark, Thursday evening adults-only tickets from 6-10pm are $15; $10 for members. To purchase tickets online go to www.exploratorium.edu/visit/tickets. The Tactile Dome, newly built for our new home, will open Summer 2013. For more information visit www.exploratorium.edu/visit/tactile-dome or call (415) 528-4444. Free Access Program In addition to free access for field trips from San Francisco Title I schools (courtesy of PG&E), the Exploratorium is free to everyone five days each year effective Fall 2013. Free Days are: Groundhog Day (February 2); Pi Day (March 14); Mothers’ Day (2nd Sunday in May); Engineering Day (last Sunday


http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit


http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/tactile-dome

http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/tactile-dome

Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 9 in September); and Founder’s Day (2nd Sunday in October). The Exploratorium works with local libraries and community groups to provide additional free access. Membership Memberships start at $60 and offer priority access, special events, discounts and more. See all the benefits by visiting http://www.exploratorium.edu/membership. Getting There Public Transportation

● Muni’s F-line, San Francisco’s historic streetcars that travel on the Embarcadero, stops in front of the new Exploratorium at the Embarcadero and Green St. In summer 2013, a temporary E-line will also operate

● Major bus lines 2, 6, 14, 21, 31 and metro rail lines J, K, L, M, T, N stop within walking distance. Bus lines 1, 10, 12, 41 and 38 also stop in the vicinity

● Embarcadero BART and MUNI station and ferry terminals at the Ferry Building are a 10-minute walk away

Parking ● There is an hourly lot across the street and many more spaces within a 5–10 minute walk to the

museum. Exploratorium visitors can also park at The Embarcadero Center parking lot for a specially discounted flat rate of $10 dollars on weekdays from 4pm – midnight and all day on weekends. To receive this discounted rate, visitors must have a validation sticker provided by the Exploratorium.

● Visitors can bicycle and park at bike racks on site for the public ● For further information on nearby parking visit www.exploratorium.edu/visit

Facility Rentals: The Exploratorium is now taking reservations for private events. The Exploratorium at Pier 15 can accommodate seated parties of up to 280 guests with one focal point or 1,600 throughout the building, and receptions for up to 4,000 guests. For more information please contact the Museum Rentals department at [email protected] or call (415) 528-4500. Corporate Partnership Program The Exploratorium has a robust corporate partnership program that allows companies to partner with us in new ways. Our goal is to advance global scientific literacy. Learn how your organization can be an integral part of this groundbreaking movement. The Exploratorium is proud to have the following corporate partners at Opening: Sponsors

● PG&E, Premier Opening Partner and Lead Sustainability Partner ● Chevron, Premier Opening Partner ● Genentech, Premier Opening Partner ● SunPower, Supporting Partner ● Wells Fargo, Supporting Partner ● KGO-TV, Premier Media Partner ● San Francisco Chronicle, Premier Media Partner ● San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority, Premier Media Partner

Exploratorium address: Pier 15, San Francisco, CA 94111 Public Contact: 415-528-4444, [email protected]



http://www.exploratorium.edu/membership

http://www.exploratorium.edu/membership




EXPLORATORIUM FACTS OF NOTE

Building

● 330,000 square feet (inside and out) ● 3x the space (inside and out) ● Outdoor exhibits for the first time ● Goal is to be the largest net-zero energy museum in the U.S., if not the world ● 10 minute walk from the Ferry Building ● Free public open space ● Open two nights a week:

○ Wednesdays,10am–10pm, for all ages ○ Thursdays After Dark, 6-10pm, ages 18 and up ○ Both nights feature a cash bar

● Fabulous views and great food ● Public walkways surround Pier 15

Education

● Triples the capacity for teacher professional development ○ Every middle and high school in the Bay Area has been touched by the Exploratorium

Teacher Institute ● 90% of beginning science teachers who graduate the Exploratorium's two-year mentoring

program are still teaching science today, compared to a 50% national attrition rate ● 85% of Exploratorium alumni teachers rate it as their most valuable teaching resource ● 300 high school age Explainers are employed to learn by teaching — demonstrating exhibits for

the public Global Impact

● 80% of science centers internationally use Exploratorium exhibits, programs, or ideas ● Reaches 180 million people annually around the globe ● Launched Global Studios to share creative capital, expertise, programs and exhibits in

innovative ways ● Recently inspired hands-on tinkering by women and men—sometimes together!—at a Science

Festival in Saudi Arabia Online

● www.exploratorium.edu launched in December 1993. It was the first independent science museum to build a site and the 600th site on the World Wide Web

● Received 5 Webby Awards in science and education ● Color Uncovered App reached #2 in free iPad app downloads in Apple Store, over 1 million

downloads ● Sound Uncovered App, launched in February 2013, is expected to exceed that benchmark

# # #



http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/exploratorium-launches-global-studios-entrepreneurial-endeavor-share

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http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/calling-all-audiophiles-exploratorium-debuts-sound-uncovered-ipad-app


GALLERIES AND EXHIBIT HIGHLIGHTS

Sample of New and Beloved Exhibits

Table of Contents 1. Outdoor Gallery 2. Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery 3. South Gallery 4. East Gallery 5. Bechtel Central Gallery 6. Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 7. Gallery Curators OUTDOOR GALLERY (Includes ticketed and free areas) Explore natural and social phenomena where the city meets the bay. Exhibits in the outdoor space cover topics such as the bay, the elements, geometry, and light and shadows and encourages observation and interaction with natural and urban phenomena. Exhibits of Note Color of Water (new) Investigates the seemingly simple question: What color is the bay? "The Color of Water" consists of 32 distinct color swatches suspended above the water so that visitors can actively match the day's water color and investigate the causes behind these daily shifts. The exhibit encourages visitors to view the bay with a more discerning eye, understanding that ever-changing bay dynamics affect the bay’s color day-to-day, sometimes even moment-by-moment. Aeolian Harp by Doug Hollis (re-imagined) - Doug Hollis’ new commission re-imagines his work first created in collaboration with Exploratorium founder Frank Oppenheimer in 1975-76 for the roof of the Palace of Fine Arts. This greatly expanded Harp is a wind-activated, sound structure that responds to the wind dynamics between Piers 15 and 17. Click here to read the Arts press kit.

The Exploratorium’s new Outdoor Gallery at night, with the Bay Bridge in the background.



Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 12 Remote Rains (new) NOAA researchers at the Hydrometeorlogy Testbed (HMT) are increasing the resolution and accuracy of their storm profiles. The Remote Rains rain chamber is an evocative translation of HMT’s storm information into a tangible experience. Visitors select a past storm and the exhibit recreates the frequency, size, and velocity of raindrops, allowing people to fully explore the complex mechanisms that drive our weather. Umbrellas recommended. Fog Bridge by artist Fujiko Nakaya (new, April 17, 2013 - September 16, 2013) Japanese interdisciplinary artist Fujiko Nakaya’s ephemeral and other-worldly Fog Bridge magically envelops a 150-foot-long pedestrian bridge between Piers 15 and 17 in an ever-changing blanket of fog. One thousand high-pressure nozzles lining the bridge create an immersive environment that enshrouds participants in mist. The work will be lit at night, to stunning effect. Although Nakaya’s fog environments have been presented around the world, this is her first project in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region famous for its dramatic fog. Click here to read the Arts press kit. Camera Obscura Cart (aka The Rickshaw Obscura) playfully invites visitors to have a different kind of “site-seeing” view of the waterfront. In each location where the Camera Obscura is positioned outdoors at Pier 15 or 17, the vista views are projected on the cart’s interior, displaying landscapes and people passing by – upside down. It will move to different locations where visitors can enter and enjoy the view. Why upside down? Because light travels in a straight line. Bay Windows (new) At Bay Windows, visitors spin disks filled with samples of mud, sand, and gravel gathered from five distinct regions of the San Francisco Bay. The glowing color and swirling behavior of the materials are both beautiful and telling as visitors explore the movement and settling characteristics of bay sediments. DAYLAY by Lucky Dragons, Artists-in-Residence (new, April 17, 2013 – April 17, 2014) DAYLAY is a dynamic light and sound installation inside a 14-foot circular opening in the pier above the water. On-site microphones record ambient sound during daylight hours and then play them back during dark hours, delayed by 12 hours. LED lights reflecting off the water gradually grow brighter and brighter over the course of the night. Click here to read the Arts press kit. TideGate, Plankton Wall and Electric Sun Wall These exterior design elements are beautiful architectural visualizations of tidal data, living organisms found in bay water, and the energy collected by the museum’s photovoltaic system. Read more here. BERNARD AND BARBRO OSHER WEST GALLERY Learn about human phenomena through first person experiences. The Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery is a stage on which to explore human psychology, and socio-cultural phenomena. Topics range from internal cognitive experiences such as attention and emotion to more external social behaviors such as communication, negotiation and people-reading. Exhibits of Note Special exhibition: The Changing Face of What is Normal: Mental Health (new, April 17, 2013 - April 13, 2014) This exhibit explores how have we have defined, categorized, and treated people who fall outside of a professional or societal conception of what constitutes normal mental health and activity. The exhibition includes personal effects of patients from Willard Psychiatric Center, a decommissioned mental institution and coincides with the release of the latest edition of the controversial Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5th edition. It features poignant videotaped interviews Exploratorium @Pier 15 San Francisco, CA 94111 www.exploratorium.edu



http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/tidegate-plankton-wall-electric-sun-wall

Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 13 with both clinicians and clients speaking about their experiences and commenting on the difficulty of categorizing human behavior. It also includes Restraint, an interactive installation that displays—and lets visitors interact with—a late 19th century Utica Crib, a restraining device used to confine and calm patients in American mental health institutions. Click here to read the full press release. Team Pac-Man (new) Here visitors are required to cooperate to play a classic video game – each player can only move the Pac-Man in one direction. Here you’re the exhibit! Text Fishing (new) This experimental exhibit immerses visitors in the Tragedy of the Commons by letting them investigate strategies for sharing a common limited resource. Trust Fountain (new) An experimental exhibit from the NSF funded Exploratorium Science of Sharing project, this two-person drinking fountain is based on the Prisoner’s Dilemma, a classic scenario centering on negotiation and trust. Invisible by Night by Lynette Wallworth, Artist-in-Residence (new, April 17–September 29, 2013) In the Black Box This quietly interactive multimedia installation responds to the visitor’s touch and projects an image of a life-sized woman whose eternal pacing can be interrupted by the viewer. Building gestural mirroring into its interactive structure, Invisible by Night creates powerful emotional connections with the viewer and explores the process of grief and loss, and the transient nature of compassion. Read the Arts press kit. Question Bridge: Black Males by Chris Johnson (new, April 17, 2013 - April 2014) A project that critically explores challenging issues within the Black male community by instigating a trans-media conversation among black men across the geographic, economic, generational, educational and social strata of American society. Mediated through the lens of a video camera, members of the black community openly express their deeply felt beliefs and values through candid question and answer exchanges. By focusing on exchanges within this extended community, surprising insights and new possibilities for witnessing our common humanity emerge. Read the Arts press kit. Words We have Learned Since 9-11 by Clayton Campbell (new, April 17, 2013 – TBD) This participatory photo installation opened for the first time in the southern United States at the Museum of Mobile on September 11 in conjunction with their exhibition of artifacts from Ground Zero, World Trade Center. Campbell’s project invites visitors to be photographed with “words” they have learned since 9-11, and those photos become part of the ongoing Words project. Since it’s beginning Words We Have Learned Since 9-11 has been exhibited across the globe. Read the Arts press kit. SOUTH GALLERY Make, build, or tinker to investigate the world and your own creativity. The South Gallery is a public workshop area where visitors can engage in "learning by making" adjacent to where Exploratorium exhibits are built. The core of this space is the Tinkering Studio™, a focused area where visitors can engage in more in-depth projects and meet makers from around the world. Exhibits of Note Tinkering Studio™ is a place to hack, build, and invent using real tools and materials in a gently guided, but open-ended way. Exploratorium @Pier 15 San Francisco, CA 94111 www.exploratorium.edu

http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/changing-face-what-normal-mental-health

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons




Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 14 Your Turn Counts by Norman Tuck (new) This exhibit counts each person’s’ place in the history of itself. It is a storage and display device that keeps a numerical record of each time a person turns a mechanical crank. Each digit in the display draws upon an earlier stage in the history of technology in order to advance the count. Rolling Through the Bay by Scott Weaver This kinetic sculptural homage to San Francisco has a new home in the Exploratorium’s Tinkering Studio™. Composed of roughly 100,000 toothpicks and held together with Elmer’s Glue, artist Scott Weaver began Rolling Through the Bay in 1974. It allows you to "tour" the sights of the city with its kinetic feature – several paths in which four Ping-Pong balls at a time can be seen rolling, looping and bouncing through the city’s famous landmarks. Animation Station (new) Create a stop-motion animation sequence using everyday objects, and then upload it to YouTube to share with others. Wind Table and Wind Tubes (new) Construct flying objects and test them in columns of moving air. Marble Machines Build marble runs using common objects and parts found at local hardware stores. Visible Pinball by Michael Schiess (new) Play a free game on a transparent pinball machine with visible mechanical and electromagnetic parts. Visible Pinball serves as a striking introduction to the Exploratorium’s classic electricity and magnetism exhibit collection. EAST GALLERY Observe and investigate living systems at multiple scales. The East Gallery is a window into life at different scales, from stem cells to familiar insects and plants to the entire San Francisco Bay ecosystem. Exhibits of Note Algae Chandelier (new) Pump air to nourish several overhead tanks with beautiful algae of different colors, also known as phytoplankton. While a single phytoplankton is too small to see, they grow by the millions in the bay and ocean, forming greenish clouds up to a few hundred miles wide. The Tree Experience (new) Developed by artist Michael Brown in collaboration with reclaimed wood specialist Evan Shively, The Tree Experience has been created from a fallen 330-year-old Douglas Fir tree that is split down the center to reveal its rings immersing visitors in a fascinating study of dendrochronology. The wood of the tree creates the walls of an intimate, contemplative space with a center bench. The enormous, lacy root structure compels visitors to appreciate the complexity and sheer enormity of this grand, once-living organism. Read the Arts press kit. Glass Settling Plate (new) Get a close-up look at organisms that grow on the sides of hard surfaces in the bay, such as pier pilings. A microscope offers spectacular views of the lives of barnacles, worms, mussels, and colonial organisms called tunicates. Plankton Populations (new) A table-sized interactive display created in collaboration with MIT and the UC Davis Center for Visualization. This exhibit shows a simulation of the world’s phytoplankton populations changing over time in response to changing ocean conditions. Visitors use a special encoded glass lens to magnify the four major types of plankton living throughout the oceans. The data visitors explore is virtually the same as scientists at MIT use to study global plankton populations and how they may change in the future. Exploratorium @Pier 15 San Francisco, CA 94111 www.exploratorium.edu


Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 15 Tidal Memory (new) Twenty-four tall columns of water show the tidal water heights throughout the day at one-hour intervals. The most recent column changes in response to a live data feed. Stem Cells at Microscope Imaging Station Observe mouse stem cells under the microscope and learn about their unique properties – and see them in their pluripotent and beating mouse heart stem cell states. Stem cells (found in embryos less than five days old and a few adult organs) have two unique properties: They can develop into any other type of cell, such as heart, brain, or blood cells; and theoretically, they can divide without limit. Seasons of Plankton (new) Explore how the microscopic life in San Francisco Bay is constantly changing. This exhibit shows the types of phytoplankton living in the bay each month through stunning close-up images taken by the Living Systems Lab and using data from the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS). The Living Systems Lab collected and imaged plankton each week, and used the USGS’s 40-year study of Bay Area plankton to show visitors that, like plants on land, our bay has seasons of plankton. BECHTEL CENTRAL GALLERY Experiment with seeing and listening, the familiar core of the Exploratorium The Bechtel Central Gallery is a laboratory for investigating light and sound and how we perceive them. This combination of physics (out there) with perception (in our heads) is a signature of the Exploratorium's approach to learning. Exhibits of Note Monochromatic Room A room is lit by monochromatic light from sodium vapor lamps. With only a single color of light to absorb or reflect, objects in this room look to be more or less the same yellowish color. Flashlights allow visitors to explore the hidden colors around them. 3D Live (new) Learn how stereo vision works and one method for making 3D movies. Two video cameras atop a screen are separated by a short distance capturing slightly different views of a scene. Both views are projected simultaneously onto the screen and filtered glasses allow each of your eyes to see light from only one of the projectors. Together, these two different views—one for each eye—allow you to perceive a three-dimensional image. Giant Mirror (new) Interact with a giant upside-down image of yourself and your friends, and explore an image of the museum where even the smallest faraway object appears in perfect focus and detail. Out-Quiet Yourself Imagine being an animal tracker. See how quietly you can creep through this exhibit. Visitors carefully walk over gravel while trying to make as little noise as possible. Microphones pick up any noises and a score is given when you reach the end. Try to out quiet yourself and your friends. The Shaping Grows by Semiconductor (new, April 2013 - September 30, 2013) In the Phyllis C. Wattis Webcast Studio adjacent to the Bechtel Central Gallery The museum’s Cinema Arts and Moving Images departments collaborated to present this newly commissioned work by British-based media artists and Exploratorium Artists-in-Residence Semiconductor (Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt). Through moving image works Semiconductor explores the material nature of our world and how we experience it, questioning our place in the physical universe. Read the Arts press kit. Exploratorium @Pier 15 San Francisco, CA 94111 www.exploratorium.edu

http://www.exploratorium.edu/arts/cinema-arts


Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 16 FISHER BAY OBSERVATORY GALLERY Learn to read the many dimensions of the built and natural environment. The Fisher Bay Observatory gallery is where visitors explore the geographic and social dimensions of the immediate and regional landscape. Expansive views of the bay and the city serve as a point of departure for investigations of the complex systems that define our region. Exhibits of Note The Oculus (new) An aperture built into the ceiling of the Fisher Bay Observatory turns the entire gallery into an optical device. A circular sun projection sweeps across the floor and walls, marking the time of day and changing with the seasons. Visualizing the Bay (new) A topographic relief map of the San Francisco Bay Area is a projection surface for the display of visual data, offering different perspectives on the region. Presentations include: a 40-year history of earthquakes; an animation of the fluctuating salinity of bay water in response to tides and rainfall; 24-hour fog patterns for winter and summer; and population distribution according to age and ethnicity. These data sets emerged from collaborations with scientists at USGS, UC Berkeley, the National Weather Service, and with data artist Eric Fischer. The Wired Pier (new) Wired Pier is a project to investigate the local environment by installing state-of-the-art sensors and scientific instruments all around Piers 15 and 17 to gather data about the local weather, water, atmosphere, and marine biological communities. Data from these sensors are presented in the gallery at an environmental station and on a high-definition video wall. Visitors are able to track live and archived data streams over time, and uncover relationships and patterns among various systems in the bay, the Pacific Ocean, and the atmosphere. Wired Pier will also be a node in a broader observing network of science institutions and government agencies interpreting both local and global systems. Bay Lexicon by artist Jane Wolff (new) Bay Lexicon is a series of flashcards and published writings to be used on a walk from Fort Point to Hunter’s Point along the San Francisco waterfront. This series of images, words and ideas provokes travelers to observe and question the layered dynamics of the ecological and cultural aspects of place. Read the arts press kit. Ship Tracker (new) Real-time positions and past journeys of nearly every large vessel on the bay are displayed, including cargo ships, tankers, tugs, pilot boats, commuter ferries, and many large pleasure craft. The data—which comes from the computerized AIS ship-reporting systems—reveals the patterns of work and recreation on the bay waters. The Atmosphere: A Guide by artist Amy Balkin (new) The Atmosphere: A Guide is a poster-essay depicting various human influences on the sky and their accumulated traces, whether chemical, narrative, spatial, or political. Visually referencing the Cloud Code Chart, another interpretive aid for looking up, the Guide's visualizes some ways that humans literally and figuratively occupy the present, past, and future atmosphere, organized from sea level to the exosphere. Read the Arts press kit.






NEW & ONGOING PUBLIC PROGRAMS AT THE EXPLORATORIUM EVENING PROGRAMS The Exploratorium is open every Wednesday night and on every Thursday for After Dark night. On Wednesdays, the museum is open from 10:00am–10:00pm. Wednesday evening hours are accessible for all ages. For Thursday After Dark nights, the museum closes at 5:00pm and reopens for an adults-only audience (18 and up) from 6:00–10:00pm. Cash bars will operate both Wednesday and Thursday nights. Beginning in the summer of 2013 Wednesday evenings will feature Cinema Arts screenings for local, adult audiences that incorporate live performances, demonstrations, and engaging discussions on the moving image. Thursday After Dark evenings feature a rotating schedule of programs ranging from intimate interviews to exuberant first Thursday explorations of science and culture. A sample of programs are as follows: After Dark - Thursday Nights 6-10pm Thursdays, beginning May 2, 2013 After Dark is a Thursday evening series exclusively for adults that mixes cocktails, conversation, and playful, innovative science and art events that range from intimate to spectacular. On the first Thursday of each month After Dark has a special theme, upcoming themes include Boom, Freestyle, Decay, and Glow. Every Thursday After Dark includes a cash bar and an opportunity to play with our hundreds of hands-on exhibits, while on the first Thursday of the month After Dark may also include live performances, provocative films, interesting music, cutting-edge technology or unexpected extravaganzas. Full-Spectrum Science with Ron Hipschman 7pm on 3rd Thursday of each month, beginning May 16, 2013 In this dynamic series, Exploratorium scientist Ron Hipschman covers different aspects of physics, including sound, color, heat and temperature, and electrostatics. Each hour-long presentation includes hands-on activities and demonstrations. On May 16, attend Making Color to learn the many ways to make color—from neon signs, to oil slicks, to rainbows, and more. Take away materials to build your own spectroscope. You'll see color in a whole new light! On June 20 attend Sound. What is sound? How high a pitch can you hear? Can you measure the speed of sound with a yardstick? Can two sounds add up to no sound? Explore these questions and more in this resonant presentation. Ways of Knowing 7pm, 2nd Thursday of every other month, beginning September 2013 in the Kanbar Forum How do daydreams influence discovery? What role does collaboration play in creative research? This new conversation series pairs senior Exploratorium staff with leading scientists, artists, and other innovators to discuss the intellectual and emotional underpinnings of the creative process. Responding to both interviewer and audience questions, guests relate personal strategies, insights, motivations, and experiences informing their work. The series begins on Thursday, September 19, with a conversation between Marina McDougall, Director of the Exploratorium’s new Center for Art & Inquiry, and Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, creator of the Fog Bridge. Subsequent events in the series follow the planned schedule on the second Thursday of every other month. Conversations about Landscape 6-9pm, September 18, October 23, November 13 and December 11, 2013 in the Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery Conversations between such professionals as ecologists, geographers, biologists, and landscape


http://www.exploratorium.edu/afterdark/


Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 18 architects concerning issues of the contemporary landscape. Funded by Coastal Conservancy and The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Off the Screen: A Salon for Cinephiles 7pm, Wednesdays beginning October 2, 2013 in the Kanbar Forum Films will range from feature-length documentaries to animated shorts and are accompanied by live performances, demonstrations, and engaging discussions in this weekly Cinema Arts series. Evocative and experimental works are the focus, as well as collaborations with local filmmakers. Note: From June–September Cinema Arts will present a variety of screenings in advance of the official October premiere of its weekly series. Please check the online calendar for the latest film schedule. Resonance, hosted by Sarah Cahill 7pm on 2nd Thursday of every other month, beginning October 10, 2013 in the Kanbar Forum Hosted by pianist and music critic Sarah Cahill, this acoustically rich program mixes guest artists’ music and interviews before a live audience. The show is accompanied by online episodes and site-specific sound installations that showcase work by local and visiting artists and composers. Resonance is inspired in part by the acclaimed Exploratorium series Speaking of Music (1983-1992) curated by Charles Amirkhanian. Landscape as Memory Occasional Wednesday evenings, beginning Fall 2013 in the Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery Talks in the Fisher Bay Observatory with special guests. Science Currents 7pm on 4th Thursday of each month, beginning in December 2013 in the Kanbar Forum In this current science series, explore the latest research and its implications with staff scientists and local experts. Through interviews and moderated discussions, guest scientists introduce cutting-edge work being conducted in the Bay Area and beyond, sharing findings on stem cells, aging, climate science, cognition, and more. Each program concludes with a Q&A, welcoming audience curiosity and concerns about the impacts of scientific discoveries on everyday life. DAYTIME PROGRAMS Full-Spectrum Science with Ron Hipschman 2pm on 3rd Sunday of each month beginning May 19, 2013 In this dynamic series, Exploratorium scientist Ron Hipschman covers different aspects of physics, including sound, color, heat and temperature, and electrostatics. Each hour-long presentation includes hands-on activities and demonstrations. On May 19, attend Making Color to learn the many ways to make color—from neon signs, to oil slicks, to rainbows, and more. Take away materials to build your own spectroscope. You'll see color in a whole new light! On June 16 attend Sound. What is sound? How high a pitch can you hear? Can you measure the speed of sound with a yardstick? Can two sounds add up to no sound? Explore these questions and more in this resonant presentation. Cinema Arts: Saturday Cinema Noon, 2:00 and 4:00pm, every Saturday beginning in Summer 2013 in the Kanbar Forum This family-friendly program presents short films, animations, and abstract works to engage all curious movie lovers. Films vary from week to week, and encompass museum gallery themes and investigations of natural phenomena.

Explorables: Science You Can Play With 11am-2pm on 3rd Saturday of every other month, beginning June 15, 2013



http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/calendar

Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 19 Mess around with everyday materials to create toys and other tools for exploring the world around us. Run by a dedicated team of volunteers, these drop-in workshops mix classic activities with open-ended investigations, encouraging participants to follow their hunches to aha moments of scientific insight. All materials provided; take what you make. For ages 3 and up. In July, August, September, and October, Explorables will take place in conjunction with Market Days. These free, outdoor editions will occur alongside other Market Days programming. (See Market Days below.) Market Days 11am-3pm on 3rd Saturdays from July-October, beginning July 20 on The Plaza Start the growing season with Exploratorium Market Days, a series of free, open-air mini-festivals that bring together museum and community scientists, artists, and educators to present an abundance of encounters with local phenomena such as bicycles, salt, heirlooms, and trash. Market Days cultivates a casual environment where you can engage in conversations while browsing art and science demos, hands-on activities, museum exhibits, and craft displays. Located in the free spaces outside our main entrance. Guided Walks with San Francisco historian Chris Carlsson Saturday afternoons, beginning September 2013 These Saturday afternoon walks may include paths up and across Telegraph Hill; the historical warehouse and produce areas; and history of the waterfront, along the Embarcadero Stroll. Halloween Thursday, October 31, 2013 To celebrate this favorite San Francisco holiday, the Exploratorium invites local organizations to display, demonstrate, and/or demystify Halloween-related creatures and cultural traditions such as spiders, snakes, and sugar skulls. In addition, staff treat visitors to dissections, animations, and a host of eerie activities—including a funereal procession and wake inspired by the museum’s ever-growing cemetery of dead science ideas. Surgical Tools and Techniques: With the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses 11am-4pm in November 2013 (Date TBD) Members of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) give demonstrations illustrating life saving surgical tools and techniques in this annual program. AORN staff now offer facilitation in multiple languages. Lab and Lunch Begins January 2014 in the Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery Visiting scientists perform live demonstrations. Join us for lunch and informal talks.

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EXPLORATORIUM OPENS WITH VIBRANT ARTS PROGRAM AND

NEW CENTER FOR ART & INQUIRY

Builds on Interdisciplinary Arts Legacy with its Move to a New Home

When physicist and educator Frank Oppenheimer founded the Exploratorium in 1969, he envisioned a hybrid between a laboratory and a public museum. The Exploratorium’s roots lie in an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the world, and from the very beginning artists have played a vital role in shaping the museum’s public offerings and learning methodologies. When the Exploratorium re-opened its doors at Pier 15 on San Francisco’s waterfront a new era of expanded work in the arts began. The new Center for Art & Inquiry directed by curator Marina McDougall, will allow the museum to continue its pioneering work at the intersection of art, science and technology, and expand museum’s collaborations with artists around the world. This new programmatic focus on the arts was made possible through a generous grant from Sakurako and William Fisher. “I seized the opportunity to have a meaningful impact on the arts, the Exploratorium, and the Bay Area arts community,” says Bill Fisher. “It is a privilege to take the lead in inspiring the community to see interdisciplinary artwork—not to mention the Exploratorium itself and how it reveals how the world works—in new ways.” The Center for Art & Inquiry will lead the Exploratorium’s arts strategy and direction. Working with program directors from across the museum as well as a council of national advisors, the Center oversees the museum’s long running Artist-in-Residence Program, hosts research fellows, and initiates special projects to advance work at the intersection of art and interdisciplinary learning. “Art is a way of investigating the world,” explains McDougall, “and we believe in the importance of art in learning.” At Pier 15, the Exploratorium is debuting new programs, projects and exhibition spaces. With expansive outdoor space, state-of-the-art facilities, and wide-ranging themes of investigation, the Exploratorium’s new home allows for great possibilities for artistic exploration. The Center for Art & Inquiry, will oversee a communications program to capture the innovations, approaches, and results of the Exploratorium’s work in the arts:

● Over the Water, an annual program of rotating, large-scale temporary works for the public realm at the Piers

● Artist-in-Residence Program, the Exploratorium’s hallmark, groundbreaking, process-oriented, cross-pollinating program for both emerging and mid-career artists to develop new projects

● Cinema Arts Program, soon celebrating its 30th anniversary this adventurous program presents an incredible mixed genre program in the Exploratorium’s new Kanbar Forum equipped with a state of the art Constellation acoustic system by Meyer Sound

● Black Box, an 800 square foot gallery space with controlled light and sound for media installations and special exhibitions

● Ways of Knowing conversation series, a dialogue on the creative process featuring leading thinkers and doers from across many disciplines including the arts



● Artist Collaborators, artists contribute to our ongoing research and development in key initiatives. Current themes include: human social behavior, physics and perception, ecologies of place, living systems, making as thinking

● Commissioned Works, as well as loaned artworks, from a vast array of artists animate the public offerings of the Exploratorium

NEW ARTS PROJECTS More than 40 new art projects are on view at opening, including works by Fujiko Nakaya, Lucky Dragons, Doug Hollis, Amy Balkin, Semiconductor, Lynette Wallworth, Meara O’Reilly and Clayton Campbell. These projects take many forms from large-scale immersive installations to site-specific interventions to soon-to-be classic exhibits. Works include a large-scale fog environment, a fold-out guide to the atmosphere, a sidewalk grate that sonically comes alive at night, a giant Douglas Fir tree tipped on its side, and a library on Bay history. These projects have largely been developed by artists working closely with Exploratorium staff as collaborators and Artists-in-Residence. Read the complete Arts press kit here. For a list of temporary special exhibitions during the Exploratorium’s inaugural year, click here. ARTS PHILOSOPHY The Exploratorium views art as integral to learning. Inquiry, the learning approach espoused by philosopher and educator John Dewey, animated Oppenheimer’s educational vision for the Exploratorium. In 2011 the Exploratorium convened an international conference entitled Art as a Way of Knowing, made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation, to better understand the role of aesthetic inquiry in public interdisciplinary learning environments. As an outcome of the project, the Exploratorium has renewed its conviction to advocate for the importance of art as an essential aspect of learning. BRIEF HISTORY The Exploratorium first opened in 1969 with Cybernetic Serendipity, the seminal exhibition of art, science, and technology curated by Jasia Reichardt for the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. Soon after, in 1974, the creation of an artist-in-residence program made possible dialogue and collaboration between artists and other interdisciplinary thinkers such as scientists, engineers, educators and inventors. By the late 1970’s the Exploratorium had established itself as the home for a burgeoning counter-cultural art scene. Over the last 44 years the Exploratorium has presented the work of hundreds of artists and cultivated a unique working environment for artists interested in cross-disciplinary investigations and hybrid approaches.

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CLICK HERE TO READ THE EXPLORATORIUM ARTS PROGRAM PRESS KIT





http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/inaugural-temporary-exhibitions-installations-pier-15-2013



EXPLORATORIUM ARTS FACT SHEET

● More than 250 works created by Artists-in-Residence in first 44 years ● Exploratorium reopened at Pier 15 with more than 40 new artworks to be experienced across

the entire museum. See the list of works here. ● Beginning in 2013, Exploratorium to engage 2 new Artists-in-Residence each year (1 emerging;

1 mid career) ● Exploratorium collaborates with dozens of artists as collaborators in our ongoing exhibit

development process ● 600 16mm films by artists reside in Cinema Arts Collection ● Black Box gallery features 3 media artworks per year ● Over the Water, a new art installation initiative, presents 1 major new outdoor public artwork

each year ● The new Center for Art & Inquiry to present 1 symposium relevant to the history of art, science,

and education annually ● Debuting Summer 2013, the Kanbar Forum for screenings, talks, and performances equipped

with a Constellation acoustic system by Meyer Sound of Berkeley, CA ● The restored Wave Organ, the iconic wave-activated sound sculpture, remains at the end of the

breakwater forming the Marina Yacht Harbor as a permanent public art installation and gift to the community

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CLICK HERE TO READ THE EXPLORATORIUM ARTS PROGRAM PRESS KIT



http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office/press-releases/exploratorium-expands-pioneering-collaborations-between-artists-and




EXPLORATORIUM’S NEW DINING EXPERIENCE

The Exploratorium’s SEAGLASS Restaurant, seismic joint takeout café, and event catering menus are inspired by the museum’s iconic exhibits and spirit of experimentation, and feature locally, sustainably sourced products. Led by the vision of Chef Loretta Keller of San Francisco’s COCO500, the seismic joint and mobile “food trikes” offer healthy, kid-friendly, multicultural food to a wide demographic, while the restaurant and catering offerings translate the Exploratorium’s themes of playfulness, perception, and curiosity into a museum dining experience unlike any other. Bon Appétit Management Company, a recognized leader in sustainable sourcing and foodservice, supports the Exploratorium’s dining programs. Venues

● SEAGLASS Restaurant: This 200-seat waterfront restaurant is located within the Bay Observatory building, at the end of Pier 15, and offers stunning views of the bay and the Bay Bridge. The menu caters to a wide range of palates, pairing local seafood with innovative cuisine in dishes such as marinated sardines with avocado, red onion pickle, lime, and sea salt, and a Sonoma Coast kelp salad with quinoa, while also offering a localized take on classic, cheesy Welsh rarebit. Diners can experience unique exhibits within the restaurant, including the innovative Icy Bodies, an artwork by Exploratorium artist Shawn Lani in which fragments of dry ice spin like comets across a sheet of water below the glass-topped bar. Thermal Mixing, created by the Exploratorium Outdoor Studio Team and Dr. Mark Stacy of U.C. Berkeley, is a colorful triptych of panels swirl like giant mood rings on the back wall, showing a compelling visualization of what happens when water of two different temperatures mixes - just as it does right outside in the Bay. While it caters primarily to museum guests, the public can access the restaurant from an exterior entrance.

● seismic joint: Located at the Embarcadero end of Pier 15, where the historic bulkhead meets the recently retrofitted pier, the 700-square-foot seismic joint provides crowd-pleasing, informal dining options to hundreds of Exploratorium guests and public visitors daily. Oriented toward families, the to-go menu includes items such as crispy fried haddock in a lemony yogurt as well as clam chowder — made in New England, Manhattan, Mexican or Vietnamese styles.

● Trikes on the go. A twist on to-go food, the Exploratorium’s custom three-wheeled carts offer snacks and hot and cold beverages, including coffee drinks. The ‘food trikes’ move freely around the outside of the Exploratorium.

● Event catering: To educate, challenge, and delight adult guests at the Exploratorium’s special events, including the popular After Dark series, Curiosity Catering offers unique and perceptually challenging food and drink options such as a kombu-yuzu martini or, in the “perception bar,” a choice between a devil’s food cake with vanilla icing and its lookalike black bean cupcake with sour cream ‘frosting.’

Presenting Curiosity Catering Co. Executive Chef Loretta Keller and Operations Manager Clay Reynolds have partnered with sustainable food service pioneer Bon Appétit Management Co. to form Curiosity Catering. Loretta Keller, Executive Chef, is known for her use of high-quality, small production ingredients in menus heavily influenced by the flavors of southern Europe and the Mediterranean. She worked with Jeremiah Tower — who with Alice Waters is credited for the birth of California cuisine — for several Exploratorium @Pier 15 San Francisco, CA 94111 www.exploratorium.edu

Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 24 years at Stars and Stars Café. Her restaurant COCO5OO in the dynamic South of Market district has become a regular fixture in the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Top 100” restaurants. Ms. Keller established a new standard for museum dining in San Francisco with the launch of the Academy Café and the Moss Room Restaurant in 2008 at the California Academy of Sciences. She is a 2009 James Beard Foundation Award Finalist for Best Chef in the California/Pacific region. Clay Reynolds, Operations Manager, began his career in Louisville, Kentucky, learning from some of the region's most talented restaurateurs and developing a passion for wine and spirits. He relocated to San Francisco in 2001 and worked at some of the city's iconic dining destinations, including The Cypress Club and Fleur de Lys. Noticing that the city's chefs focused on small-batch, local ingredients that offered better flavors and more vibrant textures than their mass-produced counterparts, he wondered why this same approach was not being applied to the world of wine and spirits. Clay brought this vision to life at COCO5OO in 2005, and again at the Academy Café and The Moss Room in 2009, and he has been a pioneering champion of artisanal producers of wine and spirits ever since. Bon Appetit Management Company is an on-site restaurant company offering full food-service management to corporations, universities, and specialty venues. Based in Palo Alto, CA, Bon Appétit has more than 500 cafés in 32 states, including eBay, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Getty Center. All Bon Appétit food is cooked from scratch, including sauces, stocks, and soups. A pioneer in environmentally sound sourcing policies, Bon Appétit has developed programs addressing local purchasing, the overuse of antibiotics, sustainable seafood, the food and climate change connection, humanely raised meat and eggs, and farm worker welfare. It has received numerous awards for its work, from organizations including the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the James Beard Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Seafood Choices Alliance, and The Humane Society of the United States. Curiosity Catering operates in partnership with the Exploratorium, working with Silva Raker, Director of Business Development.

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http://www.coco500.com/

http://www.bamco.com/


NEW EXPLORATORIUM STORE: EXHIBITS INSIDE AND OUT Exhibit Design Aesthetic and Exploratorium Philosophy Informs Innovative Store Design

Every museum has a store, that’s a given. But not every museum devotes its retail space to exhibits. The Exploratorium's Store on the Embarcadero is conceptually, architecturally, and in its product offerings, just like the museum. Working with Napa Valley based Shopworks Design, the Exploratorium Retail Development team opened two integrated Store spaces evocative of the authentic laboratory feel that has always characterized the Exploratorium. The main store, at 2,800 square feet, faces on the Embarcadero and is open to pedestrian traffic from the street or from inside the historic Pier 15 bulkhead. Another smaller store, at 1,000 square feet, is located inside, deeper in the heart of the Exploratorium. The Exploratorium’s exhibit workshop, where all of the exhibits are developed, built, and tested, inspired the new store design. In fact, the exhibits have been built into the Store – a place for visitors to continue to play, observe and discover while they shop. Look for a large interactive triple vortex exhibit right in the middle of the main store, or the classic illusions Vases Or Faces, Mirror Maze, and Color Words (where the dissonance between saying a color word like blue and the competing actual color of the word in red can cause cognitive problems in six languages). One engineering and design marvel is a store fixture that actually converts from a wooden product market cart into an interactive sound piece. Scrapple, by artist Golan Levin, converts back and forth depending on need. The main Store will also feature an Art-O-Mat – a vending machine that disgorges original art works for $5 a pop. Merchandise fixtures are made of wood and metal. They were conceived to be flexible both in terms of the types of products they house and and their ability to move around the museum to support special programs such as book signings and outdoor science festivals. That rough-and-ready functional feel carries through in the standard book carts, nail bins, architectural hanging files and vise tables that are all used to display merchandise. Concrete floors, simple lighting and natural materials also extend the workshop experience into the Store. The Exploratorium’s stores at Pier 15 have double the overall retail space, and continues to carry items for adults and children that reflect the exhibits of the museum, from unusual objects to games, kits, and books of scientific, artistic and technological interest. Among the New Products The Store has expanded its line of proprietary items, which have been developed in keeping with the museum’s fun, educational and curiosity-inspiring themes. A series of books titled SUSTAIN, BUILD and UNDER ($12.95 highlight aspects of the transformation of Pier 15 from a sustainability, architectural and restoration perspective. The classic hands on activity book titled SEEING ($14.95) features world famous Exploratorium perception and illusion exhibits, so visitors can take the museum home. The Art of Tinkering ($29.95), a new Exploratorium title, hits the store shelves in early fall of 2013 and is based on the world-renowned Exploratorium Tinkering Studio™. Exploralab, an activity-packed, interactive book for kid scientists ages 8-12, will be released in September 2013. Proprietary Exploratorium apparel, gift items and kits were developed in-house and with local artisans, and became available in the store during the opening launch. Staff are lead by Silva Raker, Director of Business Development, and Julie Nunn, Store Manager.



http://www.shopworksdesign.com/

http://www.artomat.org/


ARCHITECT’S VISION: SCIENCE, ART AND LANDSCAPE CONVERGE AT EXPLORATORIUM’S NEW LOCATION

Statement from EHDD’s Marc L’Italien, Design Principal

The new home of the Exploratorium is where architecture, art, science and site converge. It elevates the Exploratorium's mission as both a destination for experiential exhibits and an R&D facility that creates innovative ways to teach and learn. Visibility, public access, and flexibility drove the planning and design. Situated midway between Ferry Plaza and Pier 39, the new Exploratorium brings to life a previously dormant stretch of

the San Francisco's historic Embarcadero waterfront. The complexity of the program – to design an ultra-flexible building to support an ever-changing array of exhibits in keeping with the Exploratorium's culture of inquiry – was matched by the challenge of rehabilitating an existing historic structure in the most energy efficient manner possible. To that end, the building takes advantage of the original pier building's natural lighting and the water of the bay for cooling, and uses materials that are both sustainable and durable enough to withstand a harsh maritime climate. The goal is for the Exploratorium to be the country's largest net zero energy museum. This, combined with the Exploratorium's reputation as a hub of innovation, will make the building an industry model for what's possible in energy efficiency. The Fisher Bay Observatory building is an elegant two-story steel pavilion at the east end of Pier 15 that contains an open plaza and pays homage to the clean lines of Pier 15, yet stands out with its taut façade. Using fritted glass to mitigate heat gain and reduce bird strikes, the building will house the SEAGLASS Restaurant and the ticketed Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery. The Fisher Bay Observatory will undoubtedly become a destination, from which visitors can see open water, maritime traffic, Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge, wildlife, hills, and other elements, both natural and human-made. A promenade encircling Pier 15 enables free interactive outdoor exhibits, captivating the general public and passers-by with the direct experience of the surrounding bay and the city. Almost three times larger than its previous location at the Palace of Fine Arts, the new site enables the Exploratorium to dream big and to keep reinventing itself in unimaginable ways as it expands its programming. – Marc L’Italien, 2013

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KEY LEADERSHIP

George Cogan, Partner / Vice President of Bain & Company and Exploratorium Board Member George W. Cogan is partner and vice president in the Palo Alto office of Bain & Company, a global business consulting firm. He joined the firm in 1989. Trained as a physicist, he is head of Bain’s North American Technology Practice. He brings to his Exploratorium role a broad range of experience in technology-driven businesses and expertise in corporate and divisional strategy, marketing strategy, new product and new business development, and organizational design. In 2006, he led the successful search for the Exploratorium’s new Executive Director and has served as Chairman of the Development Committee for

several years. Prior to joining Bain, Mr. Cogan worked for SERA Solar Corporation, a photovoltaic research and development firm. He earned an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business and is an Arjay Miller Scholar. He is a graduate of Harvard University where he received a Bachelor of Arts in physics with honors. Along with Exploratorium Executive Director Dennis Bartels, Cogan has led a historic capital project and a $300 million capital campaign to relocate the Exploratorium to Piers 15/17 on San Francisco’s famed waterfront.

Dennis Bartels, Executive Director Dennis Bartels is the Executive Director of the Exploratorium. As a science education and policy expert, he was appointed to the Education Working Group for the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in 2009, and in 2010 he was one of two educators named to the Oceans Research and Resources Advisory Panel (ORRAP), which provides independent advice and guidance to the more than 20 federal agencies of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program. Dr. Bartels has testified before United States congressional committees,

including the House Science Committee. He was elected an AAAS Fellow (on Education), and he is also a Fellow of the International Society for Design and Development in Education (ISDDE) and a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). In addition, he speaks internationally on science and mathematics education. Dennis holds a Ph.D. in education administration and policy analysis from Stanford University. Along with Exploratorium Board Member George Cogan, Bartels has led a historic capital project and a $300 million capital campaign to relocate the Exploratorium to Piers 15/17 on San Francisco’s famed waterfront. Exploratorium @Pier 15 San Francisco, CA 94111 www.exploratorium.edu


Rob Semper, Executive Associate Director and Director of Programs Rob Semper is Executive Associate Director of the Exploratorium in San Francisco. He oversees the direction and content of the Exploratorium at Pier 15. Since joining the Exploratorium in 1977, he has lead numerous exhibit development, teacher enhancement and media development projects focused on science education for the public, teachers and students. He is also the principal investigator on numerous science education, media and research projects including the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Center for Informal Learning and Schools, a research collaboration between the Exploratorium, U.C. Santa Cruz and King’s College in London which studied the relationship between museums and formal education, and the NSF funded Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network, a national network of science centers designed to foster engagement of the public with the nanotechnology field.

Over the past eighteen years Dr. Semper has guided the development of the award winning Exploratorium Website, which has explored the role of museums in the online world, including the development of online field trips to locations of scientific research. He has been a Schumann fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and director of the creative collaboration between Apple Computer and Lucasfilm Ltd. formed to develop interactive multimedia education projects. Dr. Semper received his Ph.D in solid state physics from Johns Hopkins University in 1973.

Thomas Rockwell, Director of Exhibits and Associate Director for Program Tom Rockwell leads the group that is responsible for the exhibit experience at the museum. He oversees a staff of approximately 65 people, including exhibit developers, science and art content experts, and a visitor research and evaluation team. Tom has been principal investigator for the Geometry Playground exhibition, and co-principal investigator for the Science in the Stacks project for the Queens Borough Public Library. With Rob Semper, he has also been deeply involved in the design and planning for the Exploratorium’s move to San Francisco’s Embarcadero. Training in the visual arts at Brown University and a lifelong interest in

combining art and science led Tom to work first as an educator in science museums, and then as a designer and construction coordinator of community-built science parks and playgrounds. These projects, in which thousands of volunteers collaborated to build a public structure, have had a strong influence on how he thinks about design, the creative process, and the public’s desire to engage in science. In 1995, Tom founded Painted Universe, Inc. Projects have included traveling exhibitions such as It’s a Nano World (with the Ithaca Science Center and Cornell University), The Enchanted Museum: Exploring the Science of Art (with the Berkshire Museum), and illustrations for The Elegant Universe by Brian Green. (NOTE: Tom is Norman Rockwell’s grandson.)



Silva Raker is founding Director of Exploratorium Global Studios and joined the museum as Director of Business Development in 2010. Global Studios works with governments, universities, partner museums, libraries, hospitals and other public/private entities around the world to create learning environments and build human capacity – Exploratorium exhibits are one part of that effort. Raker’s work leverages the Exploratorium’s educational research and development to extend its mission. She extends the impact of the Exploratorium through museum consultancy, exhibit services, licensing, retail stores, restaurant concession, event rentals, sponsorships, and more. Raker is an accomplished business development executive and has successfully grown vibrant, mission-based companies in the specialty retail and

travel industries. Additionally, Silva is a trained scientist with a Bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley. After conducting field studies in zoology in California and Cameroon, Silva joined The Nature Company where she spent ten years developing proprietary products, innovative programs and fruitful partnerships. More recently, as the COO and leading strategist for Backroads, Silva managed a complex global operation while developing both new and existing business segments—including the Family Travel Program with natural history and cultural exploration for kids on five continents.




CURATORS OF THE EXPLORATORIUM’S SIX MAIN GALLERIES

Outdoor Gallery

Shawn Lani, Senior Artist and Curator Shawn Lani is a senior artist at the Exploratorium, directing the Outdoor exhibition development. As the curator for Outdoor Works at the new Exploratorium, Shawn’s task is to transform the outdoor spaces into an evolutionary gesture of civic and environmental engagement. His work can be summarized as a collection of exhibits created as accessible objects of wonder; mysterious yet navigable. Ideally, interacting with them leads to the type of investigations common to both scientists and artists: noticing details, asking questions, and exploring phenomena.

Shawn is also an accomplished regional artist with large-scale water sculptures in downtown San Francisco and pieces on permanent display in over forty national and international venues. He received a design award from the New Orleans chapter of the American Institute of Architects for his work with fellow Exploratorium artists on a monumental kinetic building facade.

Eric Dimond, Associate Curator Eric Dimond has spent the last 14 years creating original exhibits at the Exploratorium while collaborating with multiple design partners and clients. His iterative design process draws upon a rich mixture of educators, scientists and artists that make up the Exploratorium’s extended makers community. He recently completed his work as the Lead Exhibit Developer for the National Science Foundation funded Geometry Playground Exhibition, a 5,000 square foot exhibition featuring large scale climbing structures. He is currently the Associate Curator/Project Director for the Outdoor Exploratorium gallery. This new gallery includes over

60,000 square feet of both paid and unpaid public space at the Exploratorium’s new home along the San Francisco waterfront’s Pier 15. Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery

Pamela Winfrey, Senior Artist Pamela Winfrey joined the Exploratorium in 1979 and began working in arts programming in 1986. She is the curator for the Exploratorium’s new Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery, one that explores humans as phenomena. Recent exhibitions curated by Winfrey include Liminality (2007), Reconsidered Materials (2006); Art Life (2004), an exploration of artworks with human and living attributes; and The Prepared Exploratorium (2001), in which musicians and sound artists turned the Exploratorium into a giant instrument. To help the Bealle Center in Irvine, California celebrate


Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 31 their fifth anniversary, she curated Five, which featured five interactive media artists from five different countries. In 2005, she served as a panelist at Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria) for the interactive arts category. In 2009 she was the lead curatorial consultant for Creative Capital’s emerging art forms. Pamela has organized several performance series including Situation Abnormal (2004-2005), featuring artists who are re-imagining the content, form, and raw material of performance; and Listen: A Sonic Series (2004-2005), with composers, musicians, artists, and scientists exploring the art of sound. She was also a founding member of Mobius Operandi, an electro-acoustic sound sculpture ensemble. During her tenure, they produced two CD’s and five large-scale performances that included a cornfield, large swinging speakers, and clocks with human clockworks. Pamela is a playwright. Her play, The Sounding, a drama based on the laying of the Atlantic cable, was read in Science on Stage 2004 at the Magic Theater. In 2011, she was in residence at Climate Theater where Train Wreck at the Table was seen. Her plays and performance works have been presented at numerous venues around the country. She has received a Marin Arts Council Independent Artist award and a Sloan grant for Celestial Bodies, a play about the first female radio astronomer. In the summer of 2012, her play It All Leads to the Lemon Scene won the “Audience Favorite” award at the Avant Garde Festival in Manhattan.

Hugh McDonald, Project Director, Senior Science Writer and Associate Curator Hugh McDonald is a Project Director, Senior Science Writer, and Associate Curator for the Exploratorium’s Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery, which focuses on the interplay between science, society, and culture. He is the Principal Investigator of Science of Sharing, an NSF-funded initiative to develop exhibits that let visitors experiment with resource-sharing and collaborative problem-solving, link their experiences to larger societal issues like climate change and environmental destruction, and learn about the

scientific study of human behavior. Hugh was the lead writer/editor for the museum's Mind and Seeing exhibit collections and the Pirelli Award-winning Global Climate Change: Research Explorer website, and contributing writer/editor for numerous other exhibitions, sites, and publications. He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from Indiana University in 1997 and served on the faculty at Bates College and San Diego State University before joining the Exploratorium in 2001. Bechtel Central Gallery

Thomas Humphrey, Ph.D., Senior Scientist Dr. Humphrey is curator of the Bechtel Central Gallery. He received his doctorate in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1975 based on his research at Fermilab. Dr. Humphrey was essential in the creation and funding of the Exploratorium Teacher Institute training program and maintains an active role as guest lecturer in the program. He has taught physics and perception at many art institutes and universities. He invented the course "Perception in Art and Science,” which he has taught at

the San Francisco Art Institute, John Carroll University, and the Academy of Art College. During the period 1980-84, Dr. Humphrey worked as a sculptor in Cleveland, Ohio, exhibiting four one-man shows


http://www.exploratorium.edu/mind/

http://www.exploratorium.edu/seeing/

http://www.exploratorium.edu/climate/

Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 32 and appearing in several juried shows including the May Show at the Cleveland Museum of Art. He has been the principal investigator on over 30 Exploratorium grants. He has constructed many exhibits for the Exploratorium and contributed to the development of many others. Dr. Humphrey wrote the first Exploratorium catalog and has contributed articles to Exploring, the Exploratorium magazine. He has consulted in the United States, Asia, and Europe. He also plays Bluegrass guitar.

Richard O'Reilly Brown, Ph.D., Senior Neurobiologist Richard O'Reilly Brown, Ph.D., is the Exploratorium’s staff neurobiologist and curator of perception. He has degrees in neurobiology from Caltech and the UCSF School of Medicine, and was on the research faculty of UCSD's Center for Brain and Cognition before joining the Exploratorium in 1998. Richard is an expert on perceptual demonstrations and illusions, with a particular focus on the art and science of color perception, and has taught visual perception

at UCSD and the San Francisco Art Institute. In 2012 he was honored to win the first annual Richard Gregory Prize for his color studies at an international visual perception conference. At the Exploratorium, he has helped develop over 100 new interactive exhibits on diverse topics including optics, vision, hearing, attention, emotions, cognition, magic, biology, immunology and AIDS, the human body, and food. Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery

Susan Schwartzenberg, Senior Artist Susan Schwartzenberg is a senior artist at the Exploratorium, where she led the development of the Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery, a new space devoted to observing and noticing the bay and the city, both of which can be seen from the new Observatory’s panoramic views. She has been a curator, photographer, designer, and artist, and served as director of media. At the museum she has participated in many exhibit development and web-based projects. Susan was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and has taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, the California College of Art, and Stanford University. As a photographer and visual artist, she has received numerous awards, and has taken part in residencies and exhibitions worldwide. She is known for her public artworks including her recently opened public artworks at Stanford University and San Francisco’s McLaren Park.

Sebastian Martin, Ph.D., Co-curator of Bay Observatory Gallery Sebastian Martin grew up in a small town in Germany with a rich tradition in toy making, and he attributes his interest in learning through experimentation and play to this early experience. Before coming to the United States, he studied earthquakes in the Chilean Andes, satellite imaging in the boreal forests of Ontario, and physics and math in Erlangen, Germany. He earned a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Potsdam. Throughout his studies, he retained

a playful approach to science and research, and he developed interactive exhibits at Phenomenta, a science center dedicated to inquiry and direct contact with phenomena. In 2005 he joined the


Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 33 Exploratorium, where he found a happy symbiosis among science teaching, playing, and making things. A scientific content developer at the museum, Sebastian also enjoys teaching physics and interactive design at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University.

Mary Miller, Director of the Wired Pier project Mary Miller is the lead on the Wired Pier project, which outfits Pier 15 with atmospheric and oceanic sensors to gather data on San Francisco bay and display the results in the Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery. She is a project director in the science learning networks group and is responsible for leading multidisciplinary teams in creating innovative and engaging content about current scientific research for the Exploratorium’s award-winning website and museum exhibits and programs. In her roles as a science writer and producer, Mary has dodged icebergs in Greenland, flown in a hurricane hunter through a Pacific Storm, and been diving under the ice in Antarctica. She is also a liaison to the scientific community on numerous education and outreach

partnerships. As the director for a 5-year partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Mary facilitates collaborations between the two organizations to develop visualizations, media narratives, and interpretations of ongoing environmental research, including climate change and ocean and atmospheric research. Mary has a B.A. in biology and marine studies and a master’s certificate in science communication from U.C. Santa Cruz. She developed the media production track and teaches multimedia science journalism in the UCSC science communication program. South Gallery/Tinkering Studio

Mike Petrich, Science Educator and Co-Founder of Tinkering Studio™ Mike Petrich is Director of the Making Collaborative at the Exploratorium, Mike is curious about how people develop personal and unique understandings of the world for themselves. More specifically, his interest in how environments can be designed to foster learning and encourage deep thinking led to a graduate degree in education design and technology, and ultimately to a leadership role within the Learning Studio, which develops the museum’s public tinkering activities. With a background in fine arts, filmmaking, and photography, he applies the act of careful observation to much of his work as a facilitator. Mike has been working at this for 20 years, with audiences as diverse as museum visitors, primary school students, Tibetan monks, prison inmates, and

graduate school researchers. Karen Wilkinson, Science Educator and Co-Founder of Tinkering Studio™ Karen Wilkinson is Director of the Learning Studio, which develops all the public tinkering activities. Karen sees her role at the Exploratorium as an advocate for making as a way of knowing. She believes deeply in studio pedagogy, and the ability we all have to think with our hands. As an undergrad working in environmental design, she came to see museums as places that recognize this approach. Karen started her museum career as a volunteer at the Science Museum of Minnesota, soon met people from the Exploratorium and other institutions, and quickly realized how deeply a museum philosophy resonated with her own. Now, years later, after pursuing graduate studies in


Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 34 education and technology, she is even more committed to the idea that constructionism is an incredibly powerful way of learning, and that aesthetics matter a great deal. These two ideas are often overlooked in more formal education settings, outside of kindergarten or graduate school. Informal learning spaces for making and tinkering offer people a chance to connect to their own learning in a deeply personal way, which is why she is thrilled to be able to work with such a delightfully quirky group of people in the Tinkering Studio. Together, they are working to develop experiences with art, science, and technology that are playful and inquisitive, and draw on the collaborative and participatory aspects that a museum environment can offer. Karen looks forward to seeing what develops in the coming years. East Gallery

Kristina Yu, Ph.D., Director of the Living Systems Department Dr. Kristina Yu is the Director of the Living Systems Department at the Exploratorium and curator of the East Gallery. She oversees the laboratory facility and staff that support the Exploratorium's unique collection of life sciences exhibits, and has curatorial oversight over the exhibit collection. In addition to making biology accessible to the museum-going public, and web audiences, Kristina also collaborates with researchers in the San Francisco Bay Area and is acquiring an archive of microscopic movies and images that are available on the Web. She attended UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz as an undergraduate, and earned a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from UC Santa Cruz. Jennifer Frazier, Co-curator, East Gallery Jennifer Frazier is a cell biologist whose current obsessions include plankton and data visualization. Jennifer has been at the Exploratorium since 2004, focusing on finding new ways to help visitors explore worlds they normally can’t see. Her projects include the Microscope Imaging Station and the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network’s Visualization Laboratory. Before joining the Exploratorium, she created exhibits, multimedia, and documentary films at NOVA, the National Academy of Sciences, and several multimedia companies. Jennifer received her Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of California, San Francisco, where as an NSF and AAAS Fellow she used advanced imaging techniques to study polymer assembly during cell division. She has a B.S. in bioethics and genetics from the University of

California, Davis.




ADDITIONAL STAFF BIOS Marina McDougall, Director, Center for Art & Inquiry

Marina McDougall, Director, Exploratorium Center for Art & Inquiry is a curator working at the intersection of art, science, nature and culture. Marina co-founded the Studio for Urban Projects and was the first Curator of Art and Design at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art. She has been visiting curator at the MIT Media Lab, the Museum of Jurassic Technology, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Oakland Museum of California. Marina has 20 years of experience organizing exhibitions and public programs, and started her career as a curator in the Exploratorium Cinema Arts Program. She teaches in the curatorial practice program at CCA.

Julie Nunn, Director of Product Development and Stores Nunn joined the Exploratorium in January 2010, after 23 years in the toy industry. She is currently responsible for overseeing the design and implementation of the two Exploratorium Stores at the museum’s Pier 15 location, as well as overseeing product development for the museum’s proprietary products program, including the Exploratorium’s publishing branch. Nunn is also responsible for creating and driving business initiatives with the Exploratorium’s Global Studios program. She has been Director of Marketing for Hasbro Toys Cap Candy Division, developing the Harry Potter Candy line, as well as various other product licenses with

Disney/Pixar, Warner Bros, Dreamworks and Lucas Films; Director of Product Development for DaMert Company; and Toy Buyer and Director of Product Merchandising for The Nature Company. Julie Nunn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Sarah Lawrence College, and Masters in Business Administration in Sustainable Enterprise from Dominican University. Meet more Staff Scientists and Staff Artists.

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http://www.exploratorium.edu/about/staff-scientists

http://www.exploratorium.edu/arts/staff-artists


PIER 15 PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION TEAM Wilson Meany EHDD KPM Consulting Nibbi CAMMISA and WIPF Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass RUTHERFORD + CHEKENE INTEGRAL Group Teknion Vangard Concept Offices PAGE & TURNBULL HMS Associates Bain & Company ACCO Adavant Consulting Advanced Energy Strategies Auerbach Glasow French Bank of America BBI Bill Hill Design Boudreau Associates LLC Broadway Mechanical Contracting CB2 Charles Salter Associates Chicago Title Insurance Company CohnReznick Consolidated Engineering Laboratories Creative Strategies Cupertino Electric Inc David Nelson & Associates DeFauw Design & Fabrication Dutra Dredging EIP Associates Eaton & Associates Farella Braun + Martel LLP Farmers Insurance Exchange First Republic GLS Landscape|Architecture HKA Elevator Consulting Holmes Culley Exploratorium @Pier 15 San Francisco, CA 94111 www.exploratorium.edu

Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 37 Holmes Fire Hubbard Godfrey Architects InNovTec Irma Zigas & Associates jhdrum & associates Jones Day Kennedy/Jenks Consultants Klor Machinery Inc. Manask & Associates Martin M. Ron Associates Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Meyer Sound Laboratories Moffatt & Nichol Nationwide Life Insurance Company Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Company Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company NOR-CAL Moving Services Oppenheim Lewis ORCA Consulting Packlick/Lagueux Place Partners Port of San Francisco Power Engineering Contractors Project Assistance Corporation Rudolph Commercial Interiors Rolf Jensen & Associates Security by Design Solem & Associates Spec West SunPower The Fire Consultants The Shalleck Collaborative Teladata Tetra Tech Thomas Swan Sign Company T. Marshall Associates Treadwell & Rollo/Rollo & Ridley Tyco USBank Wells Fargo WRA Environmental Consultants

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EXPLORATORIUM FOUNDER FRANK OPPENHEIMER

“No one ever flunked a museum,” said Frank Oppenheimer, the founder of the Exploratorium. Arguably his most famous quote, it embodies the vision and transformative ideas that revolutionized the museum field and spawned nearly 1,000 science museums around the world. The Exploratorium remains at the vanguard, these days placing the tools of inquiry directly into the hands of visitors, from soldering irons to screwdrivers to sewing machines. The science-rich investigations happen right opposite the museum’s own machine shop. It exports that ability to tinker inside a museum around the world, from places as diverse as Arkansas to Saudi Arabia. It is now over 100 years since Oppenheimer’s birth in New York City. He was the younger brother of J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atom bomb,”

and himself a gifted experimental physicist and Renaissance man, who also worked on the Manhattan project. August 14, 2012, was the 100th anniversary of Oppenheimer’s birth in New York City. As Oppenheimer’s lasting monument, the Exploratorium has long been a leader in informal education and in museums.

● Until the relocation, the Exploratorium had to turn away two out of three teachers requesting professional development in its Teacher Institute due to high demand. The Exploratorium’s new location at Pier 15 triples the capacity for teacher professional development. Teachers who attend have a retention rate of more than 90%, compared to the national average of 50%. Educators from 48 states and 11 countries have benefitted from Exploratorium workshops since 1995 alone.

● 80% of the world’s science centers use Exploratorium-developed exhibits. Since 1982, more than 2,500 exhibits have been installed in museums, universities, and organizations worldwide.

● The museum received the National Science Foundation’s Public Service to Science Award in

2011, the first time a science museum has been honored. It was the first independent museum on the Internet, with more than 40,000 pages of original content and 12 million web visits to www.exploratorium.edu.

Oppenheimer’s ideas continue to resonate in the museum and science education fields even 28 years after his death. In its new location, the Exploratorium, the legacy Oppenheimer left behind, extends the reach of its original mission, a fitting gift to mark the 100th anniversary of Frank Oppenheimer’s. About Frank Oppenheimer Frank’s three overlapping careers reflected his commitment to science education:

● He was a brilliant researcher in nuclear and cosmic ray physics ● He was a distinguished teacher and innovator in laboratory instruction ● He was the creator and guiding genius of the Exploratorium, San Francisco’s

unconventional museum. His life had a dramatic arc. After a distinguished career in cosmic ray research and participation in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, Oppenheimer was forced to resign from his university position in 1949 as a result of being harassed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Exploratorium @Pier 15 San Francisco, CA 94111 www.exploratorium.edu


Exploratorium Moves to Pier 15, Page 39 For the next ten years, Oppenheimer was a cattle rancher in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Banishment from academic physics didn’t end his science career, however; rather, it sparked new ones. became the only science teacher in the local small-town high school of 300 students. He produced stellar students, many of whom came from minority and “ordinary origins.” His reach eventually extended to the entirety of Jefferson County and produced students like James Heckman, now an economist at the University of Chicago and a Nobel laureate. When Oppenheimer finally returned to university physics in 1959, he focused on both research and teaching. He became a central force in improving laboratory teaching for students and developed a "Library of Experiments” where they could explore physical phenomena at their own pace, playing with freestanding experiments whenever they wished. It was quickly copied by other universities. This was a method vastly different from the book-centric way science was previously taught. In 1965, Oppenheimer began the melding of his interests in peace and humanity, scientific research, teaching, art and history, philosophy, museums and the methods of science education that would blossom four years later into the Exploratorium. While on a Guggenheim fellowship in Europe, he became convinced that museums of science and technology were vitally needed both for the general public and as a supplement for science teaching curricula at all levels. Oppenheimer was invited to do the initial planning for a new branch of the Smithsonian, but turned it down to work on what he called his "San Francisco project." In 1969, with no publicity or fanfare, the Exploratorium opened its doors. It spawned 1000 museums like it around the world and stands at the forefront of the idea of museums as educational centers. From teacher professional development to exhibit development to the notion of informal science learning as it takes place outside of schools, the Exploratorium disseminated its ideas through open source sharing before the term was ever coined. Oppenheimer’s ideas continue to resonate in the museum and science education fields even all these years after his death. The Exploratorium is a remarkable and tangible culmination of one man’s life, experience and ideas.

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For all additional media requests, please contact: Linda Dackman (415) 528-4363 Leslie Patterson (415) 528-4377 Quynh Tran (415) 528-4357 Jenny Slafkosky (415) 528-4367 [email protected] For more information about the Exploratorium visit our online press office at http://www.exploratorium.edu/press-office About the Exploratorium The Exploratorium is the global leader in informal learning, igniting curiosity and inspiring creativity in people of all ages. The world-renowned science museum creates original, interactive exhibits, on display at more than 1,000 science centers, museums and public spaces around the world. Dedicated to education reform in and out of the classroom, the Exploratorium is a premier professional development center for educators and a creator of award-winning educational resources. Since 1969, the Exploratorium has influenced generations of entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, teachers, students, children, museum professionals and everyday doers, reaching nearly 180 million people annually from around the globe. On April 17, 2013, the Exploratorium opened at Pier 15 in the heart of San Francisco's waterfront district, where it will celebrate a new era of experiences that encourage critical thinking and awaken wonder for generations to come. For more information, visit www.exploratorium.edu.


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Documents

EXPLORATORIUM PIER 15 PRESS KIT2 · Curated by senior artist Pamela Winfrey and social psychologist Hugh McDonald, Ph.D., Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded Science of Sharing