Exhibit Design Inspiration: touched echo project

Artist Markus Kison has created a "performative installation" entitled "touched echo" on top of the city walls of Dresden, Germany.

While today's scenic overlook is beautiful, Dresden was also part of a terrible bombing raid in World War II. As a way to get visitors to the city to contemplate the events of the past, the artist has attached sound conducting devices to existing metal railwork. Iconic signs on the rail direct visitors to place their elbows on the rail, and their hands on their ears in a contemplative pose
looking down at the river and buildings that were part of the bombing raids.

Sounds of bombers and explosions are conducted through visitors' bones to their ears. Unless you participate in Kison's piece, the area is silent. This is a clever and thoughtful piece of environmental art with an obvious historic twist.

There are extensive photos, and technical descriptions, of "touched echo" at the artist's website.

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Sustainable Design Inspiration

I've been doing some design work for the Children's Museum of Indianapolis on topics related to water and the environment for their upcoming exhibition on modern Egypt.

I thought I'd share information about two organizations that are developing simple, even elegant, design solutions to solve literally life-and-death problems related to water use in developing countries.

The first is KickStart, a non-profit organization that develops and markets new technologies in Africa. I was especially impressed by their "micro-irrigation" technologies --- essentially simple, durable, easy to maintain people-powered pumps. Some of their designs are called "Money Maker" pumps to indicate that from a small initial investment rural economies can grow through increased farm profits and local jobs.

The second organization is PlayPumps International. As you can see from the video above, they have created water pumps that are powered by children at play. The PlayPumps are installed near schools, and double as a water pump for a local community as well as a merry-go-round for children.

The PPI approach is great on several levels: first, using kid-power frees up villagers (primarily young girls and women) from spending several hours every day on collecting safe water from remote locations. Secondly, the educational opportunities for girls increase since they now have time to go to school instead of getting water. Lastly, PlayPumps International has been creative and entrepreneurial in getting sponsors (and even mounting advertising on units!) in order to expedite the process of providing pumps and installation for interested communities.

Museums can support the work of PlayPumps and KickStart by showing off their technology, thereby making visitors aware of the work of such organizations (like the wonderful exhibition, "Design For the Other 90%" organized by the Cooper-Hewitt.) But perhaps, more importantly, museums can inspire visitors to consider the broader issues related to the intersection between sustainable design and basic environmental issues by making them aware of the need for such technologies in the first place.


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2009 Creating Exhibitions Symposium

As co-chair of the Creating Exhibitions Program Committee, I'd like to encourage all ExhibiTricks readers to check out the recently released info about the 2009 Creating Exhibitions Symposium hosted by the Liberty Science Center.

You can also download the Call For Proposals form via the website as well.

If you have any questions or need more info, please feel free to contact me directly.

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Cool Exhibit Design Tool: Spoonflower

The CoolTools website posted an article about an interesting new service-based web tool called Spoonflower.

Spoonflower gives individuals the power to print their own designs on fabric. The idea is that you upload a digital image to the Spoonflower web site and the company prints the design as a pattern on 100% cotton fabric.

You can see some real-life examples and read commentary on using Spoonflower via thaneeya's blog (like the side-by-side fabric and digital image comparison shown at the top of this posting) or get more nuts-and-bolts details on the Spoonflower blog.

Before you get too excited, Spoonflower is still at the invite-only beta stage, but you can get on the invite list via their website.

All in all, Spoonflower's services look like another interesting tool to add to the exhibit developer's repertoire --- I've already put my name on the Spoonflower beta invite list!

UPDATE: Spoonflower is now open for business to all. So what are you waiting for? Start designing fabric!

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Exhibit Design Inspiration: Cloud

The art and design group Troika was commissioned to create this amazing flip-dot sculpture, called "Cloud", for Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport in the UK.

The surface of the five meter long sculpture is covered with 4638 flip-dots, similar to those found in traffic signs and train stations.

As you can see from the video above, Troika uses a computer to control the flip-dots to create the patterns seen on the surface of the sculpture.

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Exhibit Design Toolkit: Cable Ties

Even the most ubiquitous exhibit tools, like cable ties, are not created equal.

In 1958, Thomas & Betts invented the Ty-Rap® cable tie to solve the problem of harnessing the hundreds of wires used in manufacturing aircraft.

Check out the Thomas & Betts website to revel in amazing cable tie-osity!

The variety of cable ties that T&B offers is pretty amazing. I am especially a fan of their "High Performance" wraps with stainless steel nibs that hold the cable tie in place (forever!) without the slip-prone plastic ratcheting mechanism found in cheaper ties.

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