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| Museum of Science Boston: A participant in 'CSI: The Experience' studies a simulated crime scene. Nicole Hill |
At some museums, you're now Exhibit A
To draw fresh crowds, installations offer hands-on interactivity that turns visitors into spies or CSI investigators.
By Teresa Méndez | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the October 19, 2007 edition
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Washington, D.C. - Our entry point is a bus depot. But first we must figure out how to get in. The phrase, "All is not what it seems," runs through the International Spy Museum here as a sort of informal mantra. It certainly applies to the act of opening the door to enter "Operation Spy," the five-year-old museum's newest exhibit.
Passports in hand, we do finally pass into fictitious Khandar, designed to be ambiguous in origin: The city could be somewhere in the Middle East or North Africa or Asia. The smell of spices wafts through the air as we choose code names. Our group of spies select Falcon, Sniper, Snake, Queen Bee, and Cowboy. Being a reporter, I chose transparency as my cover and opt for the moniker Scoop. Our guide is a local actor.
Before long, we've climbed into a freight elevator, a motion simulator that creates the effect of a multistory drop. As "Operation Spy" continues, we'll crowd into the back of a surveillance van that brakes hard and bumps convincingly. During the next hour, our group of six will also work together to disarm surveillance cameras, crack a safe, and, ultimately, try to prevent a device that triggers a nuclear weapon from falling into the wrong hands. Not every team is successful.
In the era of movies with elaborate special effects and video games with graphics that cause players to marvel at the feeling of being inside the game, its no wonder museums are scrambling to keep up. For many, the answer to a more sophisticated audience and one with, perhaps, a shorter attention span is interactivity and immersion. Science and childrens museums have long trafficked in hands-on, sensory experiences. Now, with improved technology, the experiential exhibit is reaching new heights and turning up in a variety of venues.
After hiccups that led to a three-month delay the downside of high tech Operation Spy opened in September. This month, CSI: The Experience, spun off the popular CBS crime-drama franchise, traveled to the Boston Museum of Science as part of a nationwide tour. Even the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., promises immersive exhibits," holograms, and actors in place of the traditional presidential museum dioramas.
"Based on anecdotal evidence, interactivity is a growing trend in the museum community," says Jason Hall of the American Association of Museums. While no formal studies have been done, he observes that such exhibits are geared toward a young generation that is much more tech savvy. If you dont want those folks zoning out, you better attune yourself to get in their head," he says.
Or, get them into the exhibit. Matt DuPlessie, president of 5 Wits, Inc., the company behind Boston's Tomb, which redefined the immersive experience when it opened in 2004, likens what hes trying to create to the feeling of being inside a Hollywood movie.
In the case of Tomb, that movie might be an Indiana Jones" adventure. But instead of watching Indie act out his exploits on screen, visitors play the role of archaeologists in ancient Egypt, attempting to rediscover lost artifacts.
Interest in interactive displays has been so great that Mr. DuPlessie, who was also involved in the creation of Operation Spy, recently started a company to conceptualize and create immersive installations for other museums.
"There is a culture in America today of aspiration, says DuPlessie. At this point, adults had video games when they were kids, and they like the experience of being able to twiddle their thumbs and be the hero. This lets them actually do that. Only its not simulated. Its real.
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