Explore The Museum


Entrance — After picking up a timed-entry ticket in the museum lobby, visitors join the line for entrance at their designated ticket time. Visitors then receive a brief introduction to the Lab and are given swipe cards to interact with the exhibits.

Shadow Garden and Sand Interactive — This multi-sensory interactive experience, created by artists Zachary Booth Simpson and Ken Demarest, showcases how art and technology come together in a digital world. Projected onto the translucent wall opposite the Wonder of Imagination plasmas, this interactive video installation features cascading colored "sand." This interactive wall reacts to shadows cast by visitors as they move in front of the projection. As visitors move, the sand accumulates on their shadows, and as they move away, the sand falls in different patterns.

Wonder of Games, Music and Digital Entertainment — The second floor houses a variety of activities that explore the world of games, music and digital entertainment, and illustrate the transition from an analog to a digital environment. Here, visitors will find numerous opportunities to express their creativity, personalize their adventure, and engage and connect with other visitors to the Lab.

Exhibits in this dynamic space include:

History Of Interactive Games — This exhibit consists of four ceiling monitors, which provide an overview of the history of interactive computer and video games from the 1960's to the present. To illustrate the evolution of these games, the graphics and performance change dramatically as 16-bit systems are superseded by 64-bit and 128-bit systems.

In The Game — In the Game enables visitors to test certain PlayStation®2 games in one of three immersive alcoves equipped with large-screen projectors, floors that vibrate and audio that envelops the visitors so that they feel as though they are literally "In the Game."

GameBuilder — GameBuilder allows visitors to create their own computer racing game by selecting and altering different components, thereby learning about design, spatial relations, audio and video. Visitors can select a track shape and manipulate the terrain to create mountains and valleys for their course. After making these selections, visitors choose the style and color of their vehicle and are able to play the game they have just created.

Wonder Of Music — Visitors can explore the process of making music by choosing from among four different musical instruments representing keyboard, string, woodwind/brass and percussion. After choosing their instrument, visitors are welcomed by a Sony BMG Music artist on video. The artist explains the different instruments and their function in creating music. He then invites the visitors to join his band and perform with him in front of a 'virtual' audience. This experience exposes visitors to a variety of musical styles and enables them to discover how many instruments playing in unison can create a musical composition.

Moviemaker — Moviemaker teaches visitors about some of the key concepts of motion picture production and digital editing. Through experimenting with sounds and images to create a movie trailer, visitors come to understand the interpretive and emotional impact of sound and music in a movie. They are challenged to create their own movie trailer by choosing from a series of short video clips from a selection of popular Sony Pictures films, and putting them into a sequence. They can then add background sounds and sound effects to hear how each selection changes the tone and feeling of the scene. Finally, the visitors score and title their piece, and then watch their completed trailer "premiere" on screen.

High Definition Theater — Visitors enjoy a short screening of top quality High Definition technology, a high-resolution video format. High Definition technology provides far greater picture resolution than standard television, so the images are sharper and remarkably clear. The theater is also equipped with surround sound. Screenings are repeated throughout the month.