This exhibition is in Reading PA. It was announced in my morning paper. I have not seen it yet. There are three parts to the exhibition. Robert Lang has some imput
Mark Family-friendly Art Exhibits in Reading http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/kids/mc-reading-museum-jelly-beans-lede-20130130,0,2171733,full.story MASTERPIECES OF ART FROM JELLY BELLY'S 'LEGO CASTLE ADVENTURE' COMBINES HISTORY, BUILDING 'SCIENCE & ART' OFFERS REMARKABLE INSIGHT Children can see how water interacts with their bodies, hear computer-created music and learn about the science behind origami at the Science & Art exhibition. The exhibit, created by the Arkansas Discovery Network, illustrates how science and art intersect in real life through five areas featuring projects created by artists who also are scientists. Robert Lang's intricate origami of a crow, a deer, a turtle and others, show how geometry, trigonometry, algebra and calculus are used to transform flat pieces of paper into a three-dimensional objects. Lang is considered the pioneer of technical origami and he has designed more than 500 pieces. So complex are his designs that he wrote his own computer program called Treemaker to help calculate the folds. A video shows the step-by-step process of how he created an origami sculpture of a scorpion, starting with a model of the insect. Another video, which can be speeded up and slowed down, shows him folding a turtle, which took him 16 minutes. A display also shows origami sculptures of the five geometric platonic solids in which all the faces, corners and edges are identical, from a cube to a 20-sided icodahedron. Kids can experiment with symmetry by trying to make a tree, clown or turtle out of geometric shapes or folding their own simple origami. In "Zoom Into Water," children can interact with a projected multimedia image of water that reacts to their bodies in the same way real water would react. The activity was created by electronic artist and computer scientist Scott Snibbe. First an image of a shower rains water down that can be splashed; then large droplets can be pushed around. Finally children can move water molecules in a demonstration of gravity, surface tension and electromagnetic forces. Science and sound is explored though digital 1-bit music created by inventor Tristan Perich. In one section, visitors can hear the difference in a voice and tone between 1-bit sound, the 16-bit sound used in a CD and 128-bit sound. Perich says 1-bit sound is created with the smallest amount of digital information and can be characterized by the sound of a digital alarm or microwave beep. Perich wrote music using binary code and computer software translates it into music using the sounds of strings, percussion, clarinet and piano. Leah Buechley, assistant professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, uses electronics to make clothing with computerized components. On display is a shirt that has embedded LED lights that blink in different ways. An electricity workbench lets children explore different ways to complete simple circuits. In the "Beautiful Worm" exhibit, photography of the microscopic worm C. elegans provides a window into the world of scientific research as interpreted through art by Ahna Skop, assistant professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin. Visitors also can see live examples of C. elegans through a microscope. EXHIBIT DETAILS •What: "Jelly Belly Masterpieces," "Lego Castle Adventure," "Science & Art" • Where: The Reading Public Museum, 500 Museum Rd., Reading •Museum hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through May 5 •How much: $10, adults; $6, students and seniors; free, 3 and under •Info: 610-371-5850, http://www.readingpublicmuseum.org Copyright © 2013, The Morning Call
