In my last blog, I spoke about the preliminary steps towards the development of a unique art-science exhibition that will open on September 22, 2007 at the Reeves ASK Science Center. A group of Met curators and educators met in early May 2007 and determined it would be necessary to meet on a weekly basis to fully conceptualize and implement the exhibition on a shortened timeline. In general, it takes 12 – 18 months for the exhibition development process, but we only had four and a half months to work with. Panic set in.

At our second meeting, we continued to work on exhibition themes and activities. Our guiding philosophy was to ask questions and to set up activities that encouraged visitors to do the same. Our primary questions were: What is art? What is science? What do artists do? What do scientists do? We wanted the project to be interactive and playful and to provoke thought. One idea I had was to produce a documentary video featuring professionals from the art and science fields speaking about their work. Laura Goldstone, Manager of Educational Outreach, discussed a current flower dissection activity that she leads with visitors. The group decided to continue researching and expanding our ideas.

We came back with more ideas and discussed how they might be implemented. At this point we started to notice that several common art and science themes kept popping up; themes such as light, nature, patterns, materials. We grew excited. We talked more about certain activities and thought about the time it would take to fully research them before they could be implemented. We began to set aside pursuits that would require more than four months to realize.

By the end of May 2007 we had settled on a plan for the art and science exhibition. It would consist of an orientation area featuring an interactive “mind map,” four activity stations (flower dissection, patterns, woodcut, and walk-in camera obscura), the video project, an art gallery, and a library with computer terminals. We submitted our proposal to the Met’s Executive Director.

What happened next? Find out in my next blog.

Posted by Teresa España, Director of Education and Interpretation. You can reach her at teresae@fresnomet.org.