Hall of Science
I had never been to the New York Hall of Science till last week. While I was walking into the Hall of Science, I was thinking how am I going to find art here? After all it is the Hall of Science, where little kids go to learn science while they are having fun. I was absolutely wrong. The Hall of Science has great deal of artworks. There are art galleries on the second level as well as many opportunities to create your own artwork.
At first when we were walking into to the Hall of Science, it was a little awkward because there were mostly little children there on their school field trips. Wendy, Eilene, and I got our tickets to our childhoods and started having loads of fun. Most of the art on the main level were art of illusion. My favorite was the checkered room with the slanted floor. This slanted floor of the room creates an illusion of size. While Eilene walked from the entrance of the room to the back of the room, I was watching through a window on the side. It appeared as if she was growing while walking to the back of the room. This is because the room gets smaller towards the back of the room due to the slanted floor. We took some crazy pictures of our experience in the checkered room.
It was so much fun creating our own artworks and being kids again. We went into an activity called the recollections. This was the coolest thing ever. There was a wall made of tiny glass beads that you have to walk in front of in order to see the artwork take place. When I walked in front of the wall, I blocked the light from hitting the wall and created shadows. The camera under the huge projection screen in the front recorded these shadows and showed them on the screen colored and manipulated. After a few seconds the images changed and showed a different manipulation.
Another art of illusion were the spinning disks. It was a very simple exhibit. After spinning the spiral disk, stare at the center for about fifteen seconds. When you look up at the room, the wall of the room would seem to spin. This happens due to the detection of the inward and outward motion of the mechanisms in our eyes and brain. While the eyes see a plain wall, the brain translates the wall to a moving image due to the exposure to the spinning spirals before.
My visit to the New York Hall of Science was really amazing. When I walked in, I did not think I would have this much fun and also experience art at the same time. I had such a great time there because my friends were with me. If you go there alone, it won’t be as fun as going with a bunch of friends. I can’t wait to go back there and play around more with the visual activities. I think we should go the New York Hall of Science as a class trip and experience our childhoods again.