Black Box

The Black Box, an 800-square-foot media space located within the Osher West Gallery, provides a dedicated space for a rotating program of immersive installations focusing on human behavior and social interaction. The environment provides guest artists with a controlled light and sound environment for the presentation of work in a range of formats, including film, video, photography, sculpture, and interactive media.

In Silhouette

Friday, March 1–Sunday, April 28, 2019

In Silhouette invites you to experience remarkably complex and inventive works of shadow play. Upon entering the darkened Black Box, you encounter what appear to be mundane blank surfaces. However, hidden within each piece are unforeseen images that are revealed only under a flashlight’s beam.

Infinity Room

Thursday, June 14–Sunday, July 15, 2018

Step into an otherworldly portal and envelop yourself in distorted light and perpetually morphing visuals. Watch the walls melt away as the barrier between the material and virtual realms blur into infinity.

Gibson + Recoder: Powers of Resolution

Friday, November 11–Sunday, December 18, 2016 • See below for viewing hours

Lightplay—a series of artists engagements focused on light interventions—begins with Gibson + Recoder: Powers of Resolution, which celebrates the elusive and delicate beauty revealed through immersive experiences with light.

Visible Spectres by Kerry Laitala

Thursday, October 1–Sunday, November 1, 2015
Wednesdays–Sundays, 1:00–5:00 p.m.
Thursdays, 6:00–10:00 p.m. (18+)

Science, history, and art converge in this whimsical tribute to San Francisco’s 1915 World’s Fair, which is celebrating its centennial this year. Lost landscapes from the Fair (including the Exploratorium’s former home, the Palace of Fine Arts) become the backdrop for spectral encounters. Are the spirits of fairgoers getting restless?

Cognitive Technologies

2015

This collaboration between the Cognitive Technology Group, an incubator for brain technology and research, and m0xy, an East Oakland–based industrial arts incubator, Cognitive Technologies combines neuroscience, art, and design so visitors can interact with various tools used by neuroscientists to see and understand how the brain works.

01/31/2015 to 03/01/2015

Strata #4

Quayola, 2014

Documenting the improbable collisions  between classical figuration and contemporary abstraction, Strata #4 aims to create a harmonious dialogue between worlds that  may appear very distant from one another, but in fact have much in common.

11/14/2014 to 01/05/2015

Comfort Zone

Ben Levy

Benjamin Levy began working on Comfort Zone as an Exploratorium artist-in-residence in 2011. An immersive, participatory installation exploring choreography, group dynamics, collaboration, and social boundaries, this project presents compelling conceptual and practical challenges.

10/22/2013 to 01/31/2014

Invisible by Night

Lynette Wallworth

Lynette Wallworth’s Invisible by Night will inaugurate the West Gallery’s Black Box media space at the museum's new home at Pier 15. This quietly interactive video installation responds to the visitor's touch and projects a life-sized woman whose eternal pacing can be interrupted by the viewer.

04/16/2013 to 09/29/2013