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Arts
A Pendulum Clock
At first glance, the giant see-through-erector-set-like structure seems to be a realization of one of Leonardo da Vinci's mechanical inventions.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Aeolian Harp
An eerie orchestral chord floats on the breeze; it’s the shimmering sound of a 27-foot tall harp being strummed by the wind.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
Aeolian Landscape
Aeolian Landscape presents a swirling storm of sand inside a large chamber covered by a plexiglass top. A knob on the top of the exhibit rotates a sturdy fan set in the base of the chamber.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Anti-Gravity Mirror
Here’s an exhibit where watching is at least half the fun. You can create any number of gravity-defying illusions that will amaze you and your friends: Levitate, fly, swim though the air, grow limbs (and dissolve them), crawl straight up the wall like a lizard—the sky’s the limit.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Archimedes
Archimedes is comprised of two 8-foot diameter dish-like chairs placed 80 feet apart. Each dish’s parabolic curve collects and focuses sound waves and reflects them to participants seated within them. Even whispers uttered from one dish can be clearly heard by the surprised listener seated in the opposite dish.
Where: Plaza
As One
As One invites two participants to partner, and take turns in the roles of leader or follower as they mirror one another’s movements.
Aurora
A reflector stretches light from colored tiles into long bright ribbons.
Bay Lexicon
Bay Lexicon is a visual dictionary made up of illustrated flash cards, exploring the landscape visible from the Bay Observatory’s windows as well as places and phenomena along the shoreline between Fort Point and Hunters Point.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
Big Wood: 300 Years of Photosynthesis
Developed by artist Michael Brown in collaboration with reclaimed wood specialist Evan Shively, a several-hundred-year-old Douglas fir was split down the center to reveal its rings, immersing visitors in a fascinating study of dendrochronology.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Braided Stream
This artwork features air bubbling up through a fine powder constrained between two glass plates tilted at a 45 degree angle. The tilting creates a continually changing landscape evocative of aerial photographs of river drainage networks on Earth and on Mars.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Chaotic Pendulum
The visitor gives an initial twist to the pendulums with a protruding knob. Intuition says that the resulting motion of this system should be, if not simple, at least predictable. Intuition, however, does not work with this device since its motion is chaotic, extremely complicated and long-lived.
Where: Ray and Dagmar Dolby Atrium
Chladni Singing
Sand scattered on a large metal square vibrates and jumps in response to the sound of your voice. When you hit just the right note(s), the sand spontaneously migrates into elegant geometrical patterns.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Christmas Tree Balls
There are captivating reflections in a box of ornaments.
Confused Sea
Air blowing over the surface of water inside a large Plexiglas hemisphere mimics the action of the wind over the ocean by generating waves. The waves slowly change and build until the entire volume of water is circulating as one wave. Viewers can adjust the speed of the air blower and influence the building of the waves.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Cubatron Core
Bask in the cascading colors of this tremendous, torus-shaped sculpture by artist Mark Lottor.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Digital Footprints
Daily cycles of the city are projected onto a miniature topographic map of San Francisco: the movement of city buses and trains, local-area photos posted to Flickr and geographically located posts sent out via Twitter.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
Dioximoirekinesis
A kinetic pattern seems to move as a visitor's viewpoint shifts.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Floater Theater
Floater Theater is an intimate theatrical environment that whimsically prompts participants to explore the fascinating, commonly experienced phenomenon of eye floaters.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Flourish (Bloom)
This 3-D sculpture is animated when spun under a strobe light. The bloom’s animation effect is achieved by progressive rotations of the golden ratio, phi (ϕ), the same ratio that nature employs to generate the spiral patterns we see in pinecones and sunflowers.
Fluttering
A constant stream of air forces a lightweight piece of free-flowing fabric up into the air. The normally invisible air current is suddenly transformed into a colorful visualization of the complexity of the air stream.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Fluvial Storm
Swirling water sculpts elaborate patterns of underwater dunes.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Fog Bridge #72494
In a city notorious for fog, this immense artwork by Fujiko Nakaya intermittently shrouds a pedestrian bridge spanning Piers 15 and 17 with clouds of mist, enveloping all in its gauzy embrace.
Where: Plaza
Geometron
In conjunction with the Exploratorium’s Geometry Playground exhibition, Edmark created a polyhedral kaleidoscope, the result of rigorous mathematical precision and much collaboration. The kaleidoscope incorporates a live video feed within its mirrors to inspire and facilitate direct interaction and geometric exploration.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Harmonograms
Ivan Moscovich created these harmonograms with a twin-pendulum Harmonograph. The spirals, ellipses, and figure eights are graphical records of the swinging pendulums.
Icy Bodies
Like comets, these chunks of dry ice slowly disintegrate as they move, leaving a visible trail of condensed water vapor.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Jacques Cousteau in Seashells
There’s more to seeing than meets the eye.
Where: Ray and Dagmar Dolby Atrium
Lab Illustrations
Conklin spent several weeks observing the Exploratorium's life sciences laboratory and produced a number of original works that capture the inner workings of the facility. Beyond hand-rendered “portraits” of the many organisms cultured in the lab, Conklin successfully and beautifully captured the process and practices of staff biologists.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Lariat Chain
This artwork by Norman Tuck demonstrates that a very simple system—a metal chain hanging from a motor-driven bicycle wheel—can generate complex behaviors.
Where: Gallery 2: Tinkering
Library of Earth Anatomy
Library of Earth Anatomy, a collection of remarkable geological artifacts that invite and inspire us to see rocks in new ways. The Library employs unconventional classification methods to dissolve the usual boundaries between nature and culture, as well as between animal, vegetable, and mineral.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
Listening Vessels
Enormous parabolic sculptures transmit a conversation—or even a whisper—from one person to another across a great distance.
Lumen-Illusion
Flashing lights create the illusion of motion.
Machine with Concrete
A motor is connected to a block of concrete via a simple system of gears. The final gear will make one revolution into the concrete once every 13.7 billion years, yet the machine whirs uninterrupted.
Where: Gallery 2: Tinkering
Moving Objects
Hundreds of black rings travel randomly left and right along more than fifty horizontal strings. Closer examination reveals that the strings are driven at each end by small motors and that the rings that seem to pass through each other are actually bouncing against one another.
Where: Ray and Dagmar Dolby Atrium
Observatory Library
The Observatory Library is the Bay Observatory’s research center, providing context and historical insight to the local landscape just beyond the windows.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
Oculus Table
Oculus Table introduces a contemporary twist on a common ancient Greek sundial, the scaphe (σκάφη or "bowl"). With sunlight streaming through the oculus—the hole in the ceiling of the Fisher Bay Observatory—the movable table can be visually aligned with landmarks on the skyline (Coit Tower, Transamerica Pyramid, etc.) to discover the Sun's position in the sky and the current time and date.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
Oscylinderscope
A piece consisting of a cylinder and guitar strings, that when plucked, demonstrate how strings behave when they vibrate to produce sound. Both the tension and the length of a string effect the frequency of vibration (pitch of the sound).
Where: Gallery 2: Tinkering
Pentaphone
Combine beats and melodies in a musical conversation.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Perspective Drawing Window
Tracing on the glass produces precise perspective.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
Probably Chelsea
Twenty different sculptural portraits, all based on the same person's DNA information.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Recollections
This work addresses the poetics of motion, time and color. Participants are able to explore animated effects such as how sequences of images create movement. By displaying sequences simultaneously, movement forms are created. The history of the movement is expressed through multiple rainbow-colored images that evoke memories of legendary photographer Harold Edgerton's work.
Rift Zone
Rift Zone uses air bubbling up through fine sand to suggest a small-scale geothermal landscape. By turning a knob, viewers can change the pressure of the air rising up through the sand and alter the shapes and patterns of the landscape.
Where: Crossroads: Getting Started
Rolling Through the Bay
Artist Scott Weaver has spent over 40 years painstakingly constructing this replica of the city of San Francisco out of toothpicks. Ping-pong balls added here or there wind their way through the model, visiting various famous sites along the way.
Where: Gallery 2: Tinkering
Saltscapes
The South San Francisco Bay salt evaporation ponds take on a variety of colors due to halophilic organisms that adapt to various salinities. Photographer Cris Benton captures this vibrant landscape in a series of aerial photos taken from homemade kite-cameras flown over the ponds.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Scrapple
Scrapple is an audiovisual installation in which everyday objects placed on a table are interpreted as sound-producing marks in an "active score."
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Self-Centered Mirror
It’s all you, and only you, in this mirror.
Self-Excluding Mirror
In this mirror, you’re nowhere to be seen.
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