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Exhibits

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Arts

A Pendulum Clock
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
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

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:   Bechtel Gallery 3, Wattis Studio

Albert
Albert

A mechanical object may seem alive if it responds to you.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Anti-Gravity Mirror
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:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Archimedes
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

As One invites two participants to partner, and take turns in the roles of leader or follower as they mirror one another’s movements.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Aurora
Aurora

A reflector stretches light from colored tiles into long bright ribbons.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Bay Lexicon
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
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
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:   Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Buckyball
Buckyball

Comprised of 4,500 LED nodes arranged along a series of pentagons and hexagons, Leo Villareal's Buckyball is animated by custom software programmed by the artist to display over 16 million distinct colors.

Where:   Plaza

Chaotic Pendulum
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
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
Christmas Tree Balls

There are captivating reflections in a box of ornaments.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Cloud Rings
Cloud Rings

Launch a ring of fog.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Confused Sea
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:   Gallery 4: Living Systems

Cubatron Core
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
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
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

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)
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.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Fluttering
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:   Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Fluvial Storm
Fluvial Storm

Swirling water sculpts elaborate patterns of underwater dunes.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Fog Bridge #72494
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
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
Harmonograms

Ivan Moscovich created these harmonograms with a twin-pendulum Harmonograph. The spirals, ellipses, and figure eights are graphical records of the swinging pendulums.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Icy Bodies
Icy Bodies

Like comets, these chunks of dry ice slowly disintegrate as they move, leaving a visible trail of condensed water vapor.

Where:   Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Jacques Cousteau in Seashells
Jacques Cousteau in Seashells

There’s more to seeing than meets the eye.

Where:   Ray and Dagmar Dolby Atrium

Lab Illustrations
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
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

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
Listening Vessels

Enormous parabolic sculptures transmit a conversation—or even a whisper—from one person to another across a great distance.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Lumen-Illusion
Lumen-Illusion

Flashing lights create the illusion of motion.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Machine with Concrete
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:   Crossroads: Getting Started

Moving Objects
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
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

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
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:   Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Pentaphone
Pentaphone

Combine beats and melodies in a musical conversation.

Where:   This exhibit is not currently on view.

Perspective Drawing Window
Perspective Drawing Window

Tracing on the glass produces precise perspective.

Where:   Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits

Pinscreen
Pinscreen

Create ghostly images with the touch of a hand.

Where:   Crossroads: Getting Started

Probably Chelsea
Probably Chelsea

Twenty different sculptural portraits, all based on the same person's DNA information. 

Where:   Gallery 4: Living Systems

Recollections
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.

Where:   Osher Gallery 1: Human Phenomenon

Rift Zone
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:   Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6, Mezzanine

Rolling Through the Bay
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
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

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
Self-Centered Mirror

It’s all you, and only you, in this mirror.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

Self-Excluding Mirror
Self-Excluding Mirror

In this mirror, you’re nowhere to be seen.

Where:   Bechtel Gallery 3: Seeing & Reflections

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