Steve Gennrich: Exhibits
Project Director
Steve grew up building skateboard ramps, doodling imaginary landscapes, and challenging teachers with unconventional homework. He earned a BS in mechanical engineering from UW Madison, where he also studied art and printmaking. After a stint working on autos and aerospace materials, he came to the Exploratorium in 1999. Here, he has designed and fabricated exhibits and managed projects that placed science exhibits in institutions around the world. Steve helped establish the Exploratorium’s Science of Skateboarding program and has continued to develop this topic in a series of exhibits and programs. On sabbatical in 2005–06, he worked at Pèndulum leading exhibit development and design for Jardi de les Percepcions, an outdoor exhibit area in Spain. On return to the Exploratorium, he managed a National Science Foundation project to build and study 20 outdoor exhibits at San Francisco’s Fort Mason. He enjoyed this effort so much that he has worked since for the Studio for Public Spaces, leading teams creating social learning environments in public spaces. He especially appreciates the potential of site-specific exhibits to reach a diverse group of people and ignite their interest in the world around them.
The center dot at this exhibit is pure yellow light. It’s surrounded by a ring of 11 dots of varying colors, created by mixing different proportions of red and green light. (Surprise: Red and green light mixed together appear yellow to our eyes.)
Exactly which of the red/green dots seems to best match the yellow dot varies from person to person. Thanks to variations in the pigments of our retinas, people perceive color differently. One person will see a match between colors that another person thinks are very different.
Debuted at the Exploratorium’s reopening in April 2013, Nakaya’s fog installation stretches across the 150-foot-long pedestrian bridge that spans the water between Piers 15 and 17.
Water pumped at high pressure through more than 800 nozzles lining the bridge creates an immersive environment that shrouds all in its midst in mist.
To help conserve water, Fog Bridge was temporarily deactivated in 2014 in response to California's multi-year drought. After being reconfigured to run on desalinated water from the Bay, it now once again bathes the bridge in periodic fog.
Related Exhibits
The center dot at this exhibit is pure yellow light. It’s surrounded by a ring of 11 dots of varying colors, created by mixing different proportions of red and green light. (Surprise: Red and green light mixed together appear yellow to our eyes.)
Exactly which of the red/green dots seems to best match the yellow dot varies from person to person. Thanks to variations in the pigments of our retinas, people perceive color differently. One person will see a match between colors that another person thinks are very different.
Debuted at the Exploratorium’s reopening in April 2013, Nakaya’s fog installation stretches across the 150-foot-long pedestrian bridge that spans the water between Piers 15 and 17.
Water pumped at high pressure through more than 800 nozzles lining the bridge creates an immersive environment that shrouds all in its midst in mist.
To help conserve water, Fog Bridge was temporarily deactivated in 2014 in response to California's multi-year drought. After being reconfigured to run on desalinated water from the Bay, it now once again bathes the bridge in periodic fog.
Related Exhibits