The recently opened Glasgow Science Centre in Glasgow Scotland is a premiere science museum with three floors of exhibition space including hundreds of interactive exhibits. Mystus became an integral part of the Toronto team that designed, fabricated and installed all the exhibits on the second floor of the museum. Working with The Taylor Group (lead fabricator and project coordinator) and Krause & Johnson (design), Mystus contributed to an outstanding addition to Glasgow’s burgeoning cultural sector.
Mystus was contracted to provide the development and fabrication of five multimedia interactives and one mechanical interactive. The Mystus exhibits were focussed on communications and digital technologies. ‘Electronic Easel’ was a particularly rewarding challenge. Two visitors work collaboratively on two computers to create a digital painting. Besides the paint program interface for each computer, a communications protocol between the two computes was required for the real time collaboration. ‘Pixels’ explored the similarity between digital imaging and other forms, concentrating on the concept of resolution. ‘Bandwidth’ and ‘Multiplexing’ were didactic interactives explaining the essential aspects of modern communication technology using captivating 3D animation techniques. ‘Analog vs Digital’ explores the differences between analog and digital audio with and amusing and informative interactive where the visitor can play audio clips backwards, forwards, at different speeds and with different effects.
It was particularly interesting how a woman’s voice could be altered to sound like a man or a child. The mechanical exhibit, ‘Fibre Optics’ had two components. One components showed the difference in signal loss over 1 Km of coax vs optical cable. The other mechanical was an ‘aha’ experience showing how light beams bounce down a fibre optic conduit. All exhibits have been running without a hitch since opening. A practical challenge of these exhibits was developing them here for the local 220 volt power source in Scotland.
Timeframe: Oct 2000 – June 2001
Skills: Programming, graphics, prototyping, fabrication,
Date: September, 2003
Skills: Photography, Photo editing, QuickTime VR production