Monsters reveal the science behind fantasy
Science Center exhibit showcases magic behind movies
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| Shawn Clubb photo/ The inner workings of a creature stands out next to the fully covered versions in the background at the Monsters exhibit at the Saint Louis Science Center. |
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But while imaginary monsters might keep kids from falling to sleep at night, these real monsters might make their imaginations work in a different way.
The traveling exhibit, Monsters! The Art and Technology of Animatronics, made its U.S. debut on May 3 at the science center to an opening day crowd of 400 people.Monsters showcases the work of John Cox and his team, which has created creatures for the movies "Peter Pan," "George of the Jungle 2" and "Nim's Island."
The exhibit lets people work the tail of the crocodile from "Peter Pan," move an animatronic dinosaur and sculpt the skin of another dinosaur out of clay.
"The whole exhibit is pretty much hands-on," said Pili Dressel, associate director of special and traveling exhibits for the science center.
While people can view alien creatures from "Pitch Black," werewolves, an abominable snowman, a polar bear, sea lions and sea turtles. But the real attraction for many young visitors might well be the four different play areas with Crayons, clay, markers and gadgets.
"It's about creativity. It's about imagination. It's about animatronic science," Dressel said.
The exhibit will be in the science center's Exploradome through Sept. 1. Admission is $8 for adults and $7 for children.
However, the science center also is developing a demonstration on animatronics for the center's emerging technology gallery, Cyberville.
Paul Freiling, FIRST robotics coordinator at the center, said the demonstration will show children how an animatronic arm is similar to their own arms and how it is different. It also would address the benefits of using an animatronic arm in the movies instead of just using a real arm.
The demonstration will explore the means by which animatronic devices move including the gears and wheels, but also the brain of the robot. He plans to incorporate the use of robots in medicine and industry in the demonstration.
Freiling waited for the Monsters exhibit to open to get ideas for the demonstration. He spent part of a day playing with the equipment. He said the allure of the exhibit is not the scary monsters.
"It's more about the magic behind the movies," he said.
