The Exploratorium: The Museum as Laboratory

By Hilde S. Hein

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874743699
• ISBN13: 9780874743692
• Release Date: May 1990
• Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Tale of an Historic, Interactive and Artfully Designed Museum in San Francisco

From back cover: "Since its opening in 1969 the Exploratorium in San Francisco has had a profound impact on the way people experience - and create - museums. Focusing on natural phenomena that exist worldwide, the Exploratorium contains over 600 innovative exhibits meant to be touched and manipulated, not just admired. In '"The Exploratorium: The Museum as Laboratory," Hilde Hein gathers together ten years of research and observation to tell the complete story of how this institution pioneered the participatory museum philosophy. She begins with its charismatic and controversial founder, Frank Oppenheimer (brother and colleague of Robert Oppenheimer (brother and colleague of Robert Oppenheimer, but also at the many other skilled and dedicated people who worked toward the Exploratorium's creation. She describes how the museum's exhibits and programs south to create public awareness of science. Hein also explains how exhibits are designed and modifed, paying particular attention to the role of art in the presentation of science. For museum-goers and museum-makers alike, [this book] provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes history of the birth and growth of an idea and a museum."