Cabinets of Wonder: NY Hall of Science, Children’s Museum of the Arts
New York Hall of Science
As the 7 train pulled into the 111th street station in Queens, I could see space rockets in the distance. Even though the NY Hall of Science is relatively deep into Queens, it’s distinctly easy to spot from the train station. If you lose sight of the tops of the rocket ships, you just walk towards the large NY Hall of Science sign (also visible from the street level of the train station) that points you in the right direction.
The first exhibit I encountered was this interactive kiosk set up in a hallway. It had miniature metal versions of the rockets outside. Moving along, I found the bathrooms – which were clearly marked and in between the entrance and main exhibitions.
Before I could go any further – I heard the sound of children. It was loud and sounded like they were playing. Even though the word “children” is not in the museum title, it definitely felt like a place for kids. It is also the first museum I go to this year that has a “Pre-school Place”, an enclosed area for the little little ones.
As I made my way through the Connections exhibit, I saw three children (who all looked around 9 or 10 years of age), laughing hysterically and jumping around one particular exhibit. I also heard what sounded like a phone call being made over some speakers. They were at a networked arm wrestling exhibit. It had 2 stations and they were at one. I went to the other station and they asked if they could arm wrestle me. One girl immediately went to the screen to start the game. She informed me that you could arm wrestle people in other places and that they had been doing just that this whole time, but you could also wrestle someone in the other station (in this case me). So that was what the phone ringing was doing – calling other players in other cities. I had a lot of fun and won the 2 times they challenged me. I used both arms only after I realized all three of them were using both arms too (that’s 6 arms!).
I really appreciated that many of the exhibits posted the names of the artists who designed them. It made me realize that even though it is a science museum, they still had art (though a different kind of art from most museums) on display. I also appreciated that there were people who worked at the museum that would come up to me and show or tell me about an exhibit when I seemed to be curious or unsure of how something worked. This was true in the Connections exhibit as well as in the rotunda area where I encountered a refrigerator with a video display and some molding food inside.
For all the wonder, technology and interaction the museum managed, what impressed me the least was their black and white photocopied map that was given to me at admissions. It’s almost as if they figured you didn’t really need one and could manage your way around or find someone to better help you. I also found the website considerably lacking. The section labeled “Explore” was really just nested paragraphs and bullet points and hardly even any photos. The photos that were on the site were of children engaged in different activities. This further emphasized that this museum is for kids. However, I feel like it doesn’t have to be, nor does the entire museum feel that way. The NY Hall of Science has plenty of exhibits that I feel are just as interesting and compelling to adults as they are to children and the website to me does not convey this at all. While I understand that their museum attendees are largely children, I don’t see why they cannot represent themselves as a museum for all ages.
Children’s Museum of the Arts
