Based on You Can with Beakman and Jax, the internationally syndicated Sunday cartoon strip that helps kids (and adults) understand how the world works through easy-to-do experiments, this exhibit brings science to life. A special Tinkerers' Space within the exhibition is designed for children and their families to rig up their own Beakman and Jax experiments. See below for special weekend family activities offered in conjunction with this exhibition.
KQED's Living Room Festival is a 13-week series of programs featuring work by independent filmmakers and curated by Bay Area media organizations. Tune in for the Exploratorium's presentation of The Science of the Surreal, a 90-minute program of short works by independent filmmakers who bring a sense of the fantastic to the realm of scientific observation. The intersection of art and science is the point of departure for experiments of a whimsical, irreverent, and even macabre nature. In our laboratory, you will find blood-sucking Brazilian bats, festering molds and fungi, smoking skeletons, stories woven in chicken wire, a human beehive, and staged chemical meltings. Your normal frame of reference will be literally turned upside down! Works include Immersion by Mark Thompson, Wirework by Michael Rudnick, Footprints by Bill Morrison, The Vampire by Jean Painleve, The Way Things Go by David Fischli and Peter Weiss, Babobilicons by Daina Krumins, Sanctus by Barbara Hammer, Mood Contrasts by Mary Ellen Bute, Frames of Reference by Richard Leacock, Marey/Bull Document by Etienne-Jules Marey and Lucien Bull, and more.
"Dear Jax, Why and how do people make toys?" - Tolulope Omokalye, Chicago, Illinois.
To answer that question, we devote a weekend to making a toy on a giant scale, and, at the same time, learn something about structure and scale. Come build a 20-foot skyscraper and a giant pyramid out of newspaper under the skylight beginning at 11am. Then join us for staff-led exhibit tours at 12 noon and 2:30pm that showcase the Exploratorium itself as a giant structure and scale exhibit. The unique nature of the building - exposed beams and all - can show you everything you've always wanted to know about cross braces, buttresses, and cantilevers and will teach you just exactly what's holding the building up. Going Up, a film about skyscrapers, will be shown in the McBean Theater at 2pm.
"Dear Jax, Why do bubbles pop?" - Kyle Oholendt, San Antonio, Texas.
At 12 noon and 2:30pm on Saturday and Sunday, Exploratorium staff will lead the public on bubble tours of the museum, making bubbles all along the way. Under the skylight, beginning at 11am and continuing throughout the day, bubble activities will include bubble print-making and geometric bubble shapes. On Saturday only, beginning at 2pm in the McBean Theater, the Exploratorium's Film Program showcases its exclusive collection of bubble films - some not seen since our last Bubble Festival - including Zea and Spheres. And on Sunday only, the Amazing Bubble Man, Louis Pearl, will conduct his bubble performances in the McBean Theater at 12 noon, 1pm, and 2:30pm. Pearl blows giant bubbles, spaceship bubbles, centipede bubbles, trampoline bubbles, mama and baby bubbles, and more. Find Louis Pearl in the Exploratorium store following his performances to hear him explain how his bubble paraphernalia and toys work.
"Dear Jax, What's the difference between rock 'n' roll and music?" - Steve Friendly, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
If you want to know more, come work with Steve Dye, kooky bagpipe maker, to make instruments and create sounds you never thought you'd hear. Activities begin at 11am on the museum floor. A performance by Zeke Nealy - ritual drummer, folk musician, and performer par excellence - takes place in the McBean Theater at 1pm. The truth behind Hollywood sound effects: Trackstars, a wonderful and funny film about foley artists (artists who create sound effects) in action plays at 2:30pm in the McBean Theater. And don't miss the staff-led sound exhibit tours at 12 noon and 2pm.
The Awards Dinner is the Exploratorium's premier fund-raising event of the season. Join us as we recognize Gordon Moore, Chairman and co-founder of Intel Corporation, who we are honoring with the Exploratorium's Director's Award for his outstanding contributions to science and technology. We present the Award for the Public Understanding of Science to the noted biologist and science journalist David Suzuki, narrator/host of the acclaimed PBS science series The Secret of Life. Science teacher Teresa Trejio-Mejia receives the Outstanding Educator Citation, and the Exploratorium Children's Outreach Program is recognized for its work in underserved communities. Ceremonies begin at 6:30pm. Individual tickets are $275. For reservations and information, please call the Exploratorium's Awards Dinner Hot Line at (415) 561-0322.
"Dear Beakman, How can rain be acid rain?" - Carolynne Good, Stratford, Ontario.
To find out, come make cabbage tea to test for acid rain; make your own paper (Saturday & Sunday only); investigate how the changing seasons are affected by the tilt of the earth; and discover what happens when you flush the toilet. To do Science with Recyclables!, come make your own mini-exhibits using recycled materials: paper-towel-tube Pipes of Pan, potato-chip-bag kaleidoscopes, and more. Activities begin at 11am on the museum floor. Learn to make environmentally safe alternatives to toxic household products on Friday, 10am-2pm; Sat, 1-4pm. If you really want to get involved, help clean up the Palace of Fine Arts lagoon, nesting grounds for countless species of endangered birds. Meet at the North entrance to the museum at 11am. Finally, the San Francisco Home Composting Program, sponsored by the S.F. Recycling Program and San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG) will demonstrate the Earth Machine, a composting bin for fruit, vegetable, and yard trimmings, in operation through the weekend. Films including On the Edge of the Forest and Banking on Disaster screen at 2pm Saturday and Sunday in the McBean Theater.
"Dear Jax, Why and how do people make toys?" - Tolulope Omokalye, Chicago, Illinois.
Come build a 20-foot skyscraper and construct a giant pyramid out of newspaper "sticks." Activities begin under the skylight at 11am.
Rachel Rosen's compelling new short, Serious Weather (1993, 15 min.), takes us on the road with two storm chasers in search of a tornado and a desire to fully experience dramatic acts of nature. In Wild Night in El Reno (1977, 6 min.), filmmaker George Kuchar observes a thunderstorm from a favorite roadside motel where he repeatedly goes to enjoy bad weather. Filmmaker Rachel Rosen in person.
Four Saturdays in May, beginning May 8. Call Membership Services at (415) 353-0402 for more information.