Your Father's Nose
This exhibit involved two people sitting down facing each other across a table with a series of mirrors separating the two of them. The two participants have to adjust their position till they see a composite image of their own face and their partners. The exhibit is trying to illustrate the fact that genes for specific features are expressed discretely and not as a blend. The very nature of the exhibit is interactive as you need a partner for it to function. I noticed a lot of laughing and communication in general. The exhibit really seemed like it was bringing people closer together and I think that is really cool! The reason I think this exhibit did not work as well is because of the variation in heights between people sitting on the wooden chairs. I did it with Dan who is considerably taller than me and it was a struggle to get our faces on the same level. Similarly, I observed a young boy try to do it with his dad and was left frustrated because his father was just too tall for it to work. This exhibit has a lot going right for it, and a suggestion to make it work would just be some chairs that can be adjusted to raise and lower the participants to the same level.
Giant Mirror
My favourite exhibit like a lot of others is the giant concave mirror. It is such a simple yet magnificent object that creates a very memorable interaction. I found myself losing track of time playing in front of it. I was also captivated by seeing other's reactions to the exhibit. People had these huge cheesy grins while making faces at themselves and I thought that was just fantastic. The mirror had some great ideas to invite others into your experience like trying to high five or spiderman kiss each other. Another thing that I found fascinating was that even though everyone is looking at the same thing, they are seeing very different images based on where they are standing. I really enjoyed playing with the focal length jumping between being upside down and upright.
This exhibit involved two people sitting down facing each other across a table with a series of mirrors separating the two of them. The two participants have to adjust their position till they see a composite image of their own face and their partners. The exhibit is trying to illustrate the fact that genes for specific features are expressed discretely and not as a blend. The very nature of the exhibit is interactive as you need a partner for it to function. I noticed a lot of laughing and communication in general. The exhibit really seemed like it was bringing people closer together and I think that is really cool! The reason I think this exhibit did not work as well is because of the variation in heights between people sitting on the wooden chairs. I did it with Dan who is considerably taller than me and it was a struggle to get our faces on the same level. Similarly, I observed a young boy try to do it with his dad and was left frustrated because his father was just too tall for it to work. This exhibit has a lot going right for it, and a suggestion to make it work would just be some chairs that can be adjusted to raise and lower the participants to the same level.
"I see my eyes and your mouth"
Giant Mirror
My favourite exhibit like a lot of others is the giant concave mirror. It is such a simple yet magnificent object that creates a very memorable interaction. I found myself losing track of time playing in front of it. I was also captivated by seeing other's reactions to the exhibit. People had these huge cheesy grins while making faces at themselves and I thought that was just fantastic. The mirror had some great ideas to invite others into your experience like trying to high five or spiderman kiss each other. Another thing that I found fascinating was that even though everyone is looking at the same thing, they are seeing very different images based on where they are standing. I really enjoyed playing with the focal length jumping between being upside down and upright.
Two people trying to spiderman kiss. What I imagine Dan is seeing when he's looking at them
I did appreciate 'my father's nose' but I agree fully with the height comment. I had this complaint about some of the other exhibits as well. I think something that could remove some frustration would be a way to align faces once at the beginning and them move the mirrors up and down, rather than coordinating between the participants to move up and down in sync.
ReplyDeleteThe two people in the mirror weren't really getting the effect very well. I think they would need to stand next to each other facing the side rather than facing the mirror. so that one of them is inside the focal point and the other outside. I tried to get a picture for them, but it wasn't quite working. The picture you posted here looks better than what I could see from my vantage
The father's nose exhibit was definitely bonding for a lot of people. It was a fun one to watch from a distance as people experimented with the angles. I am, however, a little confused about the lesson behind the exhibit and how it's teaching people about genes. Maybe this is just a conversation starter for people to get into inherited features, but I saw a disconnect between the exhibit and a lesson about genes.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the giant mirror was captivating, but I felt like it lacked a lesson and failed to spark a curiosity about mirror properties reaching beyond the moments a person spent in front of it. I also felt like there was a big competition for space in front of the mirror which detracted from the experience. Maybe having several slightly smaller mirrors could help.
I have always found Your Father's Nose (the exhibit) to be fascinating. As you mentioned, there's a lot of of incredible interaction that goes on between the two users, and I know when I did it I was fascinated by how many different faces could be made with two peoples faces. Also, the fact that your brain puts together the image of a full face and almost personality form disjointed strips of two faces is incredible and something that I think the exhibit could explore more. On top of that the fact that such a simply made exhibit could take advantage of that.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I definitely see what you mean by who having differing heights can be frustrating and hard to get right. The idea of an adjustable chair especially a power adjusting one would probably make it a lot easier. Also maybe if there was a way to adjust the angle of the angle of the mirrors so that you could look up or down at someone through the exhibit. While I think it could be tempting to use technology to combine two face, I feel that one of the huge advantages this exhibit has is that it allows you to see exactly what features you are combining with another person's to form a face.