The Interpreters: Technologies and Experiments at the Natural History Museum

Visions and Voices

Tuesday, February 12, 2013 : 7:00pm to 10:00pm

University Park Campus
USC School of Cinematic Arts Building
School of Cinematic Arts Gallery

Admission is free.


Experimental exhibit designers and performance artists from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles will showcase the dynamic ways they are using technology to expand interpretation and education, making natural history exciting and accessible for a new generation.

From insects to dinosaurs and gems to edible gardens, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County presents a wealth of objects and environments to the public. In addition to exhibiting displays, the museum employs a team of technologists, educators and performers to animate the objects in the museum’s collection. This process of designing narratives—the field of gallery interpretation—will be demonstrated by Natural History Museum staff, including experimental exhibit designers and performance artists. They will showcase the dynamic ways they are using technology to expand interpretation and education, including interactive multimedia displays, laser sensors and full-sized robotic dinosaurs, making natural history exciting and accessible for a new generation of audiences of all ages.

About the Presenters:

Ilana Turner is the program coordinator for the performing arts department at the Natural History Museum. In addition to her own performance creations, including her female clown duo, Duckbits, she has been an arts-integration educator for the past ten years.

Chris Weisbart is a senior media technician at the Natural History Museum. He has helped pioneer the institution’s implementation of open-source technologies to add interpretive layers to exhibits.

Liam Mooney has been an exhibit technician at the Natural History Museum since 2006. With a background in experimental noisemaking, Mooney combines sound, light and electronics to enhance visitor interactions with museum collections.

Michael Wilson is an education-technology specialist at the Natural History Museum, designing, developing and maintaining media-based experiences at the museum for the past six years. He has programmed a robotic pelican to tell the story of flight, vibrated a light pen to shake the matrix off of a hologram fossil and developed an interactive Flash-based scientific journey to 2,000 feet below sea level.

Organized by Craig Dietrich (Cinematic Arts). Co-sponsored by the Institute for Multimedia Literacy.

Photo: Tim Hale