Exhibit urges everyone to 'Take Another Look'

Eight-year-old Dominic Valdes eagerly approached the mysterious contraption, climbed the stepladder, fit his head into what looked like a red suction cup and stood still.

An orbiting camera whizzed steadily around his head as the computerized voices counted down from 10.

Within seconds, a 360-degree photo of his head taken in 24 images was splayed flat on a computer screen in front of him.

"That's cool," Dominic said as he jumped off the ladder and headed for the next nearest exhibit, a model train set.

It's all about perspective at the new "Take Another Look" exhibit at the Lied Discovery Children's Museum.

On tour from the San Jose Children's Museum, the exhibit uses technological mediums such as cameras, videos and magnifying glasses to see everyday objects from different perspectives.

The exhibit, designed for ages 5 and up, opened last week and will run through April 30.

"There is always something new to learn about everyday objects if you change your viewpoint," Emily Newberry, spokeswoman for the Lied Discovery Children's Museum, said.

A tiny camera, mounted in the engine of a model train, lets one see the view from the train as it chugs along the plastic tracks, through the tunnels and past the trees. The children flopping alongside the tracks appear large than life.

A camera in the caboose looks down through a magnifying lens at tracks lined with postage stamps and rare coins.

"At one age, they'll chase the train, at another age, they'll want to be the driver," Ginger Easely, an exhibit assistant, said. "It entertains everybody."

Even adults were crowding around the larger mock engine, hoping for a chance to operate the train.

Changing your viewpoint is what the exhibit is all about, Newberry said. "Learning by looking more closely at the simplest of things can have a lasting creative spurring effect."

Thea Rose Frizzell, 6, explored the knuckle peaks and finger canyons of her hands at the hand topography exhibit. It didn't take long before she was inserting her leg into the video box to view the three-dimensional silhouette of her foot and ankle.

"The topographical exhibit ties in with the flat map to give an idea of how map makers work," Newberry said.

To see the gallery from a different perspective, a video camera mounted on a 10-foot tower lets children pan around the room using zooming and tilting controls.

Children wrapped themselves over lighted cubical tables covered with aerial pictures of San Jose.

Taken at levels of 160 feet to 100,000 feet, the photos capture moments during a sunny San Jose afternoon, when people scurrying along with their day appear to be the size of ants. Magnifying glasses offer a closer look.

"They get real creative with this one," Easley said about the Las Vegas children who were "finding their homes in San Jose."

Thea, who was impressed with the aerial shots, favored the pinwheel above all else. "Because it's cool," she said.

The pinwheel, mounted on a tower in the center of the room, spins continuously, looking like no more than a yellow windmill.

Near the entrance of the room, another wheel with tiny slats spins in the opposite direction to show the colors of the pinwheel.

"That's the way they made old-fashioned movies," Candy Peterson, an exhibit assistant, said.

Pointing out the origins of inventions are part of the exhibit.

An interactive CD-Rom station of David Macaulay's "The Way Things Work" invites students to see how inventions, new and old, came to be, Newberry said.

"There is a strong creative component in seeing things differently," she said. "It also enhances everyday life."

To see the active forces of nature, a "Take a Look at Growing" time-lapse display records the growth of vegetation at different intervals, then speeds up the pace on a computer screen.

For example, "The Life and Death Story of a Handful of Beans," a narrated, heart-wrenching drama, portrays the life of bean plants at the mercy of their experimental gardener.

Pictures of the growth process are taken at 10-minute intervals. A bird's-eye view shows newly planted seedlings poking up through the ground and growing rapidly into a vibrant green forest.

Because of the time lapse, the plants appear to be dancing to the digital psychedelic background music, which enhances the flurry of activity.

After 10 days, watering ceases. A drone is added to the dying rhythm as the plants move slower, wilting downward to their death, until all movement is stilled.

Poppies growing, candles melting backward, the ripening of a banana and red rust moving across a piece of iron are other time-lapse examples. A plant in an adjacent greenhouse is part of the display of time-lapse in process.

"Microcosm: View of Microscopic Forms" is an exhibit that takes you on a journey of worlds within worlds and points out the similar patterns found everywhere in nature.

"Whether it's galaxies or the tiniest objects, nature repeats itself over and over again," Newberry said.

What appear to be landscapes, sugar doughnuts or dated wallpaper are actually intricate details of plant forms, body mites, human red blood cells and more. What looks like a close view of living room carpet is actually an Achilles tendon.

"By looking at something more closely," Newberry said, "you can always learn something new."

archive