Sunday, November 07, 2004
Artists prepare works for opening of the expanded Children’s Museum [Pittsburgh, PA]
Standing outside of the Old Post Office Building on the North Side—home of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh for the past 21 years—Pittsburgh sculptor Keny Marshall’s eyes widen with excitement as he describes his latest piece, “Allegheny Waterworks.”
“It’s a fountain, but the kids will control all of the flow by turning the water on and off with a big wheel,” Marshall says. His interactive work consists of a massive polypropylene water tank out of which dozens of pipes lead to stacks of architectural artifacts from Pittsburgh’s past.
[snip]
“We’ve spent the last three years designing exhibits for this,” Marshall says, referring to himself and the 20 or so artists who have been collaborating on exhibits for the newly expanded museum. The project dedicated $500,000 to the creation of interactive artwork.
Exhibits include:
* A giant inflatable brontosaurus made from vinyl ice cream signs by Pittsburgh artist Tim Kaulen.
* An interactive video work called “Text Rain” by New York artists Camille Utterback and Romy Achituv in which visitors will be able to “catch” virtual falling letters and form words.
* And a “Smelling Machine” by Hyla Willis of Pittsburgh that is designed like an old amusement park machine such as a zoetrope or palm reader, but it doles out smells instead of fortunes.
In fact, the new-three story structure built between the Old Post Office and the former Buhl Planetarium that will function as both entryway and exhibit space is in itself an artwork, being sheathed in 43,000 square polycarbonate flappers that move with the wind and look like water cascading down the building. Titled “Articulated Cloud,” it was designed by Ned Kahn of Sebastopol, Calif.