Museum Exhibit 1
This is an exhibit from Mill City, it is a giant 3d block puzzle of the state of Minnesota. We had fun making the puzzle, but found it a bit one dimensional (ha!). We enjoyed manipulating the giant blocks and figuring out the puzzle (although there was a picture of the completed puzzle right in front of us). We had a picture of the puzzle to guide us and while I do enjoy looking at maps, I did not find this one that interesting nor did I feel I gained any new or fun information while doing it. I take that back, we did learn from one of the museum attendants that a group of children had started it before us and gave up after a minute. This definitely did not have prolonged active engagement for those children. There was only one puzzle to work with and its not an exhibit that can be easily reset.
Do you think the kids gave up our of boredom or frustration? Was there something more tantalizing within their line of vision that pulled them away? I've been thinking about how exhibit designers might have to consider "proximity" when they're doing a final installation. I know in those special exhibits (Body Worlds, The Titantic) visitors were always turning corners to see what was next, and now I'm realizing that keeping parts of an exhibit contained, might help with focus and prolonged engagement. It's human nature to always be looking forward at what's ahead, right?
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