In Belfast, a Merger of Science and Art
Thalassa
IN BELFAST, A MERGER OF SCIENCE AND ART
by Brian Lavery
The sprawling Odyssey Center complex in Belfast's docklands made
headlines last year for two reasons. First, its arena housed the city's
first and only ice-hockey team, the Giants, for its phenomenally popular
opening season. And second, it wasn't the Millennium Dome. Despite the
many parallels with the ill-fated London project, people so far have
actually enjoyed going to the Odyssey Center.
Now that the hockey season is over, the Odyssey has another attraction,
a permanent 140,000-square-foot science museum called W5:
Whowhatwherewhenwhy, which opened March 31. The interior was
designed by a Florida-based company called Hands On!, but is not simply
"another imported American science center," according to its director,
Dr. Sally Montgomery.
With the goal of creating an oasis of peace for the citizens of Belfast,
Hands On! took an approach that straddled the line between science
exhibit and installation art. The concept started with the museum
building itself, a broad metal and glass structure designed by Consarc,
of Belfast, that juts out over the city's waterfront.
Inside one of the museum's theme zones, visitors pass through four
arches, each nearly 10 feet high, variously decorated with flashing
lights, glass and stainless steel cabling, and an abstract video display
by the Los Angeles artist Jennifer Steinkamp. Permanent exhibits include
lie detectors and illustrations of kinetics with flying tennis balls.
But the museum also includes unexpected oddities, like "The Tomb of
Homunculus Hibernicus" by the Irish sculptor John Kindness, a kind of
cabinet of wonders assembled with bones, wood and cloth.
The museum, at 2 Queen's Quay, Belfast BT3 9QQ, Northern Ireland,
(44-28) 9046-7700, www.w5online.co.uk, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday through Friday, and noon to 6 Saturday and Sunday, with last
admission at 5. General admission $7.30, at $1.46 to the pound.
Thalassa
..............
I tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle, danger,
we pluck this flower, safety.