Illuminate: How Science Comes to Light

Image: Museums Victoria, Illuminate: How Science Comes to Light.

Illuminate is a brand new exhibition exploring the science behind the fastest traveller in the universe – light.

Ignite the senses and learn through hands-on interactive play. What is light, what can we do with it and how do we see?

In this vibrant festival-themed exhibition you will explore visual perception and illumination through colour, sound and action.

Expect to explore visual perception and illumination through colour, sound, and action. Learn how light behaves, where it comes from, how it reflects and refracts, and what tools we’ve invented to understand it.

Compose a luminous symphony and mix light to create a field of colour. Manipulate mirrors and encounter surprising views of yourself as you navigate through a series of warped reflections. And dance to the drumming beats of the invisible laser sensor chamber.

Bend light, blend colour, dance with shadows, and transform reflections. With an array of open-ended interactive exhibits, magnify, mix, animate, draw, design, and compose – all with light!

The exhibition is divided into six zones, including:

• The Refractory: Use tools that bend light to make things appear bigger or closer so that we can see things better.

• Sensor Sonic: Dance through sensors to make percussive beats, spin dials to program music with colour and scan barcodes to create your own soundscape.

• Wonder Vision: Disappear behind an invisibility shield and find out how our eyes see by playing with a simple camera that turns everything upside down.

• Chroma Zone: Mix assorted colours by adding or removing parts of the visible light spectrum.

• Light & Shade: Light travels in a straight line and when it is blocked, a shadow is cast. Grab your friends and family, get up on stage and dance with shadows.

• Mirror Mirror: Create patterns of colour with a giant kaleidoscope and experiment with your appearance using a mix of image-morphing mirrors.