[accessibleimage] Re: Tactile Dome Exploratorium San Francisco

I took my family through the Tactile Dome about three years ago. To the 
best of my knowledge, it's a permanent exhibit. We had to schedule 
tickets a couple weeks in advance because it's VERY popular!

Barry



L. M. Miller wrote:

>So, what happened to it?
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>Lori
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>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Lisa Yayla" <lisa.yayla@xxxxxxxxxx>
>To: <accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 7:29 AM
>Subject: [accessibleimage] Tactile Dome Exploratorium San Francisco
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>>Hi,
>>Article (1971) about the Tactile Done at the Exploratorium in San
>>Francisco.
>>Regards,
>>Lisa
>>http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/tactile_dome/index.html
>>
>>Original 1971 press release
>>An internal sculpture exhibit which people will feel but never see goes on
>>exhibit September 9, 1971 at the Exploratorium in San Francisco's Palace
>>of Fine Arts.
>>Tactile Dome on the museum floor
>>The exhibit, called the Tactile Dome, is encased in a geodesic dome about
>>the size of a large weather balloon. Visitors enter through a light-lock
>>room into a totally dark maze (path). Then, for an hour and fifteen
>>minutes, they feel, bump, slide and crawl through and past hundreds of
>>materials and shapes which blend, change and contrast.
>>The purpose is to disorient the sensory world so that the only sense the
>>visitor can rely on is touch. The sensation is so outside ordinary
>>experience that a few people panic. An attendant in a control panel can
>>reach every part of the ant-hill like maze almost instantly.
>>Pre-opening visitors have compared the experience to being born again,
>>turning yourself inside out head first, being swallowed by a whale, and
>>inevitably, being enfolded in a giant womb.
>>Seemingly the tactile equivalent of a light show, the tour is actually a
>>carefully planned and structured succession of shapes, temperatures and
>>textures which require the full range of the touch sense to perceive.
>>The idea is to make people aware of what a complex. sensitive and under
>>used sense touch is, and to train them to use the astonishing range of its
>>perceptions, which include detection of pressure, pain, temperature and
>>kinesthesia, as well as cutaneous, internal body and muscle awareness.
>>Tactile Dome on the museum floor
>>Dr. August F. Coppola, whose brainchild the exhibit is, became interested
>>in perceptual prejudice while directing interdisciplinary studies as head
>>of California State College's Honors Program. He gradually came to realize
>>that philosophy, physics and even psychology have always relied
>>overwhelmingly on visual evidence to interpret the world.
>>"Yet the irony is that touch is still the test of reality," said Coppola.
>>It's the tangible, the concrete, what you can put your finger on when your
>>feet are on the ground.
>>Coppola believes people are actually prejudiced against the touch sense.
>>"It's development gets off to a bad start," he said, "for as soon as we've
>>stopped chewing our toes, the first commandment in life is given: "Don't
>>touch". The Exploratorium is one of the few museums in the world where
>>visitors are encouraged to touch and even manipulate the exhibits."
>>One result of the touch taboo, Coppola believes, is that people become
>>leery of physical contact with each other and the environment and that
>>this leads to a sense of isolation and loneliness.
>>As evidence of our overly-visual values, Coppola points to the
>>overemphasis on fashionable clothes and the benefits of tourism. "This
>>route leads to passive, non-participatory activities like TV watching" he
>>said.
>>Coppola and Carl Day, co-developer of the Tactile Dome, and gallery
>>director at California State College in Long Beach, are leaders in an art
>>revolution which uses people as participants in art experience rather than
>>as targets at which to hurl artistic messages. They believe the
>>revolution, if successful, will greatly affect not only art, advertising
>>and industrial design but even life styles and basic beliefs.
>>Both claim that improving your haptic powers also increases your visual
>>skills.
>>
>>
>>Lisa Yayla
>>Huseby Kompetansesenter
>>Oslo Norway
>>lisa.yayla@xxxxxxxxxx
>>
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