OliOli Residency Week Three

In the last week of my artist residence at Oli Oli Children’s Museum in Dubai I worked to complete a set of light play elements, screens and a collection of materials, led a professional development workshop for local teachers, and continued to test out a few new prototypes and experiments.

With materials collected ahead of time by the team at Oli Oli and parts that we created onsite, I was able to construct a set of Tinkering Studio style light play super bright LEDs and slow moving motors. As well I cut out cardboard boxes and big rectangles of HDPE to make screens for the activity.

We darkened one of the classrooms at the museum and tested out the ways that the materials cast shadows on the wall. I laser cut some sheets of dichroic plastic to make some interesting reflections that shifted color depending on the angle of the light.

Usually in the light play workshop, we set up initial exploration stations around the room so that participants can work with small groups to investigate different aspects of phenomena. For this workshop we decided to arrange the tables each with a specific material with the teams focusing on mylar, RGB light, and the dichroic acrylic.

The group of teachers worked in a really playful and thoughtful manner in pairs to design their own stories using light. It was really fun to see the wide variety of materials and experiments that they tried in a short period of time.

Light play isn’t usually the first activity or the only activity we do in a tinkering workshop because it’s a little bit more focused on the artistic elements (which can be a little intimidating for beginners), but I was impressed by the spirit of the participants to dive into this new experience.

The finished light play installation way really beautiful and each of the group expressed their own ideas about a narrative or material exploration as they shared their creation.

We didn’t have much time for a final reflection but we spent a bit of time connecting the experience to possible classroom projects for the teachers. Oli Oli is hoping to host more experimental workshops to support teachers to engage in play, exploration and learning activities.

Although I spent the last couple days in Dubai putting the finishing touches on the musical bench, wrapping up doumentation work and planning next steps with the team, we also had a little bit of time for some weird experiments. When I went to the dragon mart with Reid I got a little electro-mechanical fish toy and noticed a really cool gearbox for a hobby motor that powered the contraption.

So of course we had to go back and get twelve more toys so that I could dissect the fish and harvest the parts. I added alligator clips and experimented with making a simple little creature powered by an AA battery.

I also did a little material exploration with a thick sturdy cardboard that the creative lab team at Oli Oli have been using to create structural environmental elements. I used a few scrap pieces to make a bunch of cardboard hubs for DAGU motor which hopefully will add to my traveling set of tinkering materials.

The three weeks at Oli Oli really flew by! It was so much fun working with the team, developing a new version of the musical bench exhibit, working with local educators and trying out a bunch of experiments in the creative lab. Although this children’s museum is only two years old, they have already done so much amazing work creating playful environments, educational activities and meaningful collaborations. I’m already looking forward to the next chance to connect!