The Power of Choice Exhibit Experience Overview

FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GRADUATE EXHIBITION DESIGN

Anahita Seyedi Judy Watek Max Loskutnikov William Brian Stanley Krause

AUDIENCE: Smells like Teen Spirit!

The target audiences are 10-16 year old teenagers. The main issue teenagers are trying to deal with is their search for an identity. The teenage years are a transition stage from childhood to adulthood. A person at this stage is no longer a child but not yet an adult. They have their feet in both worlds. They want to feel independent and self-sufficient. They want to be able to go places without their parents, do things without getting permission, and choose their own friends.

At this age, it's all about being cool. When you’re a teenager, it doesn't seem to matter where in the world you live, what your income level is, or where you go to school. You share the same feelings in common with teens all over the world. You want to be seen as smart, hip, fun and aware of trends. You want to be liked, accepted. You want to belong to a club or a group, even if it's a group that's rebelling against all other groups.

You want to fit in somewhere.

BAD? GOOD?

GOALS AND MESSAGES: Main goal of the Power of Choice Exhibit is to teach young adults and children about how their decisions to exercise power can have great consequences. Every day we make a number of decisions that can have an impact on our life. The Power of Choice Exhibit will create various scenarios that will emphasize importance of decision making process and positive or negative outcomes. Visitors will be able to learn simple concepts of "bad and good" in a playful and interactive environment and after leaving the exhibit should be able to project learned concepts onto their own everyday life situations.

THIS?

THAT?

CONCEPT FRAMEWORK: The Concept Framework is the structural formula that arranges the exhibits content. It includes Key Concepts that are varied, to create an approach with many angles to interest visitors from different backgrounds, with each Key adding a new slant to the content. This Concept Framework weaves together many Key Concepts each with several Supporting Concepts which expand the Key Concepts, adding to the Exhibition Goal and bringing a full scope of experiences to the visitor.

NO

YES TOO LATE

Key and Supporting Concepts: Superheroes Behaving Like Bad Children Big powers can lead to big mistakes and abuses Just because a display of power causes vast effects, it may be far from “good�

Power can make people feel less connected to others with different/less power Superheroes and Villains can both become role models - which should you follow?

Negative Energy vs. Positive Energy Power can be exercised in ways that are positive and negative (both in terms of the individual and their world!)

Negative and positive accomplishments can both gain attention what happens in the long term?

Growing up too Soon Physical maturity and mental ability are not always in sync Teenagers can feel that they are fully grown long before they are accepted as adults Spoiled Rich Kids Gone Bad Wealth is an important display of power Wealth (and other powers) can lead to envy Challenging Adults As children grow, their abilities can eclipse those of an adult Young adults may not realize how close their abilities are to a fully-grown adult Conflicts can occur when children begin to test their newly expanded limits Developing Impressive Talents A power that can be successfully wielded becomes a talent Talents can lead to a sense of pride and improved self-esteem Having a Big Dream A dream is a goal which a power can help to accomplish Focusing in on a dream can help to guide a life The Future of America As teens grow, their power becomes great enough to change the world in which they live After a person masters their powers, they can use them to achieve great things When people who all possess great powers work together, their powers are multiplied

CONCEPT DIAGRAM:

EXHIBIT OVERVIEW Making a decision is a great power given to each individual, but it’s not always obvious, especially for teenagers. Fortunately, their life is full of decision making situations and there are many opportunities to exercise this power. The Power of Choice exhibit is meant to help teenagers learn more and get more skills to use their power in the right direction.

The theme of the first area that visitors encounter is “Superheroes Behaving Like Bad Children.” The combination of Extreme Powers combined with Superheroes provides a caricatured version of the situation that the exhibit’s target audience is facing. The distance from reality provided by the fictional characters lets the visitors identify with the exhibit without immediately needing to accept that the exhibit is about young adults like themselves. ...Like a superhero who has been bitten by a radioactive spider, they are gaining new powers.

The exhibit is about Power and Choice, so naturally the next stop concerns a split between positive and negative uses of power. With great powers comes monumental decisions, and this section of the exhibit focuses on those choices.

Next is a large room circled with experiences that are related to how Power effects a teen’s everyday life, with Concepts of “Growing up too Soon, Spoiled Rich Kids Gone Bad, Challenging Adults, and Developing Impressive Talents. These activities explore Power in a way that will change from being about “Someone Else” or a fictional superhero, to being about the visitor themself.

Finally, the exhibit moves on to visions of the future and dreams... the areas that power can be used to make better, if the right choices are made!

Interpretive Approach The Power of Choice exhibit will be using elements of choice.

The choices made within the exhibit will allow the audience to interact with it in a way that allows the opportunity to be a hero and have a distinguished power. It is about making the right choices in the exercise of power, sharing those choices and understanding their importance in life.

Possible Exhibit Elements It is important to create a space that will engage the audience visiting the exhibit. The entry point to the exhibit focuses on “Superheroes Behaving Like Bad Children,” which gives young visitors an abstract and related way to begin their experience.

Next, the visitor experiences “Negative and Positive Energy”, where they experiences that teach that great power leads to important choices.

The center of the exhibit contains elements which tie the experience to the young visitor’s everyday life and concerns: “Growing Up Too Soon,” “Spoiled Rich Kids Gone Bad,” “Challenging Adults” and “Developing Impressive Talents.”

The end of the exhibit focuses on dreams for the future and the prizes that can be gained when power is guided with the right decisions with the elements: “Having a Big Dream” and “Future of America.”

Each of these sections will have physical and experiential activities that will engage the audience.

Possible Exhibit Elements TITLE: You vs. Adults Key Concept: Challenging Adults OBJECTIVE: Several small stations are meant to teach visitors the many ways that they are close to gaining the powers of a fully-grown adult.

They’re probably a lot closer to being an adult than they think!

DESCRIPTION: Long Jump: A long pad with a light-up feature that lets visitors see how close they can get in a jumping contest with an adult.

When they land on the path, the full length of their jump lights up, brightly displaying their jumping power. They can visually compare their power to those of an average adult.

Hand Strength: Visitors squeeze a pair of levers to compare their hand strength to an adult’s. A pair of lighted bars compare the strength of a visitor to those of an adult. This could also function as a two-player activity with a visitor in the target audience and one of their parents.

Possible Exhibit Elements TITLE: Magic power Key concept: developing impressive talents DESCRIPTION: “Magic power” is an activity related to the “Magical tricks that create the illusion of power” idea.

There are two big boxes for this activity. The first box is called “magic power”. At the box entrance, there is a magic cane that the audience is asked to take. Inside the box a magical environment is created with special lighting and sound effects.

There are 3D geometrical objects suspended from the ceiling.

When moving the cane toward a desired direction, these objects start moving toward that direction too. The walls and ceiling have the ability to move and can be moved as they are targeted by the cane.

This box`s system works with motion sensors, the technology that is used in a Wii. OBJECTIVE: Create an activity where visitors can experience a new power that feels unfamiliar and magical, and learn a message that this a power that they control with their mind instead of physical strength.

Possible Exhibit Elements TITLE: Taking Flight Key Concept: Superheroes Behaving Like Bad Children OBJECTIVE: Power can have unexpected consequences when snap decisions need to be made. This activity is intended to be a fun way to learn about how a powerful ability can lead to awesome achievements, or spiral perilously out of control when bad decisions are made.

DESCRIPTION: Flying activity where visitors get to choose “fly� along a projection. They control their flight by leaning against a motion-sensitive platform. Stereo sound and projected visuals give the player the information that they need. The direction they choose decides how they use their flying power. Will they choose to answer a call for help? Will their desire to help steer their flight path in a dangerous direction if they are too hasty?

Possible Exhibit Elements TITLE: Growing Fast Key Concept: Growing up too Soon OBJECTIVE: Teaching a lesson about how growing up can cause changes in the relationship between the visitor and the world in which they live. They might not realize that they could be posessing new strengths!

DESCRIPTION: A camera captures a picture of the visitor and inserts their image into a projection where they face many challenges. Can they stop a giant asteroid from destroying the city? What is the consequence if they do not? Will they be able to find a way to support a falling bridge, or prevent a tidal wave from destroying the city? They will if they can use their new size and strength to solve the puzzles of this activity.

EXHIBITION CONCEPT Anahita Seyedi Judy Watek Max Loskutnikov William Brian Stanley Krause

FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GRADUATE EXHIBITION DESIGN