Star Wars exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum

An article about the new Star Wars exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum for the Sydney Morning Herald. Original here.


Somewhere in a laboratory a scientist is watching Star Wars and taking notes. It's not the popular story, engaging characters or entertaining action scenes that capture the scientist's attention - it's the speeders, robots and spacecraft. But what do these on-screen technologies have to do with science as we know it now?

The Powerhouse Museum has the answer. Its new exhibition, Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, will use the Star Wars films to introduce visitors to real scientific concepts that are being developed today.

Developed by the Museum of Science, Boston, in collaboration with Star Wars creator George Lucas's company, Lucasfilm Ltd, the exhibition will explore the real science behind the fantasy technologies depicted in the films, comparing these with the latest research that could lead to real-life equivalents.

Kerrie Dougherty, the curator of space technology at the Powerhouse, says the exhibition also explores the role that imagination has played in inspiring real-life scientific work.

"People have always been inspired by science-fiction, and that creative spark leads to innovation," she says. "The aim of this exhibition will be to encourage people to think about the future of science and where these new technologies are headed."

The exhibition will draw on four technological themes from the Star Wars films: transport, robotics, medical developments and environmental adaptation. It will feature more than 20 examples of real-world technology to tie in with these themes, including video interviews with filmmakers, scientists and engineers, hands-on interactive displays, and props, models and costumes from all six films, including Luke Sky- walker's speeder from Episode IV, original models or robots R2D2 and C3PO.

Over two levels, the exhibition also allows visitors to experiment in two makeshift engineering labs, where they can build magnetic levitation devices and miniature droids, and spin around in a real hovercraft.

The point of all this will be to get people thinking about the real-life equivalent of the technologies they see at work, such as modern prosthetics, medical implants, adapting to new environments as global warming takes its toll and questions of ethics, such as whether robots should have rights.

"This exhibition is all about education, but it's not just for children," Dougherty says. "I recommend this to anyone, Star Wars fan or not. There is so much knowledge to take away about everything from robotics and technology to science in general. Star Wars is the perfect platform to teach about these things because people know about it even if they haven't seen any of the films. It's become embedded in popular culture."

Why has Star Wars remained so popular? Dougherty remembers the hype surrounding the first film as it premiered in Sydney in 1977.

"People were amazed. I think Star Wars has endured the test of time because it's such an endearing story. It keys into all the stories we use in our society: the good triumphing over evil, the hero's journey etc. It's got all the good stuff that we love. It's a very simple story in one sense but a powerful one."

The exhibition's original curator, Ed Rodley from the Museum of Science in Boston, says that despite its title the exhibition is not about Star Wars.

"It's about our world, and our future. So, why Star Wars then? One of the greatest challenges of thinking about the future lies in visualising things, particularly technologies that don't yet exist. To talk about our future, we needed a depiction of a tech- nologically advanced society that was familiar to a broad audience."

This is not the first Star Wars exhibition at the Powerhouse. In 2002, Star Wars: The Power Of Myth explored the archetypal themes and motifs from classical mythology in the films. One of the most successful Powerhouse exhibitions, it attracted more than 200,000 visitors in five months. The two exhibitions differ in aims but expectations are high that the new Star Wars exhibition will attract even more visitors.

Dawn Casey, the museum's director, says there will be a focus on the educational component of the exhibition.

The museum will run school seminars for students in their final years of high school, and host teacher forums to introduce the exhibition and offer professional development. "We're keen to reverse the shortage of children taking up science, and we see the exhibition as a launching pad to increase the involvement children have with the subject," Casey says. "With the last Star Wars exhibition we didn't get as many school groups coming through as we would have liked."

Casey has run forums with museum colleagues and academics to gauge the future of the Powerhouse Museum.

"We discovered that people think it's time for the museum to take on a stronger science and technology focus, and we're taking this on board with the new Star Wars exhibition.

"The story of Star Wars engages everyone, no matter what their age. People have grown up with the characters, and the imagination around it. It's lighthearted and it feeds the imagination."

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination opens on December 4 at the Powerhouse Museum.