Wonderful WNDR!

I wandered through WNDR Boston in Downtown Crossing last week, and it was a wonderful experience!

It has been on my radar for quite a while because they bill themselves as “WNDR Museum: Interactive Art Museum & Immersive Art Experience.”

Cool!

I consider some of my work immersive art, and I make museums.

The Installations described on their Web site struck me as “new media,” and that is definitely my thing 😉

All of it sounded right up my alley.

It was, and they had me at this exhibit!

MPO-1 (Time Machine) by Joshua Ellingson@WNDR Boston

It was MPO-1 (Time Machine) by Joshua Ellingson, and he included Pepper’s ghost as an element of it. There was also an electronic theremin. Both are nice bits of media history that I’ve been known to mention in my “media” related courses.

There was also an awesome Immersive Theater.

Immersive Theater@WNDR Boston

Here’s a short video clip showing a bit of the experience.

The animation on the floor was also motion driven.

It was mesmerizing!

One particularly fun exhibit was You Can Do Most Anything by Andy Arkley.

You Can Do Anything by Andy Arkley@WNDR Boston

You can’t tell by just looking at the picture, but you can play it!

These buttons are a key part of it.

You Can Do Most Anything Button Box by Andy Arkley@WNDR Boston

You can click the buttons one at a time, or better yet in combination, so the exhibit comes to life with different sounds and colors.

Of course, there are many experiences besides these, and you can see them on the Installations section of their Web site. In fact, if you go, I suggest that you keep that open and treat it as a guide as you go through WNDR.

I also suggest that you pick the time to go based on the experience you want.

I went on a Thursday afternoon, so there were few other visitors. That made my experience peaceful, serene, and even surreal at times.

My understanding is that weekends are, understandably, more populated with both adults and children. That would be a different, far more social experience than mine.

Overall, I think WNDR is a neat addition to Boston’s new media landscape!

It also pairs nicely with the Museum of Illusions Boston at Faneuil Hall. If you go on the same day, then the Museum of Illusions Boston would be better to see before WNDR because some exhibits there inform some at WNDR.

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