Google opens year-long Web Lab exhibition at the Science Museum

A series of ‘interactive Chrome Experiments’ have taken up residence in a basement gallery at the Science Museum.

Google hopes that the exhibition will “bring the extraordinary workings of the internet to life and inspire the next generation of computer scientists and enthusiasts. “

Visitors to the Science Museum will be able to play with five demonstrations, while online participants will be able to visitchromeweblab.com and interact with the same installations.

The Science Museum claims the exhibition will be its first that is truly 24-hour, as online users will continue to be able to operate the exhibits overnight when the museum is closed.

The five experiments are Universal Orchestra, an internet-powered eight-piece robotic orchestra; Sketchbots, where custom-built robots take photographs of users and then sketch them in sand; Data Tracer, which maps where the world’s online information is physically stored; Teleporter, which uses web-enabled periscopes to view pre-determined locations around the world; and Lab Tag Explorer, which shows where exhibition visotrs, both online and in the gallery, are from and what they have in common.

Each Web Lab experiment uses a modern web technology to explore a particular idea in computer science, but Google is not explaining the different techniques involved. Instead, it hopes that their effects will inspire children to find out more.

Google’s Steve Vranakis, Creative Director of Web Lab said that, “The internet powers our lives everyday, allows us to explore the globe and lets us communicate with friends the world over. Until now, all this magic has remained locked behind our screens. Web Lab changes all that. We’ve worked with the Science Museum to create experiments that will demonstrate the power of the Internet to everyone who visits.”

Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum, added that the exhibition “reinforces the museum’s role in helping to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers”.

Web Lab is free and open, both in London and online, until Summer 2013.