Reading Sea and Sky
Polynesian Navigation Installation
Webcast Studio
Tuesday, April 6 Through Sunday, May 9, 2010
In Conjunction with Never Lost – A New Exploratorium Website
www.exploratorium.edu/neverlost

Beginning on Tuesday, April 6, 2010, visitors to Reading Sea and Sky, the Polynesian Navigation installation in the Exploratorium’s Webcast Studio, may find themselves stepping in and out of time and place. A giant star compass representing those used in teaching traditional Polynesian navigation techniques will extend across the Studio floor, frequently submerged under video footage of waves or other footage to be projected from above. A surround-sound system of speakers will play sounds and stories recorded during a trip to Hawaii by the Exploratorium team that created the companion Never Lost website. In the meantime, video recordings will fill the Webcast Studio screens with visual poems of the islands. This installation is included in the price of admission to the Exploratorium.

Reading Sea and Sky is designed to give visitors an inside look at the research and actual voyages behind the Never Lost website, online at www.exploratorium.edu/neverlost. To build the site, Exploratorium staff journeyed from sea to sky, joining the crew on the deck of a real voyaging canoe and climbing to the top of a 14,000-foot volcano to gaze at the stars. Along they way, they interviewed and consulted with dozens of experts and luminaries in the ohana wa’a, the Hawaiian canoe community. In addition to an immersive audio visual environment, visitors to the installation may encounter maps, charts, and field notes from the team. Outtakes from Website videos may also be shown.