Patrons of the High Museum’s Art Lab aren’t playing around.
They might think they’re just having fun, assembling strangely-shaped, multicolored foam building toys, designed by Atlanta artist Esteban Patiño.
But what they’re doing at the same time is helping the museum’s programmers figure out what makes visitors tick, and what sorts of playtime activities will go over well. The museum is collectng this information for a redesign of the Greene Family Learning Gallery, where different children’s activities are always offered on a rotating basis. By collecting suggestions from visitors to the Art Lab, through interviews and observations, the museum staff will have better ideas for the Greene gallery, which is in the museum’s Meier-designed Stent wing.
In the Art Lab, temporarily set up in the lobby of the Anne Cox Chambers Wing, visitors can create their own sculptures and magnetic compositions using Patiño’s shapes; or they can make stop-motion movies inspired by Jaime Hayon’s work on the Sifly Piazza, design their own digital art and transform their reflections into an impressionist or pointillist painting.
Are the high-tech activities as much fun as the building blocks? Museum spokeswoman Marci Davis says they’re still learning. The Art Lab will be available through Sunday, Sept. 11.
