New ‘Playing With Light’ exhibition open at OMSI

INCLUDES ENLIGHTENING VIDEO | Here’s a fun summer activity that is attracting lots of outer East Portland families to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry …

The flexible “Bendy Mirror” – in the new Oregon Museum of Science and Industry exhibition Playing With Light – lets guests create an adjustable “fun house” mirror.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

In a new exhibition that opened recently at Southeast Portland’s Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), guests are invited to be immersed in technology, wonders, and science displays.

Enjoy our brief video tour of this fascinating exhibit, now open at OMSI:

Appearing under the exhibit name Playing With Light, “These fully-interactive exhibits encourage visitors to try out an array of exciting and amazing light-, laser-, and lens-based experiences,” said OMSI’s Communication Manager Annemarie Eayrs.

“Some of these activities include visitors freezing their shadows, mixing colored lights, and making a laser beam bounce down a stream of water,” Eayrs pointed out.

These guests are learning about “Computer Vision” at this spot in the exhibition.

It was fascinating to watch guests – from kids to adults – tinker with technology-focused exhibit elements that involved “light islands”, fiber-optical systems, and lenses.

In one section of the exhibit, some of the visitors were using electronic “virtual paint brushes” to create their own designs – in color – on a wall.

This activity shows how a spectroscope works, and how it is used.

Just walking into the exhibition is an enlightening experience: 20,000 LED lights illuminate the entrance tunnel, all of them automatically controlled, and continually shaping images based on the people strolling by them.

Some of the other many activities include:

Laser Dodge
Sticky Light
Kaleidoscope
Freezing Your Shadow
Seeing in Slow Motion

At the “Make a Telescope” activity, visitors learn how changing lenses alters the view in a refracting telescope.

Playing With Light is on display through January 6, 2025. But, why wait? See it now! The exhibition is included with in the cost of museum admission; there’s no extra charge to see it. For their address, ticketing information, hours, and to learn more, see their official webpage: CLICK HERE.

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