The Meatpacking Business Improvement District (BID) is proud to announce ARTech: Adventures in Art + Technology, an exciting partnership with the Children’s Museum of the Arts and the New York Hall of Science(NYSCI.)
A two-month long series of workshops, installations, and interactive activities, ARTech will provide children the opportunity to learn about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) in an entertaining and engaging environment. The program is designed to inspire young minds to utilize these disciplines in their daily lives and to consider the impact of STEAM on the world in which they live. Art combined with technology enhances problem-solving skills, encourages innovative solutions to old problems, inspires experimentation, and promotes collaboration – ARTech seeks to facilitate this type of experiential education for children and their families.
The Meatpacking BID will use an 8000 sq. ft., beautifully renovated, vacant retail storefront as the location for this dynamic pop-up activity center. As art and technology are among the crucial sectors defining the district’s commerce today, the Meatpacking BID developed ARTech to cultivate the next generation of artists, inventors, scientists and visionaries. ARTech leverages the generosity, ingenuity and creativity of our community and creates an indoor haven of exploration for children and families at no cost to the attendees.
As Executive Director of the Meatpacking BID, Lauren Danziger spearheads the strategy behind the initiative and states “The Meatpacking District is a dynamic hub of activity across many sectors. While the districts food and shopping scenes are commonly recognized, the area’s depth of arts and tech businesses is not as well-known. ARTech, provides a platform to highlight the district as a neighborhood with a strong arts and technology footprint. Additionally, we are providing a gratis experience and a place for children to experience STEAM, an industry that is meaningful to the future of not just the district, but the world.”
Executive Director of the Children’s Museum of the Arts, Barbara Hunt McLanahan adds “The Children’s Museum of the Arts is excited for the opportunity ARTech presents to bring the transformative power of the arts to even more children across the city. Art is an essential part of education— it fosters the ingenuity and creativity that is so important to science and technology fields. We look forward to providing children the chance to experience the A in STEAM education through ARTech.”
“This is such a great opportunity to engage young people and show them that science, art, and technology come together in interesting, unexpected ways,” says Elizabeth Slagus, NYSCI’s Director of Public Programs. “We delight in taking our work out beyond the walls of our museum, and the exhibits and activities offered through ARTech are perfect for starting a dialogue with people about what STEAM is and how it has the potential to inform very complicated and critical issues.”
ARTech will be open to the public every Wednesday and Thursday from 3pm – 7pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 10am – 5pm, beginning March 1 through April 29 at 451-459 West 14th Street. Please see the below schedule and summary of activities planned:
Summary Activities:
1) Build It – Using award winning design kit, Rigamajig, children will add wooden planks, pulleys, cogs, nuts, bolts, and rope to their imagination to create wonders of creative engineering. Is it a car? Is it a train? No, it’s a thingamajig!
2) Velocity Area – What is the difference between speed and velocity? After designing and making their own custom wheeled projectiles, participants will shoot their rocket racers down the velocity ramps to consider what makes a vehicle go faster in one direction. Is the long smooth ramp faster or do the bumps in the shorter ramp help to increase speed?
3) GIF making station – Everyone knows their favorite animated film, but may not know the simple technology behind it. Learning how to simply animate themselves, families will leave with short GIFS to use in their family albums and social media posts. In partnership with GIPHY.
4) Starlab – Families can experience the stars in the night sky and learn to star hop from key stars to their favorite constellations in the portable planetarium Starlab. iStop Motion and art making workshops will translate ideas about space into 2 and 3 dimensions!
5) Danny Rozin Installation – Have you ever seen an artwork that responds to your movement? Rozin’s giant pixelated painting mirrors movement to create a surprising moving shadow of each visitor.
6) Ball Pond – CMA’s infamous Ball Pond is recreated in the Meatpacking District. Kids can release their pent up energy before turning their minds to Art and Technology.
7) ACCESS: Artist and Scientist Collaborations – Families explore ideas such as ecology, connected systems, sustainability and climate change through art installations created by artist-and-scientist teams. Works include Monster in the Closet, an animated adventure by Laura Chipley and Hannah Zanowski that highlights the Southern Ocean’s role in regulating Earth’s climate; 1000 Fingers of Decision by Carrie Dashow and Matthew Liao, which explores the importance of an individual’s decision-making in addressing climate change; and A Tale of Dogs in a Changing World by Coche Gonzalez and Jack Tseng, that takes visitors on a 40-million-year journey of the dog family.