In our dreams, we are transported to different worlds, distant times and sometimes unfamiliar places. This session will explore innovative techniques for creating a sense of time and place in exhibitions, using objects, digital interpretation and physical design. Does transporting visitors to different ‘worlds’ facilitate engagement with the past and present of science?

Speakers will discuss a diverse range of case studies and examples which illuminate the theme of creating dream-like environments in science museums.

Examples will include the Science Museum in London’s new permanent gallery, Making Modern Communications (opening in Autumn 2014). Making Modern Communications will weave interactivity into the interpretation of objects, enabling visitors to experience the context of their development and use; it will use text and image to reveal personalities and characters associated with particular stories and create audio-visual experiences that expose adventure and jeopardy, success and failure.