Union Station has been bringing in a lot of traveling exhibits over the last couple of years. You experienced the doomed ocean liner Titanic this summer, earlier it was the blockbuster Diana exhibit. Then of course we’ve had the Dead Sea Scrolls and who can forget Bodies Revealed? What all of these exhibits have in common though is that they all came from somewhere else, first.
Well Union Station’s latest offering has never been seen anywhere else before. Starting this week, Kansas City’s historic attraction brings you the world premiere of the “Science of Rock ‘n’ Roll” – a fresh look at the history of rock from the perspective of science and technology.
Now through May, you’ll be able to see how music has shaped the tools of rock–and how those tools have changed the music. And before you ask if you will just be reading and looking, rest assured that there’s a whole bunch of playing, strumming, and getting in touch with your inner rockstar.
Not everyone has been happy with Science City since it opened at Union Station in 1999.
Earlier this summer the engineering firm of Burns and McDonnell gave more than a million dollars to reinvigorate the family friendly science center.
They also launched Battle of the Brains a chance for area students to design a new permanent exhibit for Science City and with it a $50,000 prize for their school. The winner?
Olathe North High School’s winning entry explores how mechanical power is transformed into energy by running in giant hamster wheels to generate electricity. They call it Unplugged.
Burns & McDonnell CEO Greg Graves and Union Station CEO George Guastello discuss the Battle of the Brains competition which had schools across the metro competing to design the new Science City exhibit.
Nick Haines welcomes Tavis Smiley and Peter Yelorda to The Local Show to discuss the opening of the America I AM: The African American Imprint exhibit at Union Station. The exhibit will be on display from October 22 through January 8, 2012.
Here’s Tavis Smiley discussing America I Am before its opening in Los Angeles:
America I AM provides an opportunity for people from all walks of life to explore this uniquely American story. With the nation’s first African American president, America I AM endeavors to bring together Americans of all backgrounds to achieve a greater understanding of their shared culture and history.
Scholar W.E.B. Du Bois once wrote, “Would America have been America without her Negro people?”
To examine the answer to that question, AMERICA I AM: The African American Imprint is mounted as the broadest museum exhibition of its kind. An assembly of poignant artifacts representing nearly 500 years of American history, the exhibition will convey and celebrate the undeniable imprint African Americans have had on the country and the world.
Covering history from the arrival of Africans to the present day, the exhibition presents a collection of pivotal moments of courage, conviction, and creativity that have shaped the culture and society in which we live today in this nation and around the world.
The exhibition examines four themes in particular: economic, socio-political, cultural, and spiritual impact on America. These themes serve as recurring touch points throughout the galleries, as visitors discover how our experience as Americans has been shaped by African Americans throughout history.
The 15,000 square-foot exhibition is divided into twelve galleries, leading visitors through time on a journey from struggle to triumph.
Featuring more than 200 artifacts culled from every period of U.S. history, the exhibition includes objects, texts, religion, music, narration, and media. An interactive component of the exhibition allows visitors to leave their own video “imprints,” and this collection will grow throughout the life of the exhibition with the potential to become the largest recorded oral history project in U.S. history.
This week on The Local Show: Alphapointe Association for the Blind is celebrating its Centennial Anniversary, Tavis Smiley’s America I AM: The African American Imprint exhibit comes to town, and local painter/sculptor Rita Blitt creates important works that are exhibited throughout the world.
Alphapointe Association for the Blind provides people with vision loss the support, training and skills they need to work, live and be independent.
PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley and community leader Peter Yelorda sit down with Nick Haines to discuss Smiley’s America I AM: The African American Imprint, the new Union Station exhibit running through January 12, 2008.
Local painter/sculptor Rita Blitt showcases her artwork all over the world and was commissioned to create the sculpture that will be the focal point of the new Skywalk Memorial honoring those people who lost their lives or were injured in the Hyatt Regency skywalk collapse on July 17, 1981.
The Local Show
Watch Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 7:30pm.
