A seven- or eight-year-old boy sits at a table and carefully sifts through a pile of brightly-colored laminated shapes. I have posed a challenge: can you show a person running? At first, he is stumped. He picks up some pieces but then declares, “I can’t.” So I pose for him. I bend my arms and legs and ask him to look at the shapes they are making, and then ask him to see if he can find or even combine some shapes to show that movement. I leave him for a few minutes and then return. He proclaims, “I did it!” and indeed he did. Using shapes such as simple rectangles and squares, and the more complex “L” and rectangular “U”s, he has created an abstracted figure of a man running. Later I ask if he can document his creation with a drawing, which he does.
Such is a typical experience as a facilitator for Shape Lab, our latest interactive space at MoMA.
As the designers of the Lab, we’ve tried to create a space where kids and adults feel comfortable and creative. We’ve stocked Shape Lab with small and large wooden blocks for building; magnetic walls where visitors can play with geometric, organic, and three-dimensional shapes; a table to draw and create special projects; and an area to lounge around and read books about shapes. We’re pleased to report that we’ve noticed visitors of all ages engaging with these materials—many even spending hours in the space.
In our role as Shape Lab facilitators, we and our colleagues have been helping visitors make connections between their own creations in the Lab and artwork in MoMA’s galleries. Through their experience in Shape Lab, we hope to give visitors a new lens through which they can look at art.
We invite you to come and explore Shape Lab. We hope it will spark a creative idea or help you think about shape and art in new ways.
Shape Lab is located on the first floor of the Museum’s Louis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building.
Comments
When I was a kid in the 1960′s. My mom shopped at a dress shop with a huge beautiul corner of these big blocks. I didn’t yawn myself to tears that day! Loved MoMA and she bought me multi-colored plexiglass building squares from the Museaum shop after I fell in the sculpture pond! haha! really.
Posted by Mark Greer
Thank you MOMA for the Shape Lab! I wish I had this as an activity room in the Montessori Schools where I’ve worked – keep guiding our children toward expanding his and her creative spirit!
Posted by inspure
Thanks, Mark and inspure, for your encouraging comments about Shape Lab. It means a lot to hear from readers. There is actually a lot of DIY component to the Lab that would be easy to recreate in a classroom or playroom. For instance, the blue blocks are yoga blocks with magnets adhered to one side. The walls are coated in magnetic paint and the magnets we ordered from magnetking.com and cut into different shapes. We’re always happy to share budget design tips we’ve discovered in creating interactive spaces.
Posted by Cari Frisch