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Het ontwerpen van een museuminstallatie over Nikola Tesla

Hoogsteder, Kay (2014) Het ontwerpen van een museuminstallatie over Nikola Tesla.

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Abstract:The purpose of my bachelor assignment at TwentseWelle was to develop a concept of a museum installation. The temporary exhibition was going to be about Nikola Tesla, a great inventor in worlds history. This installation would be a part of that exhibition, which is going to be open for visitors at early 2015. The exposition will be held in ‘het Ei’ (the Egg), with it’s ovoid shape. Since there weren’t any concrete ideas yet from TwentseWelle about the exhibit or the installation I first had to do some research. Reading into literature resulted into a biography of Nikola Tesla. In addition are Tesla’s most important inventions like the AC motor, Tesla coil and radio(control) and his most important visions like power generation with the Niagara Falls and wireless electricity summed up and explained. Also there is a description of the battle between Tesla and Edison in the War of Currents. In order to let the museum installation blend in with TwentseWelle, research was performed into the portfolio of the museum. This came up with some returning elements of the museum such as interaction level and color. Analysis after similar museum installations at Techniekmuseum HEIM and ScienceCenter NEMO turned out that higher interaction stands for more attention paid to the subject. This resulted into a list of guidelines which the eventual Tesla installation has meet. After this comprehensive analysis the concept phase started. Various elements from Tesla’s life and inventions are translated into concepts. The most appealing concepts were those who had to do with what Tesla added to the world. To sort this out a Tesla matrix was created where the time was set against the presence or absence of Tesla. This created a base for the eventual assignment: ‘Design a museum installation that shows Tesla’s big inventions and visions for the future’. From this direction there are new concepts developed, subdivided in ‘Personal’, ‘Inventions’, and ‘World view’. Each concept corresponded with the description, but they all had their own approach. Respectively they pointed at the personal side of Tesla and his invention process, the specific inventions he did and the influences they had on the society. To get the absolute best out of the final draft there is chosen to combine the different concepts and to higher the interaction with the user. This eventually led to the following final concept: On the wall of ‘the Egg’ is Tesla’s head visible. Coming from his head there are several light strings leading to about 6 mini showcases spread out through ‘the Egg’. At every mini showcase there’s given a problem or situation. By touching the associated plasma globe there is a connection made to Tesla’s head. In a spectacular way where lightning arises Tesla thinks of a solution for the given problem or situation in the form of an invention. This invention is made visible in the mini showcase with some corresponding explanation. This final concept is further detailed at several levels. There are four different mini showcases in which there can be placed different elements and objects. A list with some inventions shows the options for filling in each mini showcase. The actual completion is dependent on the wishes of TwentseWelle and the budget they have got. For the complete museum installation, including the mini showcases and the combination with Tesla’s head, there’s been made a proposal for the styling. This is visualized by some digital renders and a scale model. To close it off there is made a proposal for further technical development and realization of the museum installation.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:ET: Engineering Technology
Subject:20 art studies
Programme:Industrial Design BSc (56955)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/66772
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