From my childhood cultural tours in Kaunas, I remember best the ancient, possibly Chinese, porcelain on the ground floor of the M. Žilinskas Art Gallery and the slippers at the Tadas Ivanauskas Zoological Museum. Yes, for some reason, I remember them much more vividly than the stuffed animals, which I still visit and look at periodically. The slippers are gone. Contemporary museums, if necessary, now use blue plastic shoe covers.
You won’t need plastic slippers at Science Island, officially known as the science and innovation center. I wonder with a tinge of jealousy while looking around the interior of the building, what details the current six-year-olds will remember from their visits to it in 2074? The space is surprisingly light, even though it is a dull November day outside and the electricity is off in the main hall. Preparations for the opening are underway. I’ve already managed to walk around the outside of the building a few times since the newest building on Nemunas Island became a hit on Instagram long before the official inauguration.
To be the center of attention, and to become a symbol of contemporary self-creating Kaunas is in the genes of this project. It was also part of the task in the architectural tender along with the requirement to integrate the building in the green context of the island. Simply put, it should not be visible from Karalius Mindaugas Avenue. It worked. One of the few truly international competitions in Kaunas, which attracted about 140 teams from 40 countries, was won by the Spanish and Australian architectural studio SMAR Architecture Studio with their project Sun Never Sets for Science. The Kaunas-based architectural firm G. Natkevičius ir partneriai joined as co-authors. While it’s common for the final result unveiled on opening day to be more mundane than the ambitious proposals presented years earlier, this time, that wasn’t the case.
“The project states that it requires curved frameless glass panels the size of 7.5 meters. European manufacturers can only offer glass panels up to 6 meters in length. It took quite a bit of effort, but we found someone who could help,” Head of Science Island Aistė Lukaševičiūtė says with a smile. She has been involved in the project since its inception, back when she worked for the Kaunas City Municipality and had to advocate for the creation of a science popularization center in Kaunas rather than in the capital.
“Over the years, we have remained true to the original idea placing humans at the center of everything. This may sound like an old-fashioned notion, but it is still relevant today, in an era that celebrates individuality and the cult of personality.” OK, you’re in the center, so what? That means you must take responsibility for being in the center”, Aistė says, inviting us to look at the disc with the diameter of 27 meters, that encapsulates so many layers of meaning. Standing inside the building, the Instagram-famous disk looks even more impressive – your brain struggles to comprehend how it’s suspended. Masterful.
I bet architectural tours of Science Island will be very popular. Although Aistė gestures for us to move on to another circular feature – the only planetarium in Lithuania at the moment – I can’t tear my eyes away from the ceiling covered in a silvery, porous material. It turns out to be aluminum, which has been poured into acid, making it porous. “Reminds you of Interstellar, doesn’t it? And the acoustic properties are excellent,” my guide remarks, noticing my admiration.
“Children react differently to the ideas we present here compared to adults, and that’s a good thing because we create from the perspective of a knowledgeable person,” Aistė says. According to her, adults visiting Science Island are immediately interested in how everything is made and what deeper meaning lies behind it. Meanwhile, children are most fascinated by playing “Du gaideliai” with the floor. Aistė likes it too. This reminds me of the musical stairs at the Kaunas City Museum’s Folk Music Department, which are also a big hit with everyone.
Not so long ago, innovation in museums and other similar institutions was measured by the number of screens, preferably touch screens. Here, Science Island is one step ahead – the technical specification for the exhibition included a maximum number of screens. They are used here mainly to make it convenient to present data, and kinetic information that visually explains how things work. Although information is not the point of Science Island, there is already too much of it in the world. It is more important to ask why.
“Only a small part of the exhibits have touchscreens where the game is played, and you will still need to work by hand. For example, here we have children’s favorite game about disturbances. Although the road is a way to connect Kaunas to Vilnius, it is an obstacle for the deer. Only 7% of the earth’s surface – for example, the area of Siberia – is divided into pieces of at least 100 × 100 km. So, here’s our mission – to help a frog cross the road,” Aistė says.
“Do you know how much water it takes to make one cup of coffee? 140 liters,” I am presented with another exhibit from the Science and Innovation Centre’s list of favorites. Yes, farmers and the coffee industry need 20 tons of water to buy a kilo of coffee in a shop. Since 1900, water consumption has increased sixfold. At Science Island, you can try to pump enough water to grow 5 grams of different foods. Everything has a price.
Essentially, Science Island is a place oriented towards school children, with seven permanent exhibition sections designed for kids aged 7-14: The Human Body and Health, Food, Nature and Environment, Waste and Pollution, Energy, Transportation, and Communication. However, when visiting with family, it’s natural to want activities for all members and spaces for proper relaxation. One aspect not directly related to the exhibition, but which struck me as highly innovative, is the inclusion of two cafés. One is accessible to visitors without purchasing tickets, while the other is located within the exhibition space itself, near the eighth, more entertainment-focused section designed for preschoolers. There are also STEAM laboratories, and space for temporary exhibitions, which can be organized by external operators, i.e. art and culture creators, institutions and producers. I think there will be a lot of people interested.
The main Science Island exhibition features 140 exhibits that are worth experiencing not just superficially but physically or at least mentally. Some exhibits provoke deep reflection on where constant progress is leading us, which is another innovative aspect. For example, do you have an answer to the question of when a human being ceases to be a human being? That is, how many parts of the human body can we replace with artificial ones before we start calling it a robot? Who will be to blame for an accident involving a self-driving car? Or how can we reconcile the dream of living as long as possible with limited resources and quality of life?
It is quite symbolic that during the Soviet occupation, the spot on Nemunas Island, where the new building is now located, was the site of a landfill where mountains of non-degradable plastic accumulated. You will also have to think about recycling in the exhibition, and once you have made up your mind, press the appropriate button to take your choice to the Heart of the Island that visualizes it.
Only after returning from the island to the mainland do I realize what Science Island and its palpable ambition remind me of. Of course, the Museum of Tomorrow (Museu do Amanhã), designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and located in the port of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Overlooking the ocean and recognized with numerous official awards for its successful and engaging activities, the museum, as its name suggests, invites visitors to creatively envision how we will live fifty years from now. Essentially, Science Island sets itself the same challenge. In 2074, Kaunas (and indeed the whole region) will be reaping the fruits of what the children of today will experience, be surprised by, and what moral questions they will pose for themselves.
