Micropia wins special jury prize

– April 30, 2015

Micropia was ‘highly commended’ by the jury in the category ‘best international museum of 2015’ at this year’s Museums + Heritage Awards gala in London. Micropia was one of five nominees in this category. The Museums + Heritage Awards are considered to be the Oscars of the international museum world.

Micropia Director Eveline Hensel: ‘We are proud to be receiving this international recognition! In addition to all the positive responses from our many visitors from the Netherlands and abroad, we are now also being honoured by a well-respected professional jury.’

Micropia

National and international visitors to Micropia can use specially developed 3D viewers to see how living microbes move, eat and reproduce under the most severe conditions. They can also become acquainted with their own microorganisms by taking a body scan, after which they will never again see themselves or the world around them in the same way.

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from interactive exhibits to a soundscape

In creating the exhibition design studio  Kossmann.deJong  worked in close collaboration with  ART+COM , a Berlinbased media design firm. Lots of Micropia’s exhibits are interactive, although the designers were at pains not to make things interactive just for the sake of it. Mark de Jong, owner of Kossman.dejong: “Interactivity has to add something to the experience and not distract from the content.” The ART+COM designers point to the body scan as a successful example of this. The visitor not only works the interface in this exhibit but is also the subject of it. The soundscape which fills the space is an important unifying factor. Sound designer Peter Flamman makes use of analogue noises to give the visitor the idea that he or she is entering an unknown and amazing world.

Museums + Heritage

The Museums + Heritage Awards have been presented annually in London since 2003. Hundreds of professionals from the museum world attend the awards ceremony. The high points and achievements of the most groundbreaking British projects from the past twelve months are honoured at the event.