Introducing... The little dude

On the eve of the re-opening of our marvellous Experiment gallery, we’d like to introduce to our newest and undoubtedly most mysterious member of the MOSI team. He looks a bit like Morph. He is a skilled contortionist and he possesses a range of outfits to rival Lady Gaga.

Oh… One more thing… Nobody here knows his name!

This little dude is the new face of the Experiment gallery. We know very little about him, although we suspect that he is a Mancunian by birth, given his ever present smile and confident swagger! All we know for sure is that he is absolutely crazy about science! He’ll be an ever present in Experiment; helping children of all ages discover how things work, how we work, how to make waste work and how the world works.

You can meet him from 10am tomorrow in our fantastic and inspiring new Experiment gallery.

Another Hectic Day at MOSI!

A hectic day at MOSI today as staff from across the Museum have been working feverishly to prepare for a variety of projects and events – including the long term gallery developments and events scheduled to open this very weekend!

This afternoon, groups of MOSI staff had their first official tours of the new Experiment gallery as work continued to complete the gallery in time for the provisional preview opening date of December 11th. Positive feedback was unanimous from the staff and we are all eagerly anticipating our visitors’ reactions come the opening date. For a taste of what you can expect, click here for the latest Experiment photographic update.

Meanwhile, on the Ground Floor of the Great Western Warehouse, work in the Revolution Manchester gallery is reaching fever pitch as the installation of this amazing gallery continues. The fit-out contractors from 24 Design have been working steadily away in the gallery for quite some time, installing timber supporting structures and frames and handrails throughout the gallery. Over the past two weeks, they have been joined by staff from the MOSI Collections department and our dedicated teams of volunteers who have been extremely busy bringing in just some of the iconic exhibits that will now call the Revolution Manchester gallery home. As we promised yesterday, our visit to Revolution Manchester did not go undocumented, click here for our latest photographic update. For information on how you can be star in Revolution Manchester, click here.

Elsewhere at the Museum, staff from our Development team have been scurrying away to create a Santa’s Grotto in our historic Station Building. As we blogged earlier this week, our Grotto is just one of many events that we have planned for festive period. Our Festive Grotto he will be open at weekends throughout December and it promises to be a quite incredible and unique opportunity to meet Santa with such a momentous backdrop.

If you are visiting MOSI this weekend, don’t forget to share your experiences and photographs with us and the rest of the MOSI Facebook community by joining our Facebook fan page. Our photo competition returns on Monday due to popular demand so get submitting those pictures for the chance to have your photograph represent the Museum on Facebook and Twitter.

That is all from the MOSI Blog team this week; we hope you have a wonderful weekend. Check back next week for more news from your favourite museum.

02/12/2010 Experiment (and Revolution Manchester) Update

Following yesterdays disruption caused by the particularly heavy snow over the Pennines (we’re still largely unscathed here in Manchester); the Experiment team have been working hard to make up for lost time. The installation of graphics is progressing at a steady rate and the MOSI Technical Services team are applying the finishing touches to the interactive exhibits in the gallery, installing spot lighting, electrical supplies and touching up paintwork. As outsiders to the design process to date, we must admit to being massively impressed with the exhibits within the gallery, we're particularly amazed by the transformation of the existing exhibits - what were tired and uninspiring exhibits in the previous incarnation of Experiment have been reworked and are now really bold, fascinating and inspirational. The new dark area is quite simply amazing!

To permanently commemorate their work in the gallery each individual member of the installation team has signed a plastic milk bottle which has been included as part of a backdrop to a new set of recycling exhibits funded by the SITA Trust. Not to be outdone, the MOSI Blog team have ensured that our contribution to the project is also permanently remembered!

Elsewhere, we’ve been guilty of not blogging the progress made in the Revolution Manchester gallery. This was quite deliberate. We believe that the Revolution Manchester gallery is going to be a spectacular introductory gallery quite unlike anything you have seen in a UK museum before and we certainly don’t want to spoil the surprise. However, we’re proud of this little slice of the blogosphere and we’re even more proud of the small band of loyal friends that we have acquired from around the world. We would be doing you a disservice if we didn’t sneak you an update or two from within the gallery. So, as a Friday treat, and to round off our first complete week of blogging, we’ll be donning our hi-vis vests and hard-hats to bring you a full photographic update from what will be the mind-blowing Revolution Manchester gallery.

In the meantime, we've thrown some snaps of Revolution Manchester taking shape, viewed from the all new Experiment gallery directly above, into today's photographic update.

MOSI: A Winter Wonderland

Given the weather, it is perhaps unsurprising that there is a winter theme to today’s blog. To date Central Manchester has been relatively unscathed by the blizzards hitting the UK. However, the weather has had its impact – the team working on graphics for the Experiment gallery have been caught in 12 inches of snow in Sheffield – meaning that work on the gallery has been restricted to the installation of exhibits. As a result there is a lack of obvious visual progress, meaning we’ve only got a very brief photographic update from within Experiment. We don’t like our blog fans to feel short changed so we have thrown in some bonus images of a somewhat beautiful, snow covered MOSI taken from within the Great Western Warehouse and the rest of the Museum.

Earlier today the MOSI Blog team had the privilege of being the first members of staff to view our incredible new Christmas movie Sleigh Ride in 4D. We don’t want to give too much away but the movie tells the heroic story of how Santa’s helpers saved Christmas, of course, this is a MOSI 4D movie, so expect many more surprises waiting for you beyond the big screen.

Sleigh Ride is screened daily throughout the month of December and tickets are priced at £3.50 for Adults and £2.50 concessions. All of our 4D shows last approximately 15 minutes. More information on Sleigh Ride and our entire range of 4D movies is available here.

To complete the seasonal nature of this post, we also have a Festive Grotto open at weekends throughout December, tickets for the Grotto are priced at £5, including craft activities and a special gift and are available from the Information Desk in the Great Western Warehouse.

With so much going on throughout December, why not combine a trip to MOSI with your Christmas Shopping trip to Manchester for a festive treat for the whole family?

More from Experiment tomorrow (Weather Permitting!)

Paul Hollywood Masterclass: The Science of Baking

On Tuesday 7th December, our visitors will have a unique opportunity to experience our fantastic new restaurant facilities first-hand when artisan baker and judge of the BBC Two's 'Great British Bake Off' holds an inspiring masterclass of baking to raise funds for the Museum.

Tickets for this event are priced at £30 and some age restrictions apply. For more information on this event, including details of how to reserve your place, visit the MOSI website.

Experiment Update - 30/11/2010

Tuesday has been another productive day on the Experiment installation with the AIVAF exhibit designers and installation teams from Work Haus, Cocreate and The Image Group working into the winter nights to ensure the gallery is completed on schedule.

Rumour has it that the gallery could be open to the public as early as December 10th. We must stress that this is still unconfirmed, but we will of course ensure that our loyal audience are the first to know once we do have that final confirmation.

Until then, here is another photographic update to whet your appetite. We've even thrown a video of the brand new and hugely impressive Air Cannon in operation. Check back tomorrow for more from Experiment.

Experiment Update - 29th November 2010

Ever since the closure of the Great Western Warehouse in November 2009, the question on all of our visitors’ lips has been: "When will the Experiment gallery re-open?"

The good news is that despite a recent lack of Blog updates (for which we apologise profusely). The Experiment project has been coming together just nicely. Our designers, AIVAF have been working away steadily in the background with MOSI’s own Technical Services and Learning teams to create a gobsmacking array of new exhibits and modifications to breath new life into our existing collection of hands-on science interactive exhibits.

Over the past week or so, teams of staff from MOSI and AIVAF have been working tirelessly to install the exhibits in their new surroundings. The MOSI blog team have also been busy, creeping stealth-like into Experiment to bring you this sneak peak of the gallery as it takes shape. Hopefully, this will be the first of several updates from within the gallery this week so please check back throughout this week for the latest news and images from Experiment, MOSI’s fascinating and unique hands-on science gallery

We are reaching the final stages of the refurbishment of the Great Western Warehouse. Find out all the latest news, including how you can contribute to the Revolution Manchester gallery and keep up-to-date with other events and exhibitions at MOSI by joining our Facebook page. We’re aiming for 500 members by Christmas, so join today and don’t forget to get your family, colleagues and friends involved in the MOSI revolution!