The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Sticky (science) situation
Giant ‘TapeScape’ part of Great Lakes Science Center exploration of topics related to adhesion
They may or may not be learning much at this exact moment, but, on a recent Friday afternoon, little ones are racing in and out of a large, unusual structure. They’re crawling around in it. They’re sliding down and out a part of it. ¶ They appear to be having a blast. ¶ “As the sign says, ‘Shoes off. Socks on. It’s time to explore!’” says Joe Yachanin, communications director at Great Lakes Science Center.
The downtown Cleveland attraction that promotes STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — is home to this odd-looking, two-level jungle gym of sorts. Made almost entirely of clear packing tape, the structure is the central component of “TapeScape-Sticky Science,” an exhibition that also includes hands-on educational stations and runs deep into the summer.
The TapeScape was designed by Eric Lennartson, who lives near Mankato, Minnesota.
“He has built these all around the world,” Yachanin says. “We’re the first ones to bring it to Ohio. We’re really proud of that.”
The idea dates back years, to when Lennartson was a founding board member of the then-new Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota, before the institution had a permanent home but did have a temporary space.
“We called it ‘our play lab’ because we knew our term was only nine months, and we dedicated the space to experimenting and trying new exhibit ideas,” Lennartson says during a recent phone interview, adding they were looking to create exhibitions that didn’t feel “store-bought.”
“I saw a photo in a magazine of a crazy tape installation in Europe and thought, ‘This would be an incredible hands-on-play, interactive-learning environment and could really spark the curiosity of kids and even the adults who were in our museum,” he says.
The project was designed to be community-oriented and -engaging, in that volunteers were sought for the construction.
“And, just like at the Great Lakes Science Center, we were able to get donations of tape and other materials to help us build the exhibit to reduce our costs for the installation,” he says.
In Cleveland, those donations came courtesy of ShurTech Brands LLC, whose Consumer & Craftsman Headquarters resides in Avon and which is well known for its Duck Tape brand of duct tape but makes other products, as well, including the packing tape used for the TapeScape. According to background information provided by the company, the relationship between GLSC and ShurTech dates back more than three years and includes an annual donation of duct tape for general use.
In February, personnel from the science center contacted ShurTech about being part of the TapeScape, which led to advance work with Lennartson.
“We were able to test three different types of their tape against the tape I’ve used more consistently in my process,” he says, “so we were able to find out which product worked best long before we built the installation.”
“Once a tape for the installation was decided on, we donated 1,574 rolls of tape plus 90 rolls of stretch wrap, which is used as the ‘bones’ of the structure,” said Brandi Mullins, community relations manager for ShurTech Brands, in an email.
Once Lennartson settled on a design, it was time to build. He spent about a month in Cleveland and oversaw three weeks of tape-based construction conducted by some GLSC staff but largely by different groups of corporate volunteers, with companies including PNC Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers using the experience as a team-building exercise, Yachanin says.
“I can’t build this exhibit,” Lennartson says. “I really facilitate a process, and the community comes together to support the organization I’m working with.”
Considering Lennartson says he started off in college as a math-physics double-major, graduated with a degree in studio arts and went on to earn a master’s degree in architecture, in creating these installations, his background comes together “in a really interesting way.”
Having facilitated these clear play areas around the world, you’d think he has it down to a science, but it’s not that simple.
“It’s trial and error every time because I work with volunteers,” he says, adding that he tends to have a group of people he hasn’t worked with each morning and another after lunch, which more or less was the case in Cleveland.
“(Volunteers) come into (their) session thinking, ‘What in the world did I sign up for?” he says with a laugh. “By the end of it, they’re having a great time.” “Every institution I work with has sort of a different idea or theme or mission or goals they want to have with the installation, and it’s really kind of fun to have that open flexibility to work with all these groups and try to shape the exhibit to connect with their community and their institution.” — Eric Lennartson, who designed the “TapeScape” for Great Lakes Science Center
A screen near the exhibition plays a time-lapse video of the installation’s construction, so you can get a hyperspeed sense of how it all came together.
Again, there’s more to “Sticky Science” than Lennartson’s TapeScape.
“All of the hands-on, more-traditional scientific stations … we developed those in house,” Yachanin says, adding that it was not difficult for the staff to generate related topics to explore.
“We actually had ideas for activity stations that we ended up having to cut,” he says. “There were plenty.”
Visitors can learn about subjects such as polymers, the viscosity levels of different liquids, adhesion versus cohesion — illustrated sweetly (cough) via the Oreo cookie — and how Velcro mimics plant burrs.
Speaking of biomimicry, the exhibit includes a piece of gripping equipment on loan from NASA, as well as a video showing how it is used.
“Specifically for this robotic arm, (designers) used the gecko — the adhesive pads of the gecko — as their basis of inspiration,” Yachanin says.
And, now, speaking of the gecko, it is also the inspiration for one of three pieces of wall art constructed with sticky notes.
Guests also can spend time at the Maker’s Station, a pre-existing concept at GLSC powered by donated Duck Tape of various colors and patterns. ShurTech also donated some Duck Tape sculptures and outfits, including dresses and ensemble inspired by a Cavaliers uniform, that may be appealing for photos and selfies.
For Lennartson, creating these structures is great because they allow him to travel the globe — he has, for example, overseen the creation of one in Dubai. Plus, no two are the same.
“Every institution I work with has sort of a different idea or theme or mission or goals they want to have with the installation, and it’s really kind of fun to have that open flexibility to work with all these groups and try to shape the exhibit to connect with their community and their institution.”
Plus, it sounds as if the whole concept is still as interesting to him as somebody who may just be learning of it.
“It’s really an amazing thing to be able to walk on something you normally just cover a box with or (use to) fix a sheet of paper,” he says. “It’s not something you think would be structural.”