Google Powers Interactive Exhibits at London's Tate Modern and Science Museum

As London's museums and galleries get in the swing for the Summer Olympic Games, Google is powering two unique installations that harness the power of its cutting-edge web technologies.

The Science Museum this week unveiled the the Google Chrome Web Lab, a series of five interactive experiments that showcase web technologies and a first-of-its-kind web-based exhibition marries cyberspace and physical space. “We hope to inspire people around the world by showcasing the magic that the Internet makes possible,” blogged Jayme Goldstein, Product Marketing Manager for Chrome.

The five installations include:

• Universal Orchestra: An Internet-powered eight-piece orchestra using WebSockets to create collaborative music realtime by users worldwide
• Sketchbots: Custom-built robots that take photographs and then sketch them in sand
• Data Tracer: A tool that traces where the world’s online information is physically stored
• Teleporter: A series of web-enabled periscopes for instant global access including a 24 hour US bakery, an undersea kelp forest in South Africa and a miniature kinetic Earth in Germany
• Lab Tag Explorer: A visualization of all Web Lab visitors from around the world that groups and categorizes participants.

The Web Lab is open 24 hours a day and available online. Every user, online or in-museum receives a visual code, a.k.a. Lab Tag, scanned at each experiment to keep track of activity. Each Lab Tag is unique and can be used multiple times. “By opening up the museum experience to the world online, Web Lab doesn’t play by the usual rules,” says Goldstein. “A visitor’s location and museum opening hours no longer matter.”

“The internet is incredible. It powers our lives everyday, allows us to explore the globe and lets us communicate with friends the world over,” commented Steve Vranakis, Creative Director of Web Lab. “Until now, all this magic has remained locked behind our screens.” The project is a collaboration between B-Reel, Universal Design Studio (architectural design), MAP (industrial design look and feel), Karsten Schmidt (design and implementation of the optical Lab Tag method and Lab Tag Connector software), and Fraser Randall (project management).

And in another cultural collaboration as visitors descend on London, Google has partnered with the Tate Modern titled The Exquisite Forest. 

The project lets users create short animations that build off one another as they explore a specific theme. It can be accessed via the website exquisiteforest.com and through a physical installation that opens at the Tate on Monday, July 23. Take a peek below: