Museum of Science and Industry

MOSI is the only British Museum to make it through to the finals in the prestigious Micheletti Award for excellence in science and industry museums.

MOSI is the only British Museum to make it through to the finals in the prestigious Micheletti Award for excellence in science and industry museums.

MOSI entered the new Revolution Manchester gallery for the award, due to its innovative use of digital technology to showcase the stories of how Manchester changed the world. MOSI reached the finals following a visit by Micheletti judges  H.R.H. Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg and Dr Hermann Schäfer, former director of the Haus der Geschichte in Bonn, who  visited the Museum in January.

The gallery is part of a £9million redevelopment which opened in January at MOSI, and was designed by London-based kin design. It features the very latest in cutting edge technology and design. There is the UK's largest indoor video wall (50 screens), supplied by leading manufacturer NEC and videowall experts PSCo, and a unique 'digital chandelier' which spans three floors of the converted 19^th century railway warehouse. Collection items, most of which are displayed for the first time at MOSI, range from a replica of the world's first computer, to the world's first enclosed cabin monoplane, to a loom which helped build Concorde. Six sections cover Manchester's greatest innovations, in computing, science, engineering, energy, transport and industry.

Terry Hudghton, Head of Marketing and Business Development said: "I'm delighted that MOSI is a finalist in the Micheletti Award. This recognition of our amazing new gallery reflects the reactions of the thousands of visitors who have flocked to experience it since it opened. We are certainly up against some tough competition but we think that Revolution Manchester gallery is truly deserving of this accolade and we hope the judges agree!"

Revolution Manchester gallery merges traditional museum story-telling with interactive games and technology, which can be accessed even when the visitor returns home. Visitors to the gallery start by swiping a barcode card to register. During registration their photograph is taken (if requested) and displayed on the digital sculpture (made up of 24 screens) and the media wall, which work in conjunction with each other. The visitor has a personal digital scrapbook, which includes photographs, scores from the interactive games surrounding collection items, and vox pops recorded in the gallery. When they return home they can log on to their scrapbook to download the images and find out more about other galleries and events at MOSI.

The gallery allows visitors to interact and interpret collection items through innovative games and hands-on exhibits. Visitors can play a simple binary code game linked to the replica 'Baby' computer (the world's first stored-program computer, built by the University of Manchester in 1948) or send a love letter based on an early computer program, written for the Ferranti Mark I (the world's first commercial computer), which generated random love letters. A model of the Avro F aeroplane can be manipulated by the visitor to demonstrate wing warping.

The Micheletti Award was established in 1996 by the Luigi Micheletti Foundation and Kenneth Hudson for the recognition of excellence in the specific sector of European science and industry museums. The judges are looking especially for the creative use of industrial and scientific collections, combined with an innovative interpretative approach. The role of the museum in its locality is also important.

For media enquiries please contact: Sarah Roe, MOSI press and publicity officer on Tel: 0161 606 0176, m: 07847 372647

Notes to editors

1. Finalists to the Micheletti Award include:

Austria
Linz: Voestalpine-Stahlwelt

Belgium
Liège: Maison de la Science

Germany
Augsburg: Staatliches Textil- und Industriemuseum (TIM)
Berlin: Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin
Köln: Odysseum Köln
Mannheim: Technoseum - Landesmuseum für Technik u. Arbeit  
München: BMW Museum
Stuttgart: Porsche Museum

Ireland
Dublin: Science Gallery

Italy
Firenze: Museo Galileo
Genoa: MathFitness, the mathematics arena
Recanati: Paesaggio dell'Eccellenza

Netherlands  
Oosterbeek: Airborne Museum Hartenstein
Tilburg: Scryption
Zaandam: Zaans Museum - Verkade Paviljoen

Portugal               
Portimao: Museum of Portimao

Spain                         
Les Masies de Voltrega: Museu del Coure
Manresa (Barcelona): Museu de la Tècnica de Manresa

United Kingdom         
Manchester: Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester (MOSI)

1. For more information on museums and galleries in Manchester:

Creativetourist.com is an online magazine, a series of city guides and a collaborative project that has been put together by Manchester Museums Consortium, a group of eight museums and galleries - Cornerhouse, Imperial War Museum North, The Lowry, Manchester Art Gallery, The Manchester Museum, (MOSI) Museum of Science & Industry, People's History Museum, and The Whitworth Art Gallery - in Manchester.  These venues have a dual vision: the desire to stage intelligent, thought-provoking and international exhibitions and events and to celebrate the city in which they live, work and play. Creativetourist.com, with its mix of exclusive features, interviews, arts news and city guides, allows readers to discover more about what's happening in the city, uncover its outstanding cultural programme and collections, and perhaps come to be as passionate about Manchester as its inhabitants.

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