Bengaluru: To mark the International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT), Science Gallery Bengaluru and The Royal Society of Chemistry have teamed up with Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) to organise a week-long exhibition — ‘ELEMENTS: Stuff that Matters’. The exhibition is displayed at the M.G. Road metro station, the Rangoli Metro Art Center and Rangasthala auditorium.
It is an interactive exhibition with a 3-dimensional periodic table which uses crowd-sourced everyday items to represent the elements, for instance batteries for lithium, bananas for potassium, table salt for sodium, sea shells for calcium, etc. Attendees are encouraged to BYOE — Bring Your Own Element — to add to the cubbyhole displays.
Non-radioactive elements in their true form — procured with the help of JNCASR — are also displayed in an exhibit called ‘Through the Looking Glass’. The tableau display has been developed by the Royal Society of Chemistry and presents interesting and obscure facts behind every element known to humankind.
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Along the exhibit is a display, tracing the evolution of the periodic table and its early formats, called ‘Tale of the Table’ — from Étienne François Geoffroy’s ‘Table of Affinities’ to the currently used periodic table designed by Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleev in 1869, to Glenn Seaborg’s 1945 addition of lanthanides and actinides, and the future development of the table.
Attendees can also simulate and enjoy the closed ecosystem of Earth in a lab-like set up using reactions monitored by scientists, or enjoy reading about chemistry at the ‘Reading Nook’.
Apart from the exhibit, the programme also features a number of interactive events such as a quiz, a band performance of songs based on elements picked by the audience, guest lectures, and ‘Edible Elements’ where food chemistry is explained by a chef.
Bringing science back
Science Gallery Bengaluru is a newly-formed organisation for research-based engagement in the city. It is the first of its kind in Asia and was founded with the support of the Government of Karnataka. Its academic partners are the Indian Institute of Science, National Centre for Biological Sciences and Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology.
Jahnavi Phalkey, its founding director, said, “Together with our university-linked international network of galleries, we want to bring science back into culture. We look forward to engaging young adults in a conversation about the fundamentals of life on Earth: From the basic building blocks of not just chemistry, but also of Earth’s Deep History.”
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The pop-up exhibition is modelled after the 2011 Science Gallery Dublin exhibition.
“IYPT is a fantastic opportunity to inspire young minds with the study and application of chemistry,” said Ajit Sharma, general manager, Royal Society of Chemistry, India.
“We are delighted to partner with the Science Gallery Bengaluru to host ELEMENTS, in this global tech hub. We hope young minds participating in the exhibition will be enriched with the history of, and current trends in the development periodic table,” he added
Except for two events that require registrations, the exhibit is free and open to all. The exhibition will be on display from 5th to 11th October. The schedule is available here.