Avatar: The Exhibition - Reviews from web

[Tymian]

Review by Culturemob

Whatever your impressions of James Cameron’s Avatar, there’s no doubting the massive impact it’s had on our film industry and pop culture – and now Seattle’s Science Fiction Museum (SFM) gives us the opportunity to explore this strange new world with its latest exhibition, opening June 4, 2011.
It’s been a busy year for the EMP|SFM, and Avatar: The Exhibition is only the latest outstanding exhibit to be added to its halls. Sci-fi fans have already enjoyed a similar, ongoing exhibition on Battlestar Galactica, while the musical side of the museum is still reeling from the introduction of their major Nirvana exhibition a couple of months ago.
If Avatar: The Exhibition feels different to these other exhibits, however, then it’s only to be expected. After all, most exhibits explore phenomena that have already passed, but Avatar is an ongoing project, with James Cameron promising us two sequels that threaten to turn this into a true Star Wars-style franchise. While much of the Science Fiction Museum harks back to the sci-fi boom of the Sixties and Seventies, Avatar: The Exhibition is about as current as they come.
Curator Brooks Peck has been careful not to include too many spoilers in his exhibition, however, instead taking a snapshot of the series as it stands now, exploring both Cameron’s vision of the planet of Pandora and his use of cutting-edge technology. The exhibition looks set to appeal to both movie buffs and sci-fi geeks alike, and it offers a unique opportunity to explore one of the most influential films in recent memory, and the brand new movie technology that helped bring it to the screen.

The first half of the exhibition deals with James Cameron’s imaginative world-building, delving into the planet of Pandora and the intricate virtual ecosystems that he created to lend the movie a pseudo-realistic edge. The exhibition includes around forty artifacts from the movie, but most engaging are the interactive exhibits, allowing you to get some hands-on experience of the world-building process. A multi-touch interactive table at the exhibition’s entrance provides an amusing look at the preliminary sketches and conceptual art for the world of Pandora, while another panel allows you to try your hand at creating your own alien flora from the building blocks provided by Avatar‘s artists.
Some of the props provide an immediate visual impact too, especially the large AMP suit that looms over the room, and the busts of Mo’at, Neytiri and Jake Sully that were used as a visual reference guide for the movie’s CGI artists. The overhead lighting cycles through daytime and nighttime over a twenty-minute period, so watch out for the brief spell of black light that suddenly illuminates the hidden markings on the busts.
It’s the technology at the end of the exhibition that truly wows, however, so save plenty of time for the virtual camera and motion capture interactive displays. The former is a tool developed by Cameron to help directors visualize and direct a CGI scene, and it allows you to take control of your own virtual camera, circling around and zooming in and out of the virtual scene in front of you. The motion capture display, meanwhile, is a dream come true for wannabe Hollywood actors and actresses, as you follow James Cameron’s direction and the software converts your movements into a CGI scene from the film. The best part is that you can then upload your ‘performance’ to YouTube, for all your friends and family to laugh at later.
Fans of Avatar will undoubtedly be making their way to the EMP|SFM over the next few weeks, but even if Cameron’s movie didn’t inspire you directly this is still a visually exciting and surprisingly engaging exhibition. And with the Battlestar Galactica and Nirvana exhibitions still running too, there’s no better time to visit the EMP.
Entry to Avatar: The Exhibition is included in general admission to the SFM, and tickets are available here. There will also be a number of special events during its opening weekend, including panels with the actors and technical team behind Avatar – for more details check the Avatar opening events schedule.

Source Culturemob

[Tymian]

Review by slashfilm

Pandora and Seattle have a lot in common. Both have a strong pro-environmental stance, lush, beautiful green foliage and a valuable natural resource. And though Pandora is fake and Seattle is real, the two become one this weekend as the Experience Music Project Museum will host the inaugural opening of Avatar: The Exhibition. The exhibit will be open from June 4-September 3 and include “authentic props and costumes, interactive displays, concept models, and sketches” from the highest grossing film of all-time. Plus, if you go on opening day, many of the film’s stars will be on hand. Get all of the info after the jump.

Here’s what James Cameron had to say about the exhibit:

The exhibition is going to be a unique opportunity for people to learn more not only about how the film was made, but also experience Pandora in a much deeper way. Fans will be able to see in-person the workmanship behind the film, whether it’s how scenes are captured; or how a Na’vi costume was built first as a real world garment then produced digitally. It’ll create a tactile reality that’ll be a good companion to having seen the movie.

For fans eagerly awaiting Avatar 2 and 3, this exhibit should be a pretty nice diversion. This and the stellar Special Edition Blu-ray for course. Plus, if you can’t make it all the way up to Seattle, it will travel the country once it leaves the Pacific Northwest though those dates have yet to be announced.

On June 4, opening day, Michelle Rodriguez, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi and Laz Alonso will be on hand doing panels and checking out the museum. For more information on how you can interact with them, check out the official website.

The EMP at Seattle Center is located at 325 5th Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109 and tickets are $18 on site of $15 on line. Click here for more info.

Source slashfilm

[Tymian]

Exhibition video by empsfm

[Tymian]

Panel information by seattlest

Opening this Saturday, AVATAR: The Exhibition will feature authentic props and costumes, interactive displays, concept models, and sketches from the film.

Also taking place on Saturday are a pair of panel discussions featuring some of Avatar's principle cast and crew members:

12:30 p.m. AVATAR: The Actors' Experience
A look into the making of James Cameron's AVATAR with principal cast members, Michelle Rodriguez (Trudy Chacon), Giovanni Ribisi (Parker Selfridge), CCH Pounder (Mo'at), and Laz Alonso (Tsu'tey). Exhibition curator Brooks Peck will lead the intimate discussion with the actors and take questions from the audience.

3:00 p.m. Pandora: The Creation of a New World
This discussion will look at the many facets of creating AVATAR and the process of translating decades of vision into a big-screen blockbuster. Here to share their insight will be Best Visual Effects Academy Award-winner Richie Baneham (Animation Supervisor), Yuri Bartoli (Virtual Art Director), Terry Notary (Movement Choreographer), Nolan Murtha (Digital Effects Supervisor), and Glenn Derry (Virtual Production Supervisor), moderated by exhibition curator Brooks Peck.

Source seattlest

[Tymian]

Reserved.

[Human No More]

This looks amazing... I REALLY want to go
Interactive exhibits? :o sounds brilliant - I'm always interested in how it was made, as well as seeing everything?
And a day/night cycle? Pandora night time... do want

I will have to try and go next year...

[apache_blanca]

I liked what James Cameron said in the Interview Clips: "yes, the exhibition is about the movie technology, but only partially. The other part is about the Na'vi culture, the Na'vi way of living, and the ideas & the messages behind the movie" (quoting by memory, sorry for any possible mistakes).

I say we should invite James Cameron to become a ToS member!
(if he is not already )

Truth be told, I never expected to feel so much about this exhibition. I thought it would be a bit like an anatomy class, I thought it would kill the magic, so I was not dying for it as such... But seeing the ToS-ers there, the Na'vi character, the Pandora environment... Let's face the truth - it is a really brilliant, marvellous exposition... I'd say I even got a mini - PAD *sniff* got to listen to Avatar CD again...

And the lucky swines are going to (or have they already?) see Avatar in Blu-Ray, all together! To watch Avatar with the other Avatareans??? Man, my head is going on vacations...

[Human No More]

hrh, we would be honoured if he did join ToS... but I can see why not, I guess :/

[CyanRachel]

Kaltxi, Tymian, and Irayo for posting links to online articles about the Avatar exhibit. Speaking as someone who was in Seattle this weekend for the opening of the exhibit, along with my fellow Avatarans, it's good to read a positive review because the exhibit really is awesome! I was amazed at the artifacts I saw there, and the interactive displays were pretty cool too.

For all my fellow clanmates who couldn't attend this opening weekend: you should definitely go to see the exhibit if you can -- it's worth it for sure!

[Aketuan]

Originally Posted by CyanRachel

For all my fellow clanmates who couldn't attend this opening weekend: you should definitely go to see the exhibit if you can -- it's worth it for sure!

And also for anyone who wasn't there and wants to see it...hold off for just a little while on going down, because there is a really high likelihood that the next meetup in 2011 will feature the museum exhibit and possibly panels with actors/people involved in Avatar.


I'm also glad that it got good reviews...The seattle times had an article about it, let me see here...
"SFM Spokeswoman Anita Woo knows the exhibit will appeal to Avatar fanatics, but she hopes it will draw families and film buffs too."

I can say that there were definitely a lot of families in the exhibit there on Saturday...and a few Avatar fanatics.

[mikkowilson]

Originally Posted by Aketuan

and a few Avatar fanatics.

'aw fu mune...

(one or two...)


...fu mevosìng!

(...or twenty!)


- Mikko ... is finding it really hard not to respond to people in Na'vi any more.

[Alan]

Kaltxi!

Just playing catch (again) inbetween editing the 'Avatar family holiday video'.

Originally Posted by Aketuan

And also for anyone who wasn't there and wants to see it...hold off for just a little while on going down, because there is a really high likelihood that the next meetup in 2011 will feature the museum exhibit and possibly panels with actors/people involved in Avatar.

Do you mean 2012, Aketuan? Although I could do with another meet up this year to get over the last one!

When Brooks came out to see us after the panel discussion I asked him how long the exhibition was going to be on for and he said it would be for 15 months, before it went on tour. I also asked if it would be going overseas too. He replied that they were going to be having a meeting with Fox soon to see if that would be possible. Brooks added that it would be logical for it to do so as 75% of the Avatar box office income was from overseas.

Originally Posted by Aketuan

I can say that there were definitely a lot of families in the exhibit there on Saturday...and a few Avatar fanatics.

'A few'? I'm with Mikko on that one. It got to the stage where the people on the door were just waving us through in the end we had been so often whilst we were there!

Alan

[MOMS Ball Avatar]

PSD is probably only treatable with another visit. I have it too. Look at the Seattlest for more articles and pictures.

[James of terra]

Yes, I agree moms ball avatar, PSD is very hard to treat!

[Moco Loco]

So glad Sarah's dad lives up there.