MindWorks

About the Exhibition

Ever wonder what’s happening in your head? Step into MindWorks and experience the inner workings of your mind.

This exhibition is rooted in psychology and brings mental processes like decision-making, memory and emotions to life through colourful, playful and fun hands-on exhibits. Designed to keep you in the moment, MindWorks encourages self-reflection through prompting questions: What makes you, you? Would you choose pain over boredom? When you dream, are you still you?

Explore why you think, feel and react the way you do and uncover the remarkable power of your mind.

Project History

The Ontario Science Centre conceived, designed and fabricated this award-winning travelling exhibition. The project began with a single objective—design an all-new exhibition that fills an existing gap in the market. The process was extensive—we conducted market research into over 1,000 travelling exhibition offerings in several databases and looked for topic gaps and opportunities that proved relevant and interesting to clients and visitors. After surveying over 1,400 staff, visitors, teachers, members of the Association of Science – Technology Centers and the World Science Congress, we arrived at the topic most relevant and interesting to them: the mind. The task came directly from our research results—design an exhibition to help visitors develop a better understanding and appreciation for how their own mind works, which we paired with compelling design, creative uses of art and innovative technology.

What made this project unique
MindWorks draws on techniques used by psychologists, guiding participants in active self-reflective and critical thinking exercises about their own emotions, memories, creativity, decision-making and problem-solving. In developing our content, we established collaborative partnerships with major academic institutions in Canada—York University, University of Toronto and McGill University—and an official Knowledge Partner—the Ontario Brain Institute.

Services
Market research, concept development, design development, prototyping, fabrication, project management, subsequent tour management

Location
Toronto, Ontario

Completed
September 2019

Size
743 sq. m. (8,000 sq. ft.)