This article first appeared in My Travelogue by Bhushavali
Quite amusingly, after a very short 2-week-long Spring Season, this year's hot
summer existed for 2 weeks too, and now it's all rainy! So what to do with the
kids. Here are 5 'indoor' expos for your kids this summer 2023. Most of these
are temporary exhibitions that would wrap up by September.
HAPPINESS EXPO BRUSSELS
True to its name, I, a grown-up, was giggling with Atyudarini throughout the
expo! Happiness Expo in Mont des Arts has just about 7 displays, but each and
every one of them is super cool.
As soon as you enter, there's the 'Connection Room' which is like a
volleyball court and there are sensors to show your location. You stand on
either side to make a connection on the digital screen! The next room is the
'Cloud Room', which is what I saw in their advertisements. It is a tiny
room with mirrors on all sides including the floor, except the back. There are
LED screens on the back where multicolor cloud videos are played, which of
course, gets reflected on all sides! It was absolutely phenomenal with its
infinite reflection on all sides with the moving colorful clouds!!
The next room is the 'Rain Room' with droplet-shaped lights hanging
from the ceiling, at different heights. Let their look not fool you, these
lights are heavy, I mean, if you swing it on someone, they can get hurt. When
you visit here with kids, inform them of that! The colors of these lights keep
changing and there's background music as well, from melodious music with soft
colors that feel like monsoon rain to dark & bright light flashes with
thunder-like music!
There are 3-4 minor displays and after that is the 360° display (though
technically, not really, coz the ceiling isn't covered). Absolutely stunning.
We were here for 3to 4 shows! I think per show was about 10 minutes. Always in
love with 360° display shows and Atyudarini was running around to catch the
moon, jump on the flowers, touch the birds, run away from he lava & more!
Our favorites were the cloud room, rain room, and 360° display. Esp., if you
have kids, you can be here for several hours together just for those few art
installations! That said, you really may not spend much time here as just
adults.
Tip 1: Go on a weekday morning or afternoon. The first few
displays (cloud room, rain room) can accommodate only 1 family or a few people
at a time, so there's queuing due to the crowds in the evenings.
Tip 2: There are a lot of stairs, meaning, it is not stroller friendly.
Where is the Happiness Expo happening (on Google Maps)? Plein Publiek BXL
How to reach the Happiness Expo? It is at
the base of Mont des Arts in Brussels. The nearest train/metro stop is
Brussels Centrale
Happiness Expo Tickets: €16 (kids under 7 years of age go free). However, it's just €5 with
museumPASSmusées. Buy online from the
official website of Happiness Expo.
Until when is the Happiness Expo happening? Till 05 Nov 2023
Happiness Expo Timings: Tue-Thu: 10AM to
6PM; Fri-Sat: 10AM to 9PM; Sun: 10AM to 7PM; Closed on Mondays.
WORLD OF MIND
Unlike the rest of the places on this list, this is a brand-new but permanent
museum. Located inside Tour & Taxis, Gare Maritime, this is a very cool
exhibition that talks about how the brain perceives the various senses of the
body and how the brain could be tricked by altering the senses! The museum has
5 zones each dedicated to the 5 senses of the body and there's a video in each
room (trilingual audio where you can select English at the beginning of the
video) that explains how the brain perceives that particular sense in a
child-friendly science!
The first display is the good old chair split into 2 which looks 1
when viewed from a certain angle! There are a few more displays in this room
like the illusions of the size of the circle surrounded by bigger or
smaller circles, positive & negative spaces, perception of the intensity
of grey when surrounded by white or black, etc. Then there's an interesting
room filled with art & graffiti of various colors that explain the
role of light in visibility. The lighting in this room changes from
white light to blue to yellow to red making certain aspects of the art more
visible or more hidden than the others depending on the colors of the light!
It is a simpler, child-friendly way of explaining how a Tiger is hidden in a
savannah in daylight while very clearly visible under thermal imaging at
night!
The next room has interesting, interactive illusions like the table with
mirror sides making the body invisible underneath, curvy-quirky mirror
reflections, a skewed room that looks straight from a certain angle, an
upside-down room, etc. I'm super glad that this museum opened up here
because these exact displays, which I had already seen at
Camera Obscura in Edinburgh, were what I wanted to show Atyudarini!
The last room is the cool spinning rotor room with multicolor streaks
through which you walk on a still bridge. Thanks to the spinning rotor, you
lose stability and feel pushed, as if you're gonna fall as if the bridge
itself is moving! I had experienced this too earlier at
Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in London. Again, I'm glad this museum opened up here, that I could take Atyudarini
too to experience it!
Tip: When you're here you might as well consider visiting Bubble
Planet (more info below) just beside.
Where is the World of Mind Museum in Brussels (on Google Maps)? WOM-World of Mind
How to reach the World of Mind Museum? It is inside Gare
Maritime (Tour & Taxis). The nearest metro is Ribaucourt (STIB-MIVB
route M2 & M6)
World of Mind Museum Tickets: €17.50 (kids under 7 years of age go free). Can be bought online on
the official website of World of Mind
Until when is the World of Mind happening? It is permanent!
World of Mind Museum Timings: Tue-Fri: 9AM to 5PM;
Sat-Sun: 10AM to 6PM; Open on Mondays only during school holidays.
BUBBLE PLANET
When you're in Tour & Taxis, Gare Maritime, you gotta visit Bubbles Planet
Expo too! I have the tickets for next week. I'll update you here as soon as I
visit!
Where is the Bubble Planet Event happening (on Google Maps)? Same as above.
How to reach the Bubble Planet Event? Same as above
Bubble Planet Event Tickets: €13.90
Until when is the Bubble Planet Event happening? Till 15th Oct 2023
Bubble Planet Event Timings: Mon-Thu: 10AM to 8:30PM;
Fri: 10AM to 9:30PM; Sat: 9AM to 9:30PM; Sun: 9PM to 8:30PM
iMAL
Honestly, I did not expect it to be so good. I definitely did not expect to
spend 2.5 hours here, but we did!!! iMAL stands for Interactive Media Art
Laboratory where various temporary exhibitions happen from time to time. The
current exhibition is called 'The Artwork as a Living System'.
The Artwork as a Living System: The Artwork as a Living System is the
creative brainchild of Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau. They
are internationally acclaimed pioneers of interactive digital art. This expo
connects a traditional subject – art, and nature – with the most innovative
artistic techniques employed in virtual, sentient, interactive projects!
As soon as you enter, lift your head up over the ticket office. What you see
there is a live video capture of you, but surrounded by flies!!! Move
and the flies move with you. Yes, it also captures the people who walk on the
footpath in front of the museum! The next 2 displays are in the same room, and
one of them is an interactive pinboard on VR; this was like in the sci-fi,
futuristic movies where you touch, select, pinch, zoom in, zoom out &
interact on a virtual pinboard!!! Mindblowing!!!
The next room is the main room with 10 displays. The first is your
live portrait with ants! The camera and the sensor capture your live
image and the ants on the screen move around to create your image!!! The next
interesting display explains how some insects like
winged termites get attracted to light. Here digital winged-termites
are attracted to and follow-around where you point the flashlight! The next
cool thing is a digital train window! There are 2 comfy train chairs
where you can sit & relax and gaze out through the 'window(?)'. Well,
there's a screen and a video of moving nightscapes is on. Everything is hazy
and there are blotches of light & darkness on & off! Another cool
display was of an insect typewriter! The letters you type convert to or
get eaten by insects! They move all over the surface and you can push them out
by moving the 'paper'. It is made of an actual typewriter (Atyudarini got to
handle one for the first time in her life)! Yet another awesome one was where
you create water creatures (by drawing their top view & cross
section) and they come to 'life' and start swimming. You can even create
multiple creatures and they may eat one another or get together to create
more!!! There are 2 interesting displays where you can
grow digital plants by interacting with real plants!
The whole exhibition was unexpectedly so cool that we spent more than 2 hours
here. They were like video games for Atyudarini where she could interact with
the art and do activities. The water creatures was her favourite and she spent
most of her time creating those creatures & watching them!
Tip: If the weather is good, check out the playground at
Bonnevie Park, which is one of the
Top 10 Best playgrounds in Brussels.
Where is iMAL (on Google Maps)? iMAL
How to reach iMAL? A minute's walk from the nearest
metro station is Comte de Flandre connected by STIB-MIVB routes M1 & M5.
iMAL Tickets: €10. Included in museumPASSmusées (can be bought at the door).
Until when is the Artwork as a Living System exhibition happening? 24th Sept 2023
iMAL Timings: Wed-Fri: 10AM to 6PM;
Sat-Sun: 11AM to 7PM
DINOSALIVE
Reminded me much of the Dino World Event that we attended last summer.
However, DinosAlive is a smaller show and the dinos are either not life-sized
or there are some life-sized smaller dinos. It begins with a dark tunnel and
you go in to meet 4 smaller dinos in the first room. The dinos move
their heads, open their mouth, and growl (have robotic controls within and
loudspeakers beside)! It can definitely be scary for the younger kids,
especially, if they haven't seen a similar expo like Dino World or Dinopolis.
After another room of bit-larger dinos, there's a magical
360° display room with pre-historic sea creatures (spot the Mosasaurus,
Plesiosaurus, & more) moving side by side with modern-day animals like
jellyfish and a school of little fish & more. The next room has a bit
larger animals incl. T-Rex, Kentasaurus, Kosmoceratops etc.
Next is the large room with various activities for kids. The first one is a
VR Experience, followed by a 'race with a dino'. It is literally a
running race against a digital dino! The next is a cool 'Dig like a Paleontologist' area where 2 'fossils' have been submerged in the sand for the kids to dig,
brush, and unearth! Then there's a very cool coloring area - there are
Gallimimus for the kids to color and they can scan it which would convert to
a 3D Gallimimus and it would run around on the digital screen there along
with other dinos!!! The very last room is where there are 5 dinos which the
kids sit on & ride! One of those moves & growls too!!!
Tip 1: There is no toilet on the premises! You may have to use
the toilet of the Rogier metro station or the Starbucks nearby if needed.
Tip 2: Carry €3 per person in cash if you want to try the
VR Experience.
Tip 3: There's a combo ticket with Bouncy Games. It is a
humongous series of Bouncy castle activities! There's a starting point and
then there's a series of obstacles. It reminded me much of the good-old
WipeOut game show, however not as dangerous, but rather safe and very
kid-friendly. The kids go through donuts, climb on little trees, tackle a
snowman, traverse through pillars, climb over bars, climb little hills, slide
down, go through tunnels, etc etc etc and finally get to the tall slide, all
made of bouncy castle (though you may not want to call it a 'castle' at this
level)! There's an exit before the tall slide if the smaller kids prefer not
to do it. Keep in mind that it is a series of activities, meaning once the kid
enters, they keep going till the exit point. They cannot get off by themselves
halfway through (but you can lift them out halfway through). Apart from this
series, there's the 'Grand Slide' which is 12m (40ft) tall (that's about 4
floors tall building)! You can go all the way up and then slide down onto a
huge bed, again all filled with air and made of the bouncy castle! Absolute
thriller. For the smaller kids, parents are expected to accompany them.
That said, keep in mind that it is an outdoor event, meaning, that if it
rains, this is wet. Many of the places collect water and some places are like
a little pool! So you really may not want to go when it rains or just after a
rain (or get more creative and do it wearing a swimsuit)! The best time to go
would be after the sun shines at least for half a day so the water has all
evaporated a bit.
Where is the DinosAlive Expo happening (on Google Maps)? Place Rogier
How to reach the DinosAlive Expo? Rogier
metro/tram is connected by STIB-MIVB Routes M2 & M6 and T3, T4, T25, and
T55.
DinosAlive Expo Tickets: €10 (can be bought online at the
official website of DinosAlive).
Until when is the DinosAlive Expo happening? Till 31 Aug 2023
DinosAlive Expo Timings: Mon-Thu: 10AM to 6PM; Fri-Sun: 10AM to 8PM
Where is the Bouncy Games event happening (on Google Maps)? Place Rogier
How to reach the Bouncy Games event? Same as above
Bouncy Games event Tickets: €11 for adults, €9 for kids and free for kids under 6 yrs of age.
(€12 for a
combo ticket of Bouncy Games & DinosAlive).
Until when is the Bouncy Games event happening? Till 31 Aug 2023
Bouncy Games event Timings: Mon-Thu: 10AM to 6PM;
Fri-Sun: 10AM to 8PM
Brussels with kids??? Here are some more options.
BOOKMARK IT/PIN IT
VIDEO OF HAPPINESS EXPO
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