San Diego, CA—The Fleet Science Center is opening a world-premiere exhibition: Pause|Play. Developed by the Fleet Science Center, with contributions from sound designer Chris Warren and artist and engineer Dave Ghilarducci, this innovative and fascinating new exhibition takes over two of the Fleet’s upstairs galleries.

Pause|Play is an invitation for the young and the young-at-heart to leave the digital world behind, hit pause on their busy lives and recapture the nostalgia of play. Playing is not only enjoyable, it also has cognitive, social, emotional and health benefits for every age. The exhibition entices visitors to explore through play, and it incorporates a scientific twist to enhance every activity. Pause|Play features more than 11 experiences that were each designed to evoke childhood memories.  

The first part of the exhibition, the Park, brings the outdoors inside with playground activities set amongst grass below and clouds above. The slide invites visitors to climb up and plunge down. Unlike other slides, this slide clocks the speed and visitors can try out different factors to see how it affects their speed. Included in this area, visitors will also explore different scientific concepts through a whirling merry-go-round and augmented-reality sandboxes.

Nearby, visitors will find the pool. This pool is filled with balls, lit from below, and it offers an opportunity to explore mathematical concepts.

In the Neighborhood, visitors can test their perception and aim with the basketball hoops, ride a tricycle with square wheels and play a glowing game of hopscotch.  

Pause|Play is an immersive, evocative experience for the mind and body. Through this new exhibition, the Fleet Science Center invites everyone to relax and remember, experiment and enjoy: Pause|Play.

“We love being able to create something new and unique to our visitors,” said Dr. Steve Snyder, CEO of the Fleet Science Center. “Pause|Play allows visitors to engage in full-body interactives while using science resulting in a completely unique experience.”

“Pause|Play is the first exhibition of this magnitude that is developed by the Fleet Science Center in over 20 years,” said Paul Siboroski, Exhibits Director at the Fleet Science Center.” This exhibition will definitely create a one-of-a-kind experience for our visitors.”

"We strive to be innovative with our approach to how we share science," said Ashanti Davis, Exhibit Project Supervisor at the Fleet Science Center. “Pause|Play is an example of the Fleet’s capacity to design relevant experiences for science enthusiasts of all ages.”

The bilingual exhibition will be open from February 15 to September 2, 2019, at the Fleet Science Center. Pause|Play is included with the cost of admission.

Pause|Play is generously funded in part by The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation.

A full list of Pause|Play exhibit descriptions is included below. More information can also be found on our website: www.fleetscience.org/exhibitions/pauseplay.

Press images can be found at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/en9zcp9bdovejvx/AAAD-yRBC5TuNTx8eAWzQrMUa?dl=0

Visitors are encouraged to use the hashtag #pauseplayscience and tag @fleetscience when posting to social media.

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Exhibits in Pause|Play:

The Slide: Unlike other slides, this slide clocks the slider’s speed and visitors can try out different factors to see how it affects their speed. The Merry-Go-Round: Within this merry-go-round, visitors can play a perplexing game of catch. The Sandbox: The typical plastic shovel and bucket are replaced with augmented reality in this sandbox. The Spun Chairs: These chairs look like spinning tops, and they make having a seat become an adventure. The Pool: This pool is filled with balls, lit from below, where visitors can explore mathematical consepts like crowd estimation and volume. The Maze: Visitors can choose one of three ways to move through the maze. After finishing the maze, visitors can note how long it took and head back to the entrance to see if they can beat their time by testing a new way to go through it. The Hopscotch: In this game, visitors make the squares in the hopscotch light up and create sounds by jumping on them. The Basketball Hoops: Distortion glasses make this game an all-new challenge. As visitors throw the ball at the hoop, the ball doesn't go where their eyes say it should. The Square-Wheeled Tricycles: By adding a track of evenly-spaced arches, these square-wheeled tricycles are able to ride smoothly, without the expected bumps and thumps.   Hide-and-Seek: As visitors look through different color filters, the goal of this game is to find the hidden pieces that match the color of the filter.

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To schedule a media preview of Pause|Play, please contact Fleet Science Center Communications Manager Karla Nafarrate at 619-685-5743 or knafarrate@rhfleet.org.

Interviews can be scheduled with the Fleet's CEO, Dr. Steve Snyder, designers from the exhibition and representatives from the Fleet's exhibits team.

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FOR MEDIA ONLY:

You're invited to the VIP/Media Premiere!

Members of the media are invited to join us for our VIP/Media Premier for Pause|Play on Sunday, February 10, from 5:15 to 7:30 p.m. If you and up to three guests would like to attend, please RSVP via the Eventbrite link below.

https://pauseplaypremiere.eventbrite.com

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About Chris Warren, Sound Designer:

Chris Warren is a sound designer, digital composer and creator of immersive sonic installations. His exhibits have been featured at the Museum of Making Music, NAMM and the Havana Biennial. Warren teaches digital music composition, sound design and audio coding at San Diego State University. Warren is a resident artist at Space4Art in San Diego and performs with the groups A Hundred Ghosts and BASSER.

About Dave Ghilarducci, Artist and Engineer:

Dave Ghilarducci holds a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Illinois. After working in the engineering field for over twenty-five years, Dave's professional background strongly influences both the materials he uses and his process. Also having studied physics and chemistry, Dave's sculptures are extremely influenced by the fundamental constituents of the natural forces that interact and exert on one another.

He currently resides in San Diego, California, where he has participated in numerous solo and group shows, including shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2006) and Track 16 Gallery (2006, 2007). In addition to having previously shown in Encinitas' San Diego Botanic Garden, other exhibitions include shows at Pulse Gallery (2012) and Oceanside Museum of Art (2011, 2012), along with solo shows at Art Produce Gallery (2010) and Sushi Contemporary Performance and Visual Arts (2010). Notable commissions include pieces for The New Children's Museum in San Diego, Wavecom Inc. and DBM Inc. For more on Dave Ghilarducci, please visit www.daveghilarducci.com.