The Tech Virtual Test Zone
The world's first virtual-world-to-real-world exhibition gallery

The Tech Virtual Test Zone is a new area in the museum showcasing the world's first hands-on, interactive exhibits conceptualized and developed originally in the virtual world of Second LifeŽ. These new exhibits are the result of The Tech's virtual exhibit design initiative and competition, called The Tech Virtual, which was launched in December 2007 and aims to revolutionize the way new museum exhibitions are developed.

The Tech Virtual Test Zone is a prototype exhibit area that will consistently feature virtual-world-to-real-world exhibits on a specific theme resulting from The Tech Virtual program. The first theme featured in the Test Zone is "Art, Film & Music", which is also the theme of a new permanent gallery that The Tech plans to launch by 2010, featuring some of the people and innovations from Silicon Valley that have contributed significantly to this field.

To create the exhibits you will see in The Test Zone, The Tech engaged an international community of creative people in The Tech Virtual — experts in art, film, music, and technology from all over the world, including museum professionals such as exhibit builders, craftspeople and curators. Through The Tech Virtual, The Tech has been able to bring these experts together to create exhibits that are both imaginative and educational.

Come to The Tech to see and experience these unique exhibits for yourself! Or visit The Tech Virtual in Second Life, and participate in our ongoing exhibit design challenges.

Wall of Musical Buttons (Wikisonic)

Conceptualized by Jon Brouchoud, an architect and responsive environment designer in Madison, WI.

This exhibit demonstrates the fundamentals of harmonics and chord structure by allowing visitors to experiment with note intervals in familiar musical melodies.


Musical Seats (Musical Chairs)

Conceptualized by Leanne Garvie, a philosophy Ph.D. student and artist in Toronto.

This exhibit demonstrates how individual instruments are coordinated to create complex musical compositions. It is a physical analog to the way that digital music is created using Garage Band and related Silicon Valley technologies.


Be a VJ (Golden Age of MIDI)

Conceptualized by Nick Chen, a musician and teacher of digital music at Blue Bear Music School in San Francisco, CA.

This exhibit showcases a representative variety of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controllers, each mapped to a unique and innovative set of audio and video outputs.


Panoramic Photos (Reprojecting San Jose)

Conceptualized by Richard Milewski, a photographer in San Jose, CA (and Tech Museum member).

This exhibit demonstrates how to create panoramic and polar projectionm photos and explores the transformations involved in turning flat photos into a 360-degree panorama.


Mashup Masterpiece (The Painter)

Conceptualized by Marie Crandell, a photographer in San Jose, CA (and Tech Museum member).

This exhibit lets visitors enter the mind of an artist by observing the artistic process and adding their own creative modifications.


Tilty Table (Component Shift)

Conceptualized by Jason Nelson, a digital artist and professor of dgital poetics in Gold Coast, Australia.

This exhibit lets visitors explore the artist's interpretation of "the shifting landscape of Silicon Valley" with an intuitive mechanical interface.


Human/Avatar (Connecting Point)

Conceptualized by Alan Hook and Pete Wardle, creative technologists at the University of Salford in Manchester, England.

This exhibit lets visitors explore the intersection between real and virtual space via a human-avatar streaming video portal.



(Names in parenthesis are the exhibit names as they appear in The Tech Virtual and Second Life.)