The Ultimate Noah's Ark

Art and Interactivity - and a Special Event

One of my favorite exhibits at the Biblical Museum of Natural History is our Noah’s Ark exhibit, with which we are running a special event this week in honor of parashat Noach. Ironically, for years I resisted having any reference at all to Noah’s Ark at the museum, because I didn’t want to get into the scientific challenges, and I couldn’t see any other way to present the ark without it making the museum appear to just be something for little kiddies. But then I discovered that there are fascinating artistic models of Noah’s Ark, created as art for adults. Many of these are an absolute joy to behold, no matter who you are. Here’s a spectacular one brought by Jacobo and Vivi Viskin all the way from Mexico:

I then realized that many artistic models of Noah’s Ark from around the world (though not the one above) reflected the particular wildlife of the region where they were made. This tied in powerfully to our central message about how each and every nation has its own unique relationship to the animal kingdom, with that of the Jewish People being to the animals of the Land of Israel - even when we were dispersed around the world. Here’s an extraordinary Noah’s Ark that I was able to get from China (the fascinating story of how I did so is described here), which features no giraffes or lions, but does have tigers and Asian water buffalo:

With the help of numerous friends around the world, I spent a few years putting together what I believe to be the greatest such collection ever amassed. We officially opened the exhibit, titled “The Art of the Ark,” two years ago. Along with two displays, “The Beauty of the Ark” and “Arks Around The World,” it also includes a scale model of the Biblical Ark (which we are replacing this week with a greatly improved version), and a Conservation Ark featuring endangered species along with showing how Noah’s Ark has been adopted as motif for conservation organization around the world. I’m giving a special presentation on the exhibit this Wednesday evening, for which you can book tickets at this link.

Since we opened the exhibit, our collection has continued to grow. Chayim and Karen Stern generously donated a collection of over 30 stunning paintings and models, and I also managed to acquire some further models that are even more spectacular than the ones we already have (though I have not yet managed to ship them all to Israel yet). And we realized that this unique exhibit really deserves a lot more attention.

Accordingly, we are now dedicating an entire hall to Noah’s Ark. And for the centerpiece, I came up with an idea which I think is brilliant, if I do say so myself! But I could do with some guidance on certain technological aspects, and this forum has proved to be an incredible networking and crowdsourcing resource. And so I’m putting my idea out here in the hopes that some of my readers are technologically knowledgeable and can help.

The idea is to create a huge interactive ark, that will provide a fun and highly educational experience for our younger visitors. It will be at the proportions of the Biblical ark and at a scale of 1:24, which means that it will be approximately two feet tall, three feet wide and nearly twenty feet long! The structure will be made out of wood and both sides will be open for most of their length such that the compartments, spanning three floors, will be visible and accessible. It would be similar to the one pictured below, except at a vastly different scale and size:

There will be two sets of digital screens embedded in the model. One set, of two vertical screens on each side, will be flush with the sides, and will explain how to interact with the model. The other set of screens, three horizontally on each side, will be mounted at the back of the compartments. Here is the schematic:

Then each pair of animals will be mounted on a base containing an RFID tag. There will also be RFID sensors on the floor of each compartment. A central computer will accordingly be able to not only control the eight screens, but also detect which pair of animals has been placed in each compartment.

The entire system makes it possible to create all kinds of educational and fun activities. It could be questions that flash up on the screens at the back of each compartment, with the visitor having to place the correct animal in the compartment. Or it could be macro-challenges of placing all the animals across all three floors and three sections of each side of the ark according to different systems of classification, whether by their kosher status, or what they eat, or where they are from, etc. The possibilities are virtually endless.

And there’s one final innovation that I would love to include: a miniature conveyor belt traveling around the ark and through the interior, like those in airports, on which the animals would travel. It would both add immense aesthetic appeal, and also provide a useful and fun place from which to retrieve the animals for each challenge and to which to return them after each challenge is completed.

Constructing such an ark will itself be quite the challenge! We have a talented team of several dozen staff, sherut leumi and volunteers. I would like to try to do it in-house, and outsource as little as possible. But we would need guidance on the RFID technology and the computer control of the entire system, as well as the conveyor belt. If you have such knowledge, please write to me!

(Also, if you can help transport a huge non-fragile ark - it will fit in a large car - from Nashua, New Hampshire to anywhere in NY/NJ, within the next month, please let me know!)