Loft Project ETAGI (floors), a pioneer of loft-design in St. Petersburg, opened up in 2007. Conveniently located in the very center of the city (Ligovsky prospect) in a 5-storey industrial building of a former bakery factory with preserved original interior (concrete pillars, a drilling machine, cast iron blocks) and hosting several art exhibits at a time, a boutique of vintage clothes, LoftWineBar, and a cafe, it naturally attracts thousands of visitors on a daily basis.
The exhibition we went to with my friend Vera and her 7-year old son is called Through the looking glass and is geared toward educating children on elementary physics through various cool objects that you can touch and play with (a description of each exhibit includes instruction on what steps to take to achieve a certain result, and then a plain-Russian, yet scientific, explanation on what exactly happens to create this particular effect). Children and adults alike are mesmerized by a myriad of mirror installations, "dancing trees" (metal shavings in reality) illustrating the works of magnetic fields, the magic of shadow and light, giant soap-bubbles that you absolutely cannot stop blowing, and much much more. Our two-hour physics lesson today flew by as if it lasted only ten minutes.
One of my favorite exhibits was a practical way to "create your own universe" by pulling on a rope of some kaleidoscope-like device (the upper right picture below presents MY universe). I just loved the instructions urging you to "take your time while creating your space, be attentive to the slightest movements of all the elements, enjoy your universe". This should really be the motto for all our actions, as obviously, we do create our own universe every day, every second of our life.
Apparently, similar exhibitions are hosted all over the world, but with this one you could make no mistake that you are in Russia: upon finishing our rounds we went up to the roof to enjoy the view from the top and take in some fresh Indian Summer air; and what do we see if not this:
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With my benign OCD love of symmetry I finished the day with a study of self and the room of my childhood through the looking glass.
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