Revolution Manchester: A taste of what MOSI can deliver

Revolution Manchester 'Energy'

Revolution Manchester is a ground–breaking interactive gallery, created as part of MOSI’s 2010 re-development of the Great Western Warehouse. Its intention is to act as an introduction to all the major themes which feature across the Museum – encompassing 6 small (but excitingly interactive) sections, which tempt you further into each topic. The most relevant for this Blog is, of course, ‘Energy’. 

Manchester's Industrial Revolution needed a huge surge of energy.  The people of the city harnessed the power of coal to make steam and electrical power.  By 1900 the first power stations were built to provide a new energy source, electricity.  Engines in the heart of Manchester drove turbines in the UK's first combined heat and power plant. By the 1920s, Manchester-built machinery laid the foundations for the UK National Grid and for other power grids around the world. Energy is a key part of the North West’s industrial past, present and future.

The Energy section is built around a scale model of the ZETA generator - the UK's first nuclear fusion experiment built in the 1950s by Metropolitan-Vickers of Trafford Park. Using the special Revolution Manchester registration cards (I’m not telling you, you’ll have to come and find out for yourself!) up to 5 players race against one another using touch-screen technology to create nuclear fusion (or rather, a graphic representation).   



The hands-on interactive approach to nuclear fusion!!

Revolution Manchester shows what MOSI is capable of - producing a modern gallery which will excite and engage today’s technology savvy and social media-hungry audiences, offering a new approach to museum interpretation and encouraging further exploration and research. We aim to learn from this approach and apply to the development of the wider Energy Galleries.