At new Exploration Place exhibition visitors test their emergency, survival skills

Amy Geiszler-Jones
·3 min read

Without all the drama of a “Survivor” TV episode, a new traveling adventure exhibition at Exploration Place will have visitors testing their emergency and survival skills.

“Survival: The Exhibition,” which runs from Jan. 21 through April 24, consists of 10 different environments, including a desert, forest, jungle and urban setting, where visitors will do a variety of hands-on activities from learning to forage for food to building a shelter to handling medical emergencies to staying aware of surroundings.

“It’s different from anything we’ve ever had,” said Victoria Mitchell, the recently promoted director of exhibits and programs who’s been with the science center since 2014.

One thing that’s different is that rather than being a traditional, wide-open exhibition, “Survival” is set up as a one-way weaving path where visitors move from one scenario to another. The first stop is a cabin to watch a short film offering tips and tricks. The cabin has space to accommodate a small group of about 25 people.

According to Imagine Exhibitions, the exhibition creators, “Survivor” will “empower visitors to stay calm, cool and collected in an emergency.”

“There will be things you can do at home, and also when you are out so that you can be aware of and survive in an emergency,” Mitchell said.

Some of those emergencies include surviving the extreme day-to-night climate changes and need for water, foraging for food in a forest (watch out for the big bear), applying CPR and tying a tourniquet and dealing with a natural disaster. Visitors can skip a section and move ahead if they want, Mitchell said.

The exhibition also includes a separate adventure zone called the lava challenge, which will be open at select times due to safety and staffing requirements. Set up on what’s known as the island side of Exploration Place near the center’s dome theater entrance, the lava challenge is a low-ropes course where adventurers will be strapped in to attempt to escape a lava flow.

The lava challenge, included in the admission price, will be open 11 a.m. to noon and 3 to 4 p.m. daily, as well as 6 to 7 p.m. Thursdays, when Exploration Place has late hours until 8 p.m.

A corresponding exhibit about survival is set up in Exploration Place’s bridge gallery, displaying one of the most dramatic real-life stories of survival: the 1914-16 polar expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleford. A collection of photographs tells the story of the explorers’ ship getting stuck in ice for 10 months and then crushed by ice and the men’s subsequent survival on ice floes and an uninhabited island.

New banners recently placed on the walkway between Exploration Place and the Keeper of the Plains proclaim “This is What a Scientist Looks Like” and feature women scientists.
New banners recently placed on the walkway between Exploration Place and the Keeper of the Plains proclaim “This is What a Scientist Looks Like” and feature women scientists.

If you’re visiting Exploration Place or the Keeper of the Plains, look for a series of 12 new banners recently placed on the walkway connecting the two attractions. “This is What a Scientist Looks Like” features women scientists.

“Survival: The Exhibition”

What: An all-ages interactive, adventure exhibit about handling emergencies and survival situations in a desert, jungle, forest and urban environments

Where: Exploration Place, 300 N. McLean Blvd.

When: Jan. 21-April 24, 2022, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. every day except Thursday when the science center has extended hours until 8 p.m. Masks required on Mondays and strongly encouraged at other times.

Admission: $11.50 ages 12-64, $10 ages 65 and older, $8 ages 3-11, free for ages 2 and younger and members. Add-on options for dome theater and live science show activities.

More info: exploration.org or 316-660-0600