LED lights, lasers and more: New Museum of Science & History exhibit sheds light on ... light

Tom Szaroleta, Florida Times-Union
·2 min read
The new "Playing With Light" show at MOSH uses more than 20,000 LED lights.
The new "Playing With Light" show at MOSH uses more than 20,000 LED lights.

The folks who put together the new "Playing With Light" exhibition at Jacksonville's Museum of Science & History have one request for people visiting the interactive show.

"Do not look directly into the lasers," said Anthony Mortimer, the museum's director of curatorial services. "Play with them all you want but don't point them into your eyes, please."

The new MOSH show, which will remain up for 16 weeks, features 21 interactive stations where visitors can learn about reflection, refraction, polarization, colors, shadows and lasers. "We're looking for this to be educational and fun," Mortimer said.

A bendable mirror teaches visitors about reflection at MOSH's "Playing With Light."
A bendable mirror teaches visitors about reflection at MOSH's "Playing With Light."

MOSH on the move: New park and MOSH relocation coming closer for The Shipyards in downtown Jacksonville

The show took about five days to set up in the second-floor exhibition space after arriving early last week in two large trucks. It includes several interactive kiosks and rooms where visitors can push buttons and manipulate controls to bend a mirror, control their shadows, dodge lasers and learn about infrared light.

"It takes just about every form of light you can imagine and shows just a small portion of what you can do with it," Mortimer said.

A second new show celebrating the bicentennial of Jacksonville's founding is also open on the Southbank museum's third floor. The bicentennial exhibition is evolving and will change throughout the year, looking at how environment, weather, disease, fire and momentous events have shaped the city's history and future. "The exhibit that you see right here today is going to be very different than the one you will see in eight months," said Alex Warren, the museum's director of education.

The bicentennial show will eventually be incorporated into the museum's "Currents of Time" exhibit.

Kids can "paint" on the walls at MOSH's "Playing With Light."
Kids can "paint" on the walls at MOSH's "Playing With Light."

Mortimer said MOSH typically books shows about two years in advance. "We are planned through 2023 already," he said.

The museum plans to move to a new facility across the river in the Shipyards area by late 2026 or early 2027.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: New exhibit at Jacksonville's MOSH uses lasers to teach about light