"It's all a bit Heath Robinson": A 150th birthday celebration of gadgets, games and general mayhem
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the “Gadget King” Heath Robinson’s birth, the Heath Robinson Museum hosted a birthday “party” for families and children. This was in the form of a whacky fair, with multiple stalls and activity stations, where invention, basic engineering, creative thinking and problem solving were used creatively and humorously, in an interactive way to entertain and educate the public.
The fair included an exhibition of Heath Robinson’s best humorous invention (gadget) drawings alongside a second exhibition of working models designed by the West London Meccano Society. Activities were numerous and all related to Heath Robinson Drawings. They were designed to explore and experiment with the basics of engineering to achieve simple or silly tasks or indeed build things in the most “Heath Robinson” fashion. For instance, families and children were challenged to build the tallest/wobbliest structure or design, build and race the fastest, slowest, wobbliest vehicles out of recycled junk.
Large interactive gadgets were also demonstrated in the park, but our star attraction was internet/media sensation, Joseph Herscher, a kinetic artist who specialises in making comic chain reaction machines (Joseph’s machines) - very Heath Robinson. Joseph led a workshop for families/children, who were challenged to build their own energy transfer machine out of recycled materials. This culminated in everyone’s machine being linked up to create an enormous chain reaction machine that performed a simple task, much to the delight of the onlooking crowd.
Over 400 people attended the event and the comments from the public and our museum volunteers alike were how it had brought Heath Robinson’s drawings to life. One of our original hopes in the design of this day was to reinvigorate interest in Heath Robinson’s work and to attract a younger and more diverse audience. This was certainly the case on the day, and we have seen a steady change in museum visitors to better reflect the diverse demographic of our surrounding areas, along with the average age of visitors dropping by over a decade and a 50% increase in children visitor tickets.
The day and its success helped spark a cultural change in how we as an organisation promote the work of Heath Robinson. It reinforced that one of our USP’s is that we are, above all, a place where science meets art. Consequently, we have developed more cross-curricular workshops and activities inspired by his work, collaborating with a wider range of organisations and establishing his continued relevance to society today. In the last 2 years we have seen an increase of over 50% in the number of people taking part in our learning activities and events.
We have also adapted our curatorial approach, focussing less on art history and more on contemporizing his work, exploring his influence on a wider range of art forms, and cross-curricular creative expression, which is attracting wider audiences.
In short, our museum has become more playful, interactive, experimental and immersive; a place that promotes creative thinking and learning and hopefully a place that Heath Robinson would be proud of.
Testimonials
"The Heath Robinson birthday celebration fair clearly demonstrated that today’s audiences expect to entertained as well as educated – creative thinking is the key and building in cross-curricular themes. We could not have put on such a large and successful event without the kind funding by the Royal Society, which allowed full expression of our vision for the day." Board of trustees
"Even the preparation before the event engaged a wide range of different local communities with different skill sets and knowledge. The retired people who were involved felt appreciated and came away with a real feeling of worth. We are still using some of the items made for the day in the museum and its events." Board of trustees
"Workshops like this are loads of fun for kids, while being subtly educational at the same time. It's incredible to watch how absorbed and obsessed many of the kids become. The event can spark a lifelong passion for science and innovation, which is essential if we want to create the next generation of problem solvers and creative thinkers to take on the world's problems." Joseph Herscher
