The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, Ju ne 7, 20 18 | 20 A Roman tic Comed y The forecast calls for showers of laughter with a refreshing romantic comedy about last chances, new hope and true love. By N. Richard Nash June 20 - July 7 St. Jacobs Country Playhouse 1-855-drayton (372-9866) or buy online 24/7 at draytonentertainment.com "Love, passion, faith and magic. The Rainmaker has it all." - Huffington Post ARTS FOCUS Visit waterloochronicle.ca for more coverage An innovative exhibit now open at TheMuseum in downtown Kitchener con- tinues with the theme of gaming, but is unlike any- thing most hobbyists would be accustomed to. On loan from the Toron- to International Film Festi- val (TIFF), digiPlaySpace features 10 installations by international artists incor- porating cameras, sensors, interactive audio, projec- tion mapping and other forms of new-media tech- nology that allow people to transform themselves and their surroundings. "Visitors can transform into animated characters, talk like a robot, race their friends on a track they de- sign, or create their own short, animated video," said Laurel McKellar, TheMu- seum's senior director of cu- ration, exhibitions and pro- gram development. The new exhibit is re- ferred to as a "technology playground" and brings to- gether interactive games, mind-bending augmented- reality installations and in- novative coding activities that showcase the creative potential of new technolo- gies. Keylight by Aaron Van Domelen (Canada) uses chroma-key technology and unique props to transport people around the world. Flippaper by Jérémie Cortial and Roman Mile- titch (France, Belgium) al- lows visitors to create their own colourful pinball game using magnetic shapes. Pushing a button brings the creation to life allowing kids to play a virtual pinball game of their own making. While McKellar said the exhibit is aimed at children three to 13, she said it's fun for all ages, including par- ents. An 'APPcade' is divided into sections for three dif- ferent age groups and al- lows families to sample doz- ens of the latest educational learning resources for chil- dren. "If they're going to be on the tablet, then you want them to be using education- al apps, and this is a good re- source for that," said McKel- lar. digiPlaySpace is a followup to the TheMu- seum's Digital Dynamix ex- hibit earlier this year, part of which focused on the his- tory of video games. Decoding E-Money, or- ganized and circulated by the Bank of Canada Muse- um, is now open on the third floor of the museum and is described as the perfect way to discover the emerging world of bitcoin. Partici- pants can follow their dollar through the economy, from purchase to deposit, using traditional and e-payment systems. "Experiential learning is one of TheMuseum's values and these two experiences are great examples," says TheMuseum CEO David Marskell. "By demystifying virtual currencies and part- nering with TIFF, I believe this will help awe, inspire and enlighten this commu- nity." TheMuseum's portable planetarium has also re- opened for the summer months, McKellar noted. For more about digi- PlaySpace and this sum- mer's lineup, visit themu- seum.ca. 'Technology playground' now at TheMuseum TIFF's digiPlaySpace open throughout 2018 BILL JACKSON bjackson@kitchenerpost.ca TheMuseum in down- town Kitchener will be ex- panding into the neighbour- ing Bank of Montreal build- ing, and the sky is the limit when it comes to future exhi- bitions. "We definitely want to talk to the community in a meaningful way to under- stand what the what is - what we will build, and how many floors it will take to build that out," said TheMuseum's CEO, David Marskell. TheMuseum's current space at 10 King St. W is 38,000 square feet over four floors. The footprint of the bank branch is only 8,500 square feet. Marskell said there have already been preliminary discussions to see what could go above it, which might end up doubling the size of The- Museum. "I wouldn't want to look back in 10 years and say 'Oh, we should have went bigger,'" said Marskell. "So the vision our board shares is let's have the biggest vision we can have and aim for, and let's see how the community re- sponds." The cost of BMO's build- ing is approximately $3 mil- lion and was offered to The- Museum as a first-right-of- refusal to allow the local arts and culture hub to grow, said Julie Barker-Merz, senior vice president of BMO's southwestern Ontario divi- sion. The bank is also provid- ing $1 million for the muse- um to kick of its capital cam- paign. "We believe that this is go- ing to be a catalyst for others in the community to jump in and help build out what this community is so hungry for- a unified and world class arts and culture community," said Merz. "This entrepreneurial community has proven itself as a global leader in innova- tion. It's now time for innova- tion to meet arts and culture, and BMO is proud to be lead- ing this campaign ..." TheMuseum has strug- gled with financial sustaina- bility in the past, in part due to its limited capacity, noted Frank Boutzis, president of TheMuseum's board of direc- tors. "TheMuseum has helped create a cultural nexus at King and Queen, but we've also grown to host more than 100,000 people annually," he said. "Not only will this allow us to grow and flourish, it will also help us achieve through collaboration a crit- ical mass for arts and culture - an anchor in the downtown in the midst of the renais- sance we are all observing to- day." With the community growing by leaps and bounds, Marskell said The- Museum needs to expand to survive. "We need to have place so we can have three things go- ing on over there and two things going on over here," said Marskell, who looks for- ward to growing exhibits and programming catering to pop culture, STEAM (sci- ence, technology, engineer- ing, arts and math) and young adults. "In terms of time, I'd have to think it'll be at least a cou- ple of years," he said, "but we have a lot of funders that are already very engaged with us, and this community can work very quickly as it did 15 years ago to open this space." TheMuseum announces plans to expand its footprint BILL JACKSON bjackson@kitchenerpost.ca