What is your favourite part about curating a gallery?
Learning about new topics and getting to meet some really cool scientists.
Can you give us a little perspective on what kind of work goes into gallery curation?
As a curator at Science World you are involved in all aspects of a gallery. You train the staff who work in the area, help arrange special guest experts and presenters, oversee the day to day operation of the gallery, and work on the logistics involved in getting all of the pieces into the building.
Loading an exhibit in or out of the building is always an exciting time. There's a lot to be done and a limited amount of time to do it in, so things have to be very organized. Trucks are timed to the minute to ensure that each new load arrives as soon as the previous one has finished unloading. Even with all that planning, there's always something unexpected. During the installation of Treasure! I arrived on the morning that our trucks were due to arrive only to find the entire building surrounded by a Bollywood film set. Luckily we were able to work together and everything came in on time.
When it comes to science performances, especially for the media, you're our man. Do you have any memorable on-screen memories?
Very often we are working with live television so there's the added pressure of making sure the experiment works the first time. Once, we were shooting a segment in Prince George for the Prince George Children's festival. One of our demonstrations was a 'rocket wagon' — a child's red wagon with a souped-up fire extinguisher strapped to the back of it that we would ride across the stage. For this segment, the reporter had asked me to answer a few questions then get on the wagon and ride away through the park. As the wagon picked up speed I suddenly found myself up on two wheels screaming into the distance as the poor reporter tried to finish the segment. No harm done but it was an exciting ride.