News Discussion
The Paradox Museum Miami Aims to Trick the Eye


Weekly News Digest
ニュースディスカッション教材

The Paradox Museum Miami Aims to Trick the Eye

今回は、アメリカ・マイアミにある、ちょっと変わった博物館のニュース記事をご紹介します。 この博物館では、近年世界中で人気が高まっている「没入型」の体験ができるようです。「没入 型」は英語で immersive と言い、何かにどっぷりと浸かり、人の五感を刺激するような感覚を表 すときに使える形容詞です。日本にも似たような体験型施設が増えてきていますが、アメリカの 施設は規模も大きく、日本のものとは一味違う体験ができそうですよね。記事を読んで、どんな 展示があるのか、講師と話してみましょう。

1.Article

Directions: Read the following article aloud.

The 1,000-square-meter museum is housed in Miami's Wynwood arts and entertainment area. It has more than 70 public displays known as exhibits. Executive director Samantha Impellizeri says these exhibits challenge the imagination.

She added that visitors can walk away from the experience with some really fun and interesting material for social media.

Paradox Museum has more than ten locations throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The Miami location, which opened in 2022, was the first in North America.

The term paradox is central to the museum and what visitors experience. A paradox is a situation or thing that has seemingly opposite or contradictory qualities.

“Each paradox is uniquely tied to its community,” Impellizeri said. “So as you walk throughout the experience, you’ll notice different themes and art installations that directly reflect not only Miami but the Wynwood community specifically.“

Many of the displays at Paradox Museum suggest old carnival funhouses – buildings that had devices and rooms designed to surprise or amaze visitors. Examples include the mirror maze, the spinning tunnel, and the upside-down room. The difference is that Paradox Museum explains the math and science

behind each illusion. “We’re a top field trip destination for pre-K all the way up through college students,” Impellizeri said. She added that the museum has a large number of educational activities that students can do before, during, and after the visit. Like any museum, Paradox Museum plans to change its exhibits to keep visitors coming back.

“We’re not going to be the same space in a year to three years from now," Impellizeri said.

Paradox Museum Miami introduced a new Zero Gravity Room last fall. Visitors can turn their smart phone cameras on and attach their phones to a spinning holder. Then they step into a large, slowly moving room designed to look like the inside of a space station. The resulting video makes it look as though they are walking up the wall and ceiling inside a room unaffected by gravity.

Paradox Museum is part of a movement towards so-called “immersive art experiences.” These kinds of art experiences often use technology to make the visitors feel like they are taking part in art rather than just looking at it.

“Immersive experiences around the world are increasing in popularity,” Impellizeri noted. Immersive art experiences have opened all over the world during the past 10 years or so. Examples include a company called Meow Wolf with several locations in the western United States, as well as a Van Gogh exhibit that has been traveling through North America, Europe and Asia since 2017. Superblue Miami, which opened in 2021, is another example.

Visitors generally take 60 to 90 minutes to make their way through Paradox Museum. Tickets normally cost $26 for adults and teenagers and $20 for children.

Seventeen-year-old Facundo Ildarraz and his family came to Miami from Argentina. Ildarraz said his mother found Paradox Museum online. He said it turned out to be a great chance to take fun photos with his family.

“I’ve been laughing since I went inside,” Ildarraz said. “It’s really amazing.” Dennis Speigel is head of a business advisory company called International Theme Park Services, Inc. Speigel said immersive experiences are a natural progression of location-based entertainment. Location-based entertainment includes go-cart tracks, laser tag, paint ball, indoor skydiving, escape rooms and trampoline parks. These are activities that take visitors a few hours to go through.

“It’s a lot of little things that we’ve had in the industry for years, heightened by our new technology…to make the experience new and something people haven’t seen,” Speigel said.

I’m John Russell.

David Fischer reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.



Source:The Paradox Museum Miami Aims to Trick the Eye VOA

本教材は、the U.S. Agency for Global Mediaより許諾を得て、産経ヒューマンラーニング株式会社が編集しています。

テキストの無断転載・無断使用を固く禁じます 。

Weekly News Digest
ニュースディスカッション教材

2.Key phrases and vocabulary

First repeat after your tutor and then read aloud by yourself.

  1. 1. exhibit (n.) a display in a museum
    My favorite exhibit was the one about rivers and how they change shape over time.
  2. 2. contradictory (adj.) having the opposite meaning
    The two TV stations are giving contradictory weather reports for tomorrow—one predicting rain and the other predicting sun.
  3. 3. destination (n.) a place that a person is going to (like a goal or a target)
    Our final destination today is North Grove Campground.
  4. 4. immersive (adj.) making a person feel like part of something
    The Exploratorium is one of the first science museums to offer an immersive experience.
  5. 5. make (one’s) way through (v.) to go through a place little by little, often with effort
    We made our way through the crowd and finally got to the amusement park entrance.

3.Questions

Read the questions aloud and answer them.

  1. 1. Why is the museum called the Paradox Museum?
  2. 2. What kinds of exhibits does the Paradox Museum have? Describe them.
  3. 3. Why do so many schools send their students to the museum?
  4. 4. In your own words, what do you think are the purposes of the Paradox Museum?
  5. 5. Do you know of any other places with immersive art experiences? Have you ever visited one?

本教材は、the U.S. Agency for Global Mediaより許諾を得て、産経ヒューマンラーニング株式会社が編集しています。

テキストの無断転載・無断使用を固く禁じます 。