New Bell Museum Opens On University of Minnesota’s St. Paul Campus

The Bell Museum, Minnesota’s official natural history museum, has reopened in its new home on the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul Campus. Cortina Productions worked with the Bell Museum to produce 15 interactives, three films, and three soundscapes that were specifically designed to highlight the fascinating work being done by the University’s professors as well as help bring the museum’s world-famous dioramas to life. For example, 10 different Field Notes interactive kiosks accompany the museum’s dioramas, allowing visitors to explore videos of the plants and animals featured and uncover information on the diorama’s history.
Visitors using the “Field Notes” interactive that accompanies the Moose Diorama.
Other project highlights include the CGI animated Birth of Life on Earth film, which depicts the powerful story of how life on Earth began 3.5 billion years ago, and the gesture-based “Crane Dance” interactive, which teaches visitors about the peculiar mating dance of the Sandhill Crane, then uses Kinect technology to challenge the visitor to control a crane and mimic the dance.

The gesture-based “Crane Dance” interactive at the Bell Museum.
For more than a century, the Bell Museum has worked to ignite curiosity and wonder, explore our connections to nature and the universe, and create a better future for our evolving world. In addition to the exhibit galleries, the new museum features a state-of-the-art planetarium, an outdoor green roof and observation deck, and the hands-on Touch and Sea Lab, which hosts more than 25,000 students each year.

Cortina Productions is proud to have partnered with Gallagher and Associates and D&P on the new Bell Museum.