A day in the life of a Mediator at Science Gallery London
By Sebastian Dennis-Beron, Mediator during the HOOKED season
11:54
It’s a brisk South London morning, with the sun glaring off The Shard and beaming in to the Science Gallery London shop. After your weekly peruse of the stock, you get a warm welcome from the front of house team. Signed in - check. Radio, pass, tablet - check. 11:59 on the gallery floor and ready to get going. At 12:00 the fun begins.
13:00
As visitors are mesmerised by Me. You. Limbo., a stylish group of young professionals wander over, perplexed by the virtual reality headset sitting so enticingly in the gallery floor.
“Are we allowed to have a go?”, they ask with trepidation.
“Of course!” you respond “We want you to immerse yourselves in the exhibition as much as possible. Interact with the art, interact with us!”.
Excited to have a virtual reality experience, they peer into Detecting Alcoholism. As you talk them through the research underpinning it, they immerse themselves even further, feeling like a fellow mouse in the video.
Therein lies the beauty of Science Gallery London - it’s a place that encourages visitors to feel part of an exhibition instead of experiencing it from afar. It’s a gallery where the Mediators aren’t just silent guardians of the artwork, but an integral part of the experience, engaging visitors with the exhibition.
14:30
A change of scenery. To Again, the slot machine, with a fistful of tokens in hand. You take over as your fellow Mediator takes a break after being surrounded by an ocean of excited visitors eager to play the game.
The tokens look so beguiling, with visitors of all ages - from 7 to 77 - crowding round for their turn. Some are pragmatic in their approach, others go all out; some lose in seconds, others win and play for what feels like hours.
In the excitement, a young American student appears and strikes up a conversation about the HOOKED exhibition and the importance of communicating it to audiences in an immersive yet tailored way.
You agree.
As the conversation continues, you learn that you are two peas in a pod - you worked in the same field, you studied the same courses, at the same university. As this almost-serendipitous conversation comes to an end, you wish each other all the best, and you invite them to come back for future seasons.
You then build a rapport with an older couple and ask them how they found the exhibition. They struggled to understand a lot of the concepts because addiction was such a distant concept to them.
You ask why.
As they open up further and as you begin to talk about the complexities of addiction, they begin to realise that addiction is the not the black-and-white issue they first thought. As you refer to specific pieces in HOOKED they note that their reactions to the pieces made addiction more tangible than they thought. After they proclaim the madness of Feed Me, you have a glorious conversation about New Zealand cinema.
16:00
You’re deep in conversation with another visitor beside Database Addiction, Table of Tables. This is one of your favourite pieces, as it links directly to your strengths in science. It’s a joy to walk through this complex piece and see visitors learning from you; it’s so rewarding to know that you have shaped someone’s outlook on a topic in a way they had never even thought about.
The visitor, a young art therapist, begins to talk about their work. You’re astounded by art therapy, having never thought about it before. Whilst it is super-rewarding to know that you are changing people’s opinions on a topic through art and science, it’s always a bonus when you learn something too.
After being entrenched in conversation, you lose track of time and you realise that your shift is over. You bid the visitor farewell.
“See you next week” you say to the team as you head out, high-five-ing your Mediator buddies on the way. Signed out - check. Radio, pass, tablet back in - check. You walk towards The Shard, looking forward to what you’ll get up to when the next shift rolls around.
Sebastian Dennis-Beron was a Mediator during the HOOKED season at Science Gallery London from September 2018 - January 2019. After a eclectic background of bio veterinary science, media, engagement and editorial communications, Sebastian completed a Public Health MPH at Imperial College London, and following a tenure as a mediator, he currently works as part of a social enterprise that uses tech-based solutions to strengthen health systems and improve access to eye health in low- to middle-income countries.