MOTAT Wins Museum Award For Welcome to the Machine

MOTAT Wins Museum Award For Welcome to the Machine Exhibition

The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) received top honours for the Most Innovative Use of Te Reo Māori at last night’s ServiceIQ 2015 New Zealand Museum Awards held in Dunedin. This was awarded to MOTAT for its most recent exhibition, Welcome to the Machine.

MOTAT CEO Michael Frawley was at the event and said “This award is particularly meaningful because Welcome to the Machine represents a paradigm shift – one that reflects MOTAT’s new strategy and focus on learning through interactivity to inspire the scientists and inventors of tomorrow. It highlights Kiwi innovation and for the first time, incorporates mātauranga Māori, particularly te reo Māori, into its exhibition content.”

The goal of the exhibition is to explain the so-called ‘six simple machines’ that highlight fundamental physical properties and demonstrate how people use these machines every day. It also reveals how they can be modified and connected to become complex machines. The exhibition has a strong bicultural narrative and the machines are explained in te reo Māori alongside clear interpretive diagrams. To the best of the MOTAT Team’s knowledge, this is the first exhibition which deals with these technical concepts in te reo Māori.

Museums Aotearoa Executive Director Phillipa Tocker said that this year’s awards were better than ever. "The number of entries and their standard just keeps going up – with the bar getting higher every year, the Awards are becoming even more inspirational. The best thing is that we can celebrate not only the winners, but all the fantastic work being presented nationally".

Piripi Walker, Māori translator for Welcome to the Machine, had this to add “The Museum created this fantastic interactive exhibition on the machine which is designed to haul tamariki straight into interaction with technical processes, such as levers, pulleys axles, wedges and screws. Many of the detailed workings of these are not common in translation into te reo. The challenge was to create clear explanations in language that would communicate with all ages. MOTAT was highly professional; they pulled together a team that ensured the Māori language text met the highest standard of accuracy and good communication.”

“This award is an amazing vote of confidence in the MOTAT Team and what we are doing at the Museum; we are honoured to receive it” said Mr Frawley. “We encourage everyone to come along and experience Welcome to the Machine first hand; its interactive activities facilitate the concept of learning through doing and hold huge appeal for the whole family.”

ENDS

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