After unveiling the “Mind the STEM Gap” Manifesto in February 2022 at Expo 2020 in Dubai, Fondazione Bracco continues its commitment to young women’s access to science with its “Mind The STEM Gap – A Roblox Jukebox” installation (Triennale Milano, 1 July - 31 October 2022), in dialogue with the 23rd Triennale Milano International Exposition Unknown Unknowns – An Introduction to Mysteries..
Conceived by the Fondazione Bracco to mark the Bracco Group’s 95th anniversaryand designed by Space Caviar, the installation is an immersive, interactive video game not just for girls and boys but anyone over the age of ten, offering a chance to experiment with leading-edge languages and technologies.
The key themes are equal access to science and overcoming gender stereotypes in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. The installation’s sixteen workstations equipped with optical viewers and joysticks take viewers on a virtual journey from the infinitesimal smallness of molecules to the immensity of space, all within the Triennale gardens. This profound experience offers access to a galaxy of multidisciplinary worlds and reveals science’s creative and generative power.
Players encounter the six themes of the Mind the Stem Gap Manifesto– language, cultural stereotypes, role models, critical thinking, self-belief, and access to knowledge – through the game’s six levels. Each level is dedicated to a different scientific field; each level is introduced by an inspirational woman who made a difference to her field, accompanying players like a tour guide through their life stories. At the end of the journey, players can sign the Mind The Stem Gap manifesto: this last, significant “leap” (mind the gap!) is a simple, concrete way of acknowledging an issue that conditions scientific development and affects us all, male and female.
Leveraging continuity between episodes in twentieth-century Italian design and the latest digital applications, the installation is based on Roblox,an online gaming platform with 202 million monthly active users, much loved by younger people: 67 percent of its users are under sixteen, and many Roblox developers are under eighteen.
***
Triennale Milano, at the Giancarlo De Carlo Gardens Viale Alemagna 6, Milan, Italy From 1 July to 31 October 2022
Admission free 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday (last admission 7 p.m.)
For further information: scuole@fondazionebracco.com
Concept: Fondazione Bracco
Design: Space Caviar
Special thanks to Ersilia Vaudo, main curator of the 23rd Triennale Milano International Exhibition.
We would also like to thank the following organizations for helping to raise awareness about the initiative: Confindustria’s Fondazione Giuseppina Mai, STEAMiamoci, and Progetto 100 donne contro gli stereotipi.
July 1, 2022
Presentation of the Mind The STEM Gap – A Roblox Jukebox installationTouching on the themes of the 23rd International Exhibition, Unknown Unknowns. An Introduction to Mysteries, Fondazione Bracco has teamed up with Triennale Milano to produce an interactive installation about the “Mind the STEM Gap” Manifesto, advocating women’s access to scientific disciplines by breaking down gender stereotypes.
