The SA Museum has been running Night Lab events for the last few years, an adults-only night at the museum complete with cocktails, DJs, and pop up activities. Night Lab gives adults the chance to re-visit the Museum through new eyes. Your childhood favourites are still there, but they provide lots of new ways of getting up close and personal with their collection, as well as with a lot of other fun stuff.

The latest, Bedtime Stories, is a collab with Electric Dreams, the UK-based gang producing immersive and interactive work. They are responsible for the conference and VR pop-ups that we first experienced at the Fringe in 2020 and are lucky enough to have visiting again this year.

As always, the night was chocker block with a long list of programmed activations, but our personal favourites were:

Shadow Initiation: This has been a part of SAM's programming for a few years, but it really is fun! Get your team together for a mad-dash scavenger hunt throughout the galleries to really get to know the collection.  

Anthropocene in C Major: I absolutely love innovative data visualisation, and this is a great one. Artist Jamie Perrera has composed music using Earth data from the last 12,000 years, which is accompanied by visuals. We only got a sneak preview, but it's a must see, Koyanisqaatsi vibes.

Techspace Learning Challenge - Bat Hats: Bats are on everyone's mind during this time of year as we see them sweep through the sky in the evenings. But, have you ever wanted to be the bat? With Techspace, you get the chance. We donned bat hats and closed our eyes to navigate through an obstacle course bat-style.

SAM Sketch Club: It's a real treat to take the time to sit and draw objects in the museum collection. At Night Lab we focused on drawing geodes. This is definitely something I'm going to make time to do again on my own.

Volo: A VR experience where you're flying through the air... but while you're swinging on a swing. It doesn't get more XR than that! Volo is a really nice animated VR experience based on Leonardo Da Vinci's designs. They're a great entry point for anyone's first VR experience.

If you didn't make it to the latest Night Lab event by the SA Museum, I can't help you it was a one off. But this time only, it's not all done for. You can find out more from Electric Dreams at their conference on Monday, you can check out the VR works Goliath and Volo as part of the Fringe, Anthropocene in C Major still has a few more shows, you can do the Shadow Initiation at any time you like, or you can attend the next Night Lab in a few months time. What are you waiting for?!