By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Tuesday, April 26th the Museu do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow) opened the exhibition, “O Poeta Voador, Santos Dumont” (The Flying Poet, Santos Dumont). Remaining on display through Sunday, October 30th the exhibition explores and celebrates the life and works of Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont.
The exhibit tells a story through historic images, documents, film screenings, and a physics of flying workshop, in addition to prototypes and life-size replicas of models created by Dumont including the Demoiselle and 14 Bis.
“We want to enhance Brazil’s capacity to innovate and to do science, motivating children and young people towards scientific activity”, the curator of the Museum of Tomorrow, Luiz Alberto Oliveira told Agência Brasil. “Santos Dumont is an iconic figure. He created not only an artifact that flies but determined the process of flying. ”
“O Poeta Voador, Santos Dumont” is the second temporary exhibition to be displayed in the museum since its inauguration in December of last year.
Including life-size replicas outside of the Museu do Amanhã the exhibition is divided into five main sections. Inside the museum, the main room features seven prototypes of models created by Dumont with surrounding interactive screens that display digitized historic documents and photos.
In the Sala Cinema (Cinema Room) a documentary about the life and career of Santos Dumont will be screened while the Sala dos Balões (Room of Balloons) will screen a film about the history of flight from Leonardo da Vinci to Dumont.
Additionally, there is the Sala da Oficina de Aviões de Papel (Room of the Paper Airplanes Workshop), a space where exhibition attendees can construct plane airplanes and launch them from a platform, exploring and learning about the physics of flight as they do.
This year marks the 110th anniversary of the flight of Dumont’s 14 bis, a feat that was certified by the Aéro Club de France and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) as the first powered heavier-than-air flight.
Born Alberto Santos-Dumont in 1873 in the state of Minas Gerais, Dumont is known in Brazil as the “father of flight.” During his lifetime, which he spent largely in Paris, France, Dumont designed and built numerous aircraft including hot air balloons, airships, and dirigibles.
“We emphasize the poetic and artistic side of Santos Dumont, hence the title ‘the flying poet’. He was a man of science that inspired art – the stories of Jules Verne, for example – that awakened to the dream of flying,” said curator Gringo Cardia in a released statement. “In the exhibition, we show that the exercise of creativity is a way to boost discoveries.”
For more information about the exhibition, see the Museu do Amanhã website.
What: “O Poeta Voador, Santos Dumont” (The Flying Poet, Santos Dumont) Exhibition
When: Tuesday, April 26th through Sunday, October 30th. Hours of operation are Tuesdays 11AM to 5PM and Wednesdays through Sundays 10AM through 5PM.
Where: Museu do Amanhã, Praça Mauá, 1 – Centro
Entrance: R$5 – R$10